Tips for eating mindfully this holiday season!

Shannon Cuciz talks with Whitney Harms from A Little Nutrition about how to eat mindfully this holiday season.

Remember – holidays are special. But they aren’t usually RARE. In fact, for many of although the end of the year is a holiday time we often make excuses to over eat, fill up on simple starches or sweets, and consume a few extra glasses of alcohol. The problem with this is when it happens every birthday, anniversary, every holiday dinner, and even every weekend! This can make up anywhere from 25 – 50% of the calories we eat and doesn’t set us up to be our happiest, healthiest selves and is a common trap to fall into.

A few other very simple strategies:

Your Fork is your Friend. Sometimes when we are eating, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company we aren’t paying attention to what or how much we are eating and drinking. Try not to load your fork up with the next bite until you’ve finished the one that it’s your mouth. This is a very easy way to incorporate mindful eating into your holiday dinner’s and will naturally slow down your eating pace. No one will even notice!

Drink more water!! Our thirst and hunger cues in our brain are very closely related and therefore sometimes we will mistake thirst for hunger. To be mindful of whether or not you are actually hungry while standing near the snack table, try first sipping down a large glass of water to easily reduce the portion size of some of the special treats that are usually widely available at this time of year. If you are someone who enjoys a glass of wine or other beverage try alternating those drinks with ‘dressed up water’ to stay hydrated and also control the number of empty calories you might be consuming while catching up with friends and family! Making a ‘spritzer’ is an easy and delicious way to enjoy all the fancy without the extra calories and sugar

Hope these tips help!

Stay tuned for more tips in December!

~Whitney Harms,