5 Ways to Celebrate this Thanksgiving Without Obsessing About Food
If you’re struggling with dieting and emotional eating, you and I both know that Thanksgiving can be a challenging holiday.
This may be a time when you give yourself permission to eat foods you normally don’t eat. But that permission comes with a price. Your body doesn’t always feel great at the end of the day and you still feel guilty and frustrated by your food choices.
Or, you may want to earn your feast. Which is what I did for years and years. I had to go on a long run every Thanksgiving morning. I figured if I could burn calories early in the day, then I didn’t need to worry about how much I ate that day. I could eat a slice of pumpkin pie, and then a slice of apple pie, guilt free.
Or, you may wake Thursday morning with slight dread. You know how the day will go before it even starts. You try to be good and eat the right dishes in the right amounts, but it doesn’t work out that way. No matter what you eat, you always wish you could have done better.
Whichever food approach you take on Thanksgiving, the result is generally the same.
Food is on your mind for most of the day. You waste a lot of energy trying to control what you eat during the day. And you miss out on fully enjoying the day because you’re too preoccupied with trying to follow food rules, feeling guilty about what you ate or wishing you could have eaten better. You’re unable to soak in the gratitude and celebration.
If you’d like to go to sleep Thanksgiving evening, feeling emotionally filled, satisfied and connected, I’d like to offer you a different approach with these 5 steps.
Begin with the end in mind.
It can be helpful to have a plan. Start with asking yourself how you want to feel throughout the day.
Would you like to feel peaceful? Grateful? Relaxed? Joyful? If so, what are some of the things you can focus on that will bring you that feeling? A plan will guide you to focus your energy on what’s important to you.
Acknowledge the elephant in the room.
You and I both know Thanksgiving of 2020 is not Thanksgiving as usual. You’re likely not traveling or gathering with the loved ones you typically celebrate with. This can be painful. And sad. Make room for these emotions by letting yourself have them. COVID doesn’t need to be the focus of the day, but recognizing that living in a pandemic isn’t easy and life around us is filled with tension and uncertainty, can lighten your energy so you can focus on making the most of your day.
Check in with your body throughout the day.
Getting to know the signals your body shares can take practice. Your body shares with you hunger, fullness, thirst and fatigue. It also lets you know what you’re feeling. Get curious and start to become aware of these signals. These are the signals you can trust and rely on.
Make food fun.
What if food was so damn fun? Enjoy preparing a delicious dish and pour your time and attention in it. Choose something just because it will taste so good to you and you’ll enjoy every bite. Then share your creation with those you love. This is a way to create a new relationship with food, one in which you get to enjoy tastes, smells, and the process of cooking or baking.
Acknowledge your desire for something different.
Creating a new pattern around food takes intention, clarity and practice. It may feel foreign and uncomfortable. But that doesn’t mean you should stop putting your attention on what you want more of. Trying something different, being willing to create a new approach around food and practicing body awareness are huge steps forward. No matter how your day goes around food on Thursday, acknowledge yourself for taking these steps.
Happy Thanksgiving!
