Holiday Appetites: Part 3

What are the two biggest triggers around the holidays? FAMILY and FOOD!

I was doing some Christmas shopping the other day, and on my list of items to purchase was bird seed (Mom, if you’re reading this – surprise!). The woman helping me with my purchase made the comment, “unlike myself, birds don’t eat when they’re not hungry”.

How true is this for everyone around the holiday season? The holiday season is full of emotions, both subconscious and conscious.  We have previously discussed Mindfulness (click here for a refresher). Mindfulness can be one way of bringing the subconscious driver of our behaviors into the conscious realm. Here is an example:

Recently I went on a job interview. Before I left the house I had some lunch. I drove about 15 minutes to the interview and once I got there, my stomach started growling.   I thought to myself, “I guess I am still hungry.” However, after taking a step back and taking a moment to think about the situation, a more logical explanation would be that I was feeling another emotion that felt like hunger.  

Our bodies have only had a couple million years of evolution, they haven’t really figured out how to tell us the difference between hunger, thirst, anxiety, nervousness, frustration, anger, angst, etc. So instead we have to do a little digging on our own.

During the holidays, people tend to overeat, over drink, stay up too late, forget to drink enough water, and the list goes on. This can often lead to those last-minute, “quick-fixes” come January 1st. “I need a gym membership!” or “I’m going on a 21-day cleanse.”

Sound familiar? This year, how about trying some prevention, as opposed to intervention?

Prevention may look something like this. When you feel that pang in your stomach, do a mental rewind:

“What just happened? Is it possible I’m reacting to something other than my body’s need for physical nourishment?”

“How was I feeling right before that stomach pang hit?”

“Is this one of those ‘points of contention’ we talked about in Part 1?”

“Am I actually hungry?”

 

Then, act accordingly.

 

Good luck. You got this.

 

Thanks for reading!

For Part 2: click here

For Part 1: click here

 

 

 

 

Edited by Shannon Silk