Tag Archive | Holidays

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry–Regardless

Nov17

Believe it or not, this is actually good advice, especially for food addicts. When someone has a food addiction, they are always on guard.

It’s hard to enjoy yourself when you’re always on the watch for something you don’t want to have happen. That’s a lot to ask of someone who’s just trying to get through the day without feeling powerless around food.

Holiday foods like turkey, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce are all very healthy foods. And then there is Resveratol in red wine, so if you drink wine with your meal, that can be healthy too.

Food needn’t get in the way of fun. It can be part of the fun, and should be. Sondra Ray wrote a book a few years back titled The Only Diet There Is.

That book taught me how to stop feeling guilty about what I ate.  One of my favorite chapters was Pleasure Yourself To Thinness.

Check it out. Let me know what you think.

Food Addiction Never Takes a Holiday

Dec28

So if you have a binge eating disorder or a food addiction, pay close attention to this important message. Okay, just having some fun. I’ve been Christmasing in blizzardy, rural Kansas without wireless service for the past 8 days. It was fantastic!!

The truth is, I love the Christmas holidays because they are so festive and happy. I love the spiritual high, the music and I love the food.

I’m not much of a party girl,  so I don’t have to contend with some of the most tempting holiday fare. I do remember those days, though, and how hard it was to turn down the many offers of food and drink.

Now when I’m celebrating at someone else’s house or party,  I take a few precautions that I’ll share with you.

Beware of friends, family, and anyone with a tray of food who try to bully you into eating when you are not hungry. Be nice but beware.

Food addiction and emotional eating run rampant during the holidays because holidays are packed full of feelings. Some of those feelings will bring you happiness and peace. Others will trigger an uncontrollable urge to eat.

Since there’s still another week to go before New Year’s resolutions promise to undo all the “bad stuff” from the holidays, my advice is to have fun. Truly enjoy yourself. You can do that without stuffing your face–at least some of the time.

When you eat in order to gain the approval of someone you love, you both get hurt. You get angry with yourself and build resentment for the food bully. If you want the food and ask for it, that’s another story, and that’s perfectly fine.

Walk your own path. Walk the path that takes you in the direction of your goal. If what you are doing or planning to do will keep you from achieving your goal,  then you are going the wrong way.

If you have a food addiction, treat that with respect. Food addiction is hard enough without feeling that you are required to sabotage yourself and your valiant efforts in order to please someone.

People do things because of who they are, not because of what someone else does. There is no reason you can’t eat, drink, and be merry like anyone else. Unless you are a food addict.

So keep that in mind all through the holidays and the whole year. Enjoy the food and festivities. Eat something “sinful” and enjoy it. Stuff, stuff, stuff with happiness.

Just because food addiction never takes a holiday doesn’t mean you can’t.

5 Holiday Tips for Emotional Eaters

Dec17

Here are 5 tips to help make your holiday indulgences a little healthier.

1. Use Sea Salt instead of regular table salt to season your food. It is very well balanced with vitamins and trace minerals, which your body needs to maintain a healthy balance.

2. Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day to help keep you hydrated. It will wash away some of the fats from those delicious holiday goodies and can even be good for your blood pressure.

3. Eat 4 stalks of celery per day. Celery acts as a diuretic that promotes the flow of urine through the kidneys. It also relaxes the arteries to reduce blood flow resistance. Great for the blood pressure.

4. Eat half a cup of cranberry sauce a day. Cranberries prevent the oxidation of cholesterol, which as we know increases blood pressure.  The cranberry is a powerful antioxidant and great for your blood pressure.

5. Eat almonds, 25-30 a day. The best choice would be the organic variety. Get the whole ones since most foods begin to decompose once they are cut into. Almonds contain magnesium which relaxes the blood vessels and helps blood pressure return to normal.

Most people experience a lot of stress over the holidays. These are foods you’re going to have around anyway–nuts, cranberry sauce, celery for dips and dressing, and of course water.

Use them to help calm your blood pressure and make your holiday more enjoyable. Most emotional eaters don’t eat when they’re happy and calm. Like food addicts, they  eat when emotions are negative and stress reigns.

Add to your joy this holiday season by honoring yourself and your body. Affirm that you only eat foods that nourish your body. Repeat the affirmation with each bite. It will help you eat well without condemning yourself and your food.

Food Addiction and Fa-La-La

Dec15

‘Tis the season for eating, drinking, and being merry. All that Fa-la-la-ing can really shake up the routine. And why not?

Fighting food addiction in a festive season where feelings are mixed, spirits are are high, and food is everywhere can be an un-winnable battle.

In that case, why fight it? What’s wrong with just enjoying the festivities without worrying about all the what ifs that no one can do anything about anyway?

If you’re going to have feelings, have warm, happy ones, and share them as often as possible. If you’re going to eat, eat responsibly.

One thing that is becoming more and more common during the holiday season is the amount of stress associated with all the good cheer.

How about using some of that good cheer to your benefit this year? You will eat, and maybe you’ll overeat–most people do during the holidays. But don’t let old negative feelings drive you to feed your food addiction.

Instead, be light of heart. Feed your spirit. Nourish the best in yourself. Soon enough it will a new year. Save your resolutions until then. For now, eat well, drink responsibly, and be merry every chance you get.