Mindful Eating Practices for Happy Holidays

Ah, the holidays. It’s a wonderful time of the year filled with appetite and indulgence. We’re so used to being in control and staying on track with our health that we sometimes forget to let go and enjoy what we have.

This year, try discovering the benefits of mindful eating and indulgence with these helpful holiday eating tips in mind.

Treat Yourself: Mindful Eating and Mindful Indulgence Over the Holidays

photo credit: Cjboffoli

The holiday season is always exciting and full of celebration. Gatherings with our family, coworkers, or friends are usually invitations to treat ourselves to copious amounts of food, dessert, and alcohol. This can lead to internal conflict and awkward social situations for those who want to eat healthy and practice good habits. However, should the holidays ever be that personally challenging?

Put simply: you don’t need to survive the holidays because there’s no real risk in indulging occasionally. In fact, counting calories can actually be counterproductive. I’m not suggesting that you completely ditch your healthy eating plan—I’m suggesting that you make mindful eating a part of it. Instead of resisting the urge to indulge during the holiday season, try a little mindful indulgence; it will connect your mind with your body and help you feel better as a whole.

What is Mindful Eating?

Contrary to popular belief, mindful eating is not about dieting and it’s not about calorie counting or restriction—it’s more about sensual and emotional awareness. Mindful eating encourages you to live in the moment and listen to your body. It requires that you pay attention to all your senses and fully experience the process of eating.

Mindful eating practices entail awareness of what you’re eating and how you enjoy it. It’s not specifically about sacrifice and self-discipline— it’s about fully experiencing your food and the various pleasures you derive from it.

Have Peace of Mind and Let go

If we’re too caught up trying to control our bodies and environments all of the time, the tension between the mind and body can build up and lead to an unbalanced life. That’s why it’s sometimes important to let go and practice mindful indulgence.

After all, true control would mean you’re able to eat clean most of the time and choose when you want to indulge.

For many people there can be clashing emotions between the pleasure associated with food and its affects on your health. However, in order to experience true peace of mind and practice mindful eating, you need to recognize the power you have over your own mental and physical capabilities. You need to let go of thoughts that you’re breaking the rules and any guilt you may associate with decadent foods. This creates conflict and stress inside, weakening our digestive strength. When you eat mindfully, you’re in control of your body and mind’s competing desires.

Enjoy the Experience of Eating

The holidays allow us to celebrate life, love, and gratitude— eating is one of the universal ways we all do this. That’s why one of the most important aspects of mindful eating is enjoying the experience of eating. This is part of the joy of the human experience!

The natural process of eating involves all of the senses. Tasting, experiencing, and enjoying food is one of the most human things we do. Mindful eating takes us back to our simple roots. One of the key aspects of mindful eating practices is taking your time to really taste food and savor the flavors. Take your time to chew and relish the textures and sensations you feel. Pay attention to what you’re eating, why you’re eating, who you’re eating with, and the pleasure you get from eating.

Another great mindful eating tip is to try tasting and identifying all of the ingredients in your meal. This allows you to live in the moment and focus on the food you’re eating. It’s an even greater and more fun challenge when you haven’t made the food yourself. When you think about the time and care put into prepared foods, it gives you a different perspective of eating them. Breathe, relax, and connect with your body.

Benefits of Mindful Eating Over the Holidays

Mindfulness can help your mind root itself within your body, focus compulsive desires, and lead to an increased feeling of peace overall. Among other more specific benefits, practicing mindfulness can reduces stress hormones, relieve anxiety and depression, improve your attention span, and reduce cravings. If that’s not a good enough reason to practice mindful eating, maybe your gut can convince you. Studies suggest that mindful eating can help you digest food better and absorb nutrients more fully. Thoroughly chewing and fully tasting your food is one of the most powerful steps you can take to improve digestion. When we eat in this way, we often end up actually eating less, since we are more connected to our body’s hunger mechanism.

The holidays come with a lot more than material gift-giving and eating; there is tradition, family, and gratitude. It’s important to balance your values and think about what means most in life. Those values are more important than sticking to healthy meal plans. The holidays are not a time to practice self-discipline and improvement— it’s a time of connection, reconnection, building relationships, and positivity. Choose mindful eating and indulgence over the holidays and never lose sight of those values.

Holiday Eating and Indulgence in Moderation

Practicing moderation is one of the most valuable skills you can develop as a person. It’s a sign of strength of character and will make you a lot happier in the long run. For the most part you should adhere to your healthy eating habits and continue being critical of the choices you make for your mind and body—but let yourself have some holiday indulgence sometimes…mindfully of course!