The holidays bring joy, connection, and often some complicated feelings around food. In a recent Austin American-Statesman article, I shared guidance on how we can approach this season with more mindfulness, moderation, and self-compassion. Read the full article below to learn practical tips to help you and your family build a healthier, more balanced relationship with food during this festive time of year.
The pies. The cookies. The appetizers. The beverages — alcoholic or pumpkin spiced.
So much celebration centers around food these holidays.
“This is what this holiday brings up for everybody: The desire for the food, the celebration and the guilt that follows,” said Allison Chase, a psychologist with her own practice AK Chase Consulting. She focuses on helping people with eating disorders and their families.
That guilt about how much we ate and what we ate “is all about the cultural messages we have about what our bodies are supposed to be,” Chase said. “All of it becomes this really unhealthy cycle.”
This holiday, Chase hopes, we can treat the season “with moderation and clarity, of being in the moment and enjoying what’s happening.”
Because our eating behaviors are tied to our emotions, Chase said, the holidays become a particularly difficult time.
We are overwhelmed and stressed. “It becomes easy when there is such access to festivities to soothe with food,” she said.
“The key to healthy eating is listening to our bodies about what we need,” Chase said. For parents, they are modeling healthy or unhealthy behaviors. Teach kids to listen to their bodies. Are they full? Are they hungry or bored, sad, tired, angry, stressed?
It is OK to not finish your plate. Support kids when they say they are done. Support yourself when you say you are done. Don’t be the food pusher.
Here are her tips to enjoying the season with a healthy relationship to the food of the season:
- Enter the season with more calm and with planning. What do we want the season to be for us? “It’s OK to make your own choices and decisions about what is going to work for you and your family,” Chase said.
- It’s OK to say no to things. You are modeling to your kids how to pick and choose, she said, and you’re lowering your stress, which helps avoid the emotional eating.
- Schedule time for yourself and continue to do the healthy things that matter to you like exercise, sleep and meditation.
- You don’t have to eat everything at one time. Put away the food after serving it. For food safety’s sake, it shouldn’t be out for more than two hours. You can save some for later, put it in the freezer, or pack up trays for neighbors or people who are unhoused.
- Remember, the holidays are about the people, the gathering and the celebration.
Courtesy Nicole Villalpando, Staff Writer | Austin American Statesman
About Allison Chase, PhD | Parent Coach for Eating Disorder Recovery
As a PhD psychologist with over 25 years of experience specializing in eating disorder recovery, my mission is to empower parents and caregivers with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to support their child’s healing while fostering resilience within the family. I provide specialized parent coaching for caregivers supporting a child with an eating disorder or related concern.
If you are concerned about your child, reach out using the contact form — together, we can find the right path forward.