Holiday Food Survival Tips

1. Decide what you’re willing to do and not do about food.  Basically you have three choices:  you can avoid food (restrict), stuff yourself (binge), or eat reasonably.
2. If you don’t eat, you’ll feel weak and hungry.  You may feel virtuous or safe when you say no to tempting holiday foods, but you’ll also feel deprived, cranky, and vulnerable to bingeing.
3. If you stuff yourself, you can experience lots of food, but you won’t enjoy it very much.  You may feel panicky and want to purge.  You’ll also feel ashamed of yourself and guilty about your lack of control.
4. Follow your regular meal plan.  Don’t start a new diet or try to prove something by overeating.  Also, don’t fast the day before a holiday meal.  If you do, you’ll feel full too quickly and be tempted to lose control.  By eating regularly you won’t have to deal with swings between starved and stuffed.
5. Decide you can eat in moderation and enjoy the array of holiday foods.
6. Repeat to yourself:  “I am just as entitled to holiday joy, fun, excitement, peace, good times, and friendly companionship as the next person”.

Taken from Gurze Magazine (2005)

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