4 Gifts to Give Yourself This Holiday Season

If you’re desiring a more peaceful, trusting and relaxed relationship with food and your body, here are four gifts to consider giving yourself this holiday season.

1/ Silence Your Food Grinch
Silence the Grinch (a.k.a. the Food Police) in your head that says you’re being bad for enjoying the yummy holiday fare.

Unless you stole the food or harmed someone to get it, there is absolutely no reason to feel bad, guilty or ashamed about your food choices.

You also never have to earn the right to eat anything or make up for your eating.

(For more holiday Intuitive Eating tips, click here.)

2/ Ditch Diet Culture Content
To help you move away from diet culture and the diet mentality—and stop spending so much time, energy and headspace thinking about food and your body—ditch any content regarding dieting, food restrictions, good and bad foods, weight loss, the thin ideal, fitspo, etc.

Do an audit of all the content you engage with including social media, videos, TV shows, podcasts, apps, websites, blogs, newsletters, magazines, books, cookbooks, etc.

It's also also helpful to ditch the diet talk; here's how.

3/ Toss Your Scale
It’s so easy to let the number on your scale define you, to dictate how you feel about yourself and determine how you go about your day.

By tossing (or donating) your scale, you're reclaiming your power from a worthless piece of junk that’s completely incapable of measuring your innate worth and overall wellbeing.

If you’re not quite ready to get rid of your scale, put it in an inconvenient spot, like the back of your closet or a high shelf in your garage.

4/ Skip the Dieting Bandwagon
Resolve to not jump on the dieting bandwagon come January. And when I say dieting, I mean any eating, lifestyle or wellness plan with a bunch of food rules and restrictions.

Diets erode your ability to trust your body and your instincts, and negatively impact your physical and psychological wellbeing. Plus, they suck all the joy out of eating and living.

If you are tempted to go on a diet, which is completely understandable given the world we live in, I encourage you to learn about the potential negative side effects—everything the diet companies don’t warn you about—so you can make an informed decision. If you have a history of dieting, you’re likely quite familiar with these outcomes.

Beyond the Holidays
If you want help getting off the dieting roller coaster and giving yourself the gift of a more peaceful relationship with food and your body that lasts well beyond the holidays, I’m here for you.

What I'm Tuning Into [Top Podcasts]

Reflecting on my first corporate job after college, I can vividly recall my co-worker Carol twirling around in a floral dress smiling widely as we all congratulated her on her recent weight loss—the result of taking the diet drug fen-phen.

The celebration didn’t last long, however, as this “miracle drug” was soon banned after research revealed it could cause heart valve damage.

Carol rapidly regained the weight, which sadly left her feeling ashamed and like a failure—something many of us with a history of yo-yo dieting can relate to.

Top Podcasts
Fen-phen, along with SnackWell’s cookies (lived on them!) and the President’s Physical Fitness Test (so humiliating!), are just a few of the topics covered in Maintenance Phase, a new podcast I’m really digging.

In addition to this show, following are a few other podcasts from a diverse range of thought leaders on subjects including diet-culture, fat-positivity, Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating and more.

It's my hope that their stories, experience, knowledge and wisdom will help support you on your journey toward a more peaceful relationship with food and your body.

>Maintenance Phase
Co-hosted by Aubrey Gordon (Your Fat Friend) and Michael Hobbes (You’re Wrong About), the podcast “debunks the junk science behind health fads, wellness scams and nonsensical nutrition advice.”

As a longtime fan of Aubrey’s work, I’m also super excited about her new book, What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat.

>Fierce Fatty
Fat activist Victoria Welsby “helps plus-size people feel confident in their body so that they can stop giving a f*ck what other people think and live life with freedom and joy.”

Topics range from fat shaming and fat fertility to celebrity weight loss and dating while plus-size.

>Hearing Our Own Voice
A former wellness coach turned writer, speaker and educator, Melissa Toler describes her new show as “an anti-diet, weight-inclusive podcast that centers the stories and experiences of Black health and wellness professionals.”

Episodes include interviews with Black advocates, authors, dietitians, fitness instructors and more.

A Few More…
If you’d like a few more podcast recommendations, check out Food Psych; Body Kindness; Love, Food; Body Image with Bri and Dietitians Unplugged.

I hope you find these resources helpful!

4 Intuitive Eating Tips for a Peaceful Thanksgiving

However your holiday will look this year, if you or someone in your circle has a fraught relationship with food, Thanksgiving can be a challenging time.

Following are four Intuitive Eating tips to help you navigate the holiday (and every day) with greater ease.

1. Fire Your Internal Food Police
Your internal food police are the loud, relentless voices in your head that make you feel bad about your eating.

They try to enforce the unreasonable rules our diet and wellness cultures have created and make you feel guilty and ashamed about your food choices. And, they compel you to take compensatory measures to make up for your “food sins,” like exercising excessively or cleansing post-holiday—unhelpful behaviors that usually backfire.

In order to have a peaceful relationship with food, you must fire your food police by challenging your food rules and beliefs and removing any morality and judgment surrounding food.

Keep in mind that…

• All foods are morally and emotionally equal regardless of their nutritional value. A baked sweet potato is equal to sweet potato pie; eating one or the other doesn’t make you good or bad.

• Making peace with food means giving yourself unconditional permission to eat whatever looks good, tastes good and feels good in your body, without internal judgment or external influence.

• All foods fit in a balanced diet. This includes everything from turkey, stuffing and green-bean casserole to Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes and mac-and-cheese. (Of course, if you have food allergy or intolerance, this needs to be honored.)

Normal eating includes sometimes eating simply for pleasure and sometimes eating until you're stuffed. Neither one is a crime you have to pay a penance for.

Unless you stole your food or harmed someone to get it, there’s no place for guilt in your eating world.

2. Set Boundaries with External Food Police
Your external food police are people who say things like “Do you really need more mashed potatoes?” or “You’re gonna regret that second slice of pecan pie!”

Regardless of the food cop’s intentions, you have the right to eat whatever you want without having someone negatively comment on, criticize, judge or question your choices.

Whether it’s a family member, partner or friend patrolling your eating, it’s important to set boundaries regarding what comments are inappropriate and unwelcomed. Here are a few comebacks:

• I trust myself to give my body what it needs.

• You mind your own plate and I’ll mind mine.

• I know you mean well, but your comments aren’t helpful.

Head on over to here for more ideas.

3. Say No to Food Pushers
Whether they are trying to express their love, be a gracious host or offload their extra food, food pushers can be tricky to say no to, especially when they’re persistent. However, you’re under no obligation to take food you don’t want, either because you’re full or simply don’t desire it.

If a simple “No, thank you” doesn’t work, try responding with:

• It looks so yummy but I’m full; I’d love to take some home or get your recipe.

• I’d really love to eat more, but couldn’t possibly swallow another bite without feeling uncomfortably full.

• I know I usually say yes, however, I’m trying to honor the messages my body is sending me, and right now, it's telling me it's full! I’m sure you can respect this.

4. Squash the Diet and Weight Talk
“I’m being so bad! Today is definitely my cheat day!"

“This is a calorie bomb! We'll need to burn this off tomorrow!”

"I can't believe how many carbs I'm eating. I'm going to pay for this!"

During the Thanksgiving feast, it’s not uncommon to hear remarks like these. Nor is it uncommon for such remarks to trigger feelings of anxiety, guilt and shame.

Set an intention before the festivities to not participate in diet and weight talk. Instead, switch the topic to books, movies, sports or the reason for the season—gratitude.

I hope these tips help you have a more peaceful and relaxed relationship with food, both on Thanksgiving Day and every day of the year.