How I Handle So Much Eating During the Holidays, With an Eating Disorder
Eating is often times a stressful thing for me. Its really difficult for me to not care what people are thinking of me while I'm eating or what I'm eating. And during the holidays there are so many events that are centered around eating. Kinda my personal worst nightmare. So how do I deal? How do I keep the panic at bay? And what other parts of my life does this stress effect?
Doing Only What You Can
You can't do everything but you can do anything. There is only so much preparation you can do within reason while still maintaining your sanity. So I only do what I can. I tell my boyfriend and my closest friends are aware that I really need to maintain a healthy lifestyle in my free time during the holidays. If I'm healthy during my free time then I feel less guilty when I eat all of the yummy and decadent things at Christmas parties and such. And when we do eat comfort food we try to make it all from scratch. This has helped a lot. When you really invest time and energy into making your own chicken pot pie rather then putting a frozen one in the microwave for a few minutes you are less likely to eat that for dinner every night of the week (we never make our own pot pies, cuz time is always getting away from us). Roasted veggies are another favorite of ours when we are trying to stay healthy but don't want to eat salads three times a day.
Pause And Smell The Autumn Leaves (cuz the roses probably aren't in bloom right now)
I've talked about how much I love going on walks and fall/winter is my favorite time of year to go on walks. Morning walks, evening walks, if I get a cancellation in the middle of my day.....I'm gonna go on a walk (or take advantage of the break to remember to eat lunch). Another great help with exercising has been an interval timer app I've downloaded onto my phone. You can set how long you want each rep to be and how many times it'll repeat. It dings at the end of each rep. (I really hope I'm using the correct terms). This makes exercising in my living room go by so quickly. So I'll do bridges for 30 seconds and when I hear the ding I stand up and do light weights for the next 30 seconds until I hear the ding and so on and so on with whatever exercise is feeling good in my body that day. Sometimes its just stretching and other times I sweat buckets and really get my cardio in.
Ask For Help
No one should have to go through things like mental health issues and eating disorders alone. So if you are have a sad, low or just in general difficult time? Ask for help! I told my boyfriend the other night that I think I'm gonna need extra hugs this month. And he knows that I'm serious and not just trying to be cute. When I'm struggling, I need encouraging words and extra hugs to get me through. Years ago I would have been embarrassed to admit this but now it is necessary to keep me healthy through a busy and difficult time of year.
Remind Yourself How Awesome You Are
Make an inspiring and encouraging quote your lock or home screen on your phone. Or print it out and put it on your mirror. Tape it to the dash in your car. And when you see that quote or affirmation speak it out loud to yourself. Remind yourself that you are strong. You are beautiful. You can have self control. And that everything will be alright.
Doing Only What You Can
You can't do everything but you can do anything. There is only so much preparation you can do within reason while still maintaining your sanity. So I only do what I can. I tell my boyfriend and my closest friends are aware that I really need to maintain a healthy lifestyle in my free time during the holidays. If I'm healthy during my free time then I feel less guilty when I eat all of the yummy and decadent things at Christmas parties and such. And when we do eat comfort food we try to make it all from scratch. This has helped a lot. When you really invest time and energy into making your own chicken pot pie rather then putting a frozen one in the microwave for a few minutes you are less likely to eat that for dinner every night of the week (we never make our own pot pies, cuz time is always getting away from us). Roasted veggies are another favorite of ours when we are trying to stay healthy but don't want to eat salads three times a day.
Pause And Smell The Autumn Leaves (cuz the roses probably aren't in bloom right now)
I've talked about how much I love going on walks and fall/winter is my favorite time of year to go on walks. Morning walks, evening walks, if I get a cancellation in the middle of my day.....I'm gonna go on a walk (or take advantage of the break to remember to eat lunch). Another great help with exercising has been an interval timer app I've downloaded onto my phone. You can set how long you want each rep to be and how many times it'll repeat. It dings at the end of each rep. (I really hope I'm using the correct terms). This makes exercising in my living room go by so quickly. So I'll do bridges for 30 seconds and when I hear the ding I stand up and do light weights for the next 30 seconds until I hear the ding and so on and so on with whatever exercise is feeling good in my body that day. Sometimes its just stretching and other times I sweat buckets and really get my cardio in.
Ask For Help
No one should have to go through things like mental health issues and eating disorders alone. So if you are have a sad, low or just in general difficult time? Ask for help! I told my boyfriend the other night that I think I'm gonna need extra hugs this month. And he knows that I'm serious and not just trying to be cute. When I'm struggling, I need encouraging words and extra hugs to get me through. Years ago I would have been embarrassed to admit this but now it is necessary to keep me healthy through a busy and difficult time of year.
Remind Yourself How Awesome You Are
Make an inspiring and encouraging quote your lock or home screen on your phone. Or print it out and put it on your mirror. Tape it to the dash in your car. And when you see that quote or affirmation speak it out loud to yourself. Remind yourself that you are strong. You are beautiful. You can have self control. And that everything will be alright.
Comments
Post a Comment