Dec 07th 2020

8 Tips for Mindful Eating

Written by

Laurel Sterling, MA, RD, CDN

Laurel is a registered dietitian-nutritionist and certified nutritionist and has worked in the natural products industry since 2000. She has a passion for empowering others through nutritional education.

It’s very easy to get derailed this time of year from our otherwise healthy eating habits. Watching holiday meal commercials or shopping for your regular groceries are enough to tempt anyone to stray from normal routines. With all of those delectable foods displayed everywhere and bombarding us in the face, it’s hard to resist. Some look forward all year long to that tantalizing holiday meal and leftovers that linger for days... then quickly regret overdoing it. How can we enjoy the holidays, but not overdo it? Below are some tips to keep us on track and help start the holiday season off on the right foot.

Stay on Track with Healthy Eating

The first step, with any event that includes food, is to not arrive completely ravenous. It’s best if we have a healthy, filling breakfast and lunch, packed with protein, fat, and veggies. Depending on the time of day that the meal will be served, a small snack filled with protein and fats (a protein drink or bar, a small handful of almonds, or a hardboiled egg) ahead of time is helpful. NOTE: For those of us who are the chef for the day, we should try to avoid over-snacking or sampling our recipes too much, as this can also be a problem.
If there are hors d’oeuvres set out prior to the meal, we should try selecting veggies and protein while also limiting how much we snack on.
Once we sit down to the glorious meal, we must choose our portions wisely. We should take small, ¼ c. size portions, if we'd like to try several of the options offered on the table. We can always have more later if we're still hungry, but at least we've sampled what we wanted to. Typically, we won't feel deprived that way.
Choosing less calorie dense foods will help. For instance, having the turkey, plain veggies, and some cranberry relish will be a better option with less calories versus turkey, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, and homemade buns with butter.
We should also practice moderation with wine, beer, and alcoholic drinks due to the excess calories they add. Drinking water with our meal adds no calories and will fill up our stomach, so we won’t be loading it with so much food.
We need to listed to our hunger and satiety cues, and be mindful of when we are eating. We can enjoy the great company and wonderful atmosphere, and eat slowly, savoring each bite, and putting our fork down occasionally. This will help with digestion as well. Our digestive juices flow better when we are in a rested and relaxed state of mind.
When desserts come out, it's time to check in with our hunger level. If we think we have room and haven't overdone it yet, we can have a small ¼ c. or less sampling of a few different kinds. We'll likely be more satisfied if we allow ourselves to try a few. Research has seen that we taste only the first few bites of our food, and then we just continue to eat.
Last, but not least, we don't need to be a member of the “Clean Your Plate” club. We will feel better and keep the weight from piling on, and this is the same rule of thumb that we can continue to use after the holiday season.

Everybody is different, and it's key to do what works best for us and follow through. Keep mindful and enjoy your holiday. Cheers to good health!