How to Avoid Bingeing Over the Holidays

If you celebrate the classic American holidays, then perhaps you feel overwhelmed with the amount of food and planning that goes into the months of November and December.

Every year the holidays are kicked off with Halloween then the food builds and builds from there. For many, this can be a very anxious time of year and with so much focus being on food, it creates the perfect storm for binge eating and emotional eating to appear.

If you have struggled with binge eating in the past around the holiday season, you must be reading this out of hopes that this year will be different. It absolutely can be different!

1) Build a Support Team

If you have never had support going into the holidays, let this year be different. A support team can be made up of close friends and family, a doctor, dietitian or therapist, or a combination. Professionals and close loved ones are great to have on your support team.

Working with professionals on body image, emotional stressors, and food confidence can all help make this year different. My recommendation is finding a therapist and dietitian who are specialized in eating disorders and intuitive eating. These will be the best professionals to help you work through binge eating around the holidays and into the New Year.

2) Don’t Skip Meals

This is one of the biggest culprits of bingeing. Its justified to think that if you are going to have a big meal you can or “should” not eat leading up to that meal to “save your appetite, or make room",” However, this is an old way of thinking. Research shows that irregular intake leads to more grazing/mindless eating and bingeing later.

By not eating, you are only setting yourself up to feel out of control around food later in the day. This year rather than skipping meals, try eating breakfast, lunch and dinner consistently every day.

3) Nothin is Off Limits

Deprivation is another big culprit of bingeing. When we tell ourselves that we cannot have something, what typically happens? That something is then all we can think about or desire! In addition, we begin to feel “out of control” around those foods.

Think about children on Halloween. When not presented with candy or fun foods on a normal basis, Halloween candy becomes so exciting that children can have a hard time stopping themselves and may have a “candy binge” if you will. Adults are just as capable of this. Deprivation almost always leads to bingeing.

I am not telling you to eat candy all the time, of course as a dietitian I recognize that candy is not a food that should replace other nutrition. Although, fun foods can be eaten daily and can fit into a healthy lifestyle. Find times to enjoy fun foods without shame or guilt. Plan on having dessert with dinner or bake something to enjoy with others.

4) Be Mindful of Hunger and Fullness

Another challenge throughout the holidays is mindfulness. We are always buzzing around, feeling behind or overwhelmed this time of year. Mindfulness is HARD. Food gives us a great opportunity to slow down, pause, and take care of ourselves. During these chaotic periods, try to slow down as much as possible. Take breaks at work, set timers to go for walks or have meals, do some deep breathing exercises periodically.

When we slow down, we become more mindful and connected to our body’s signals. When you feel hungry, honor that. When you notice fullness, honor it. By connecting more to your body’s hunger and fullness signals, you begin to trust yourself more around food, making eating throughout the holidays much easier.

If you’re feeling alone and stuck, let us help! We would love to be on your support team heading into the holidays and New Year.

5 Ways To Start Accepting Your Body Here and Now

We can describe body acceptance in three stages:

1. Body Tolerance:

   I may not like my body how it is, there are parts I can say I strongly dislike, but I am working to “tolerate” those parts.

2. Body Acceptance

   I feel neutral about my body. I do not hate or dislike my body, however I do not love my body.

3. Body Appreciation

   I can say there are parts of my body I love. I feel no disgust or hatred towards my body. I appreciate what my body looks like and what it allows me to do.

What stage do you feel you are in?

It is also normal to oscillate between a couple phases, especially when this is new to you.

---

Lets talk about how to get to the Acceptance stage.

Consider this to be the neutral stage. There will be hard days and easier days. Sometimes we feel confident and other times we may want to hide. However, the majority of the time we are feeling neutral about our body. Recognizing your body for what it allows you to do is sometimes an easier part of this stage than learning to like how you look. For example, I’m grateful I have two strong calves because I am strong and can jump, leap, and squat.

There are always triggers that make it difficult to stay in the stage of Body Acceptance. At first, you may need to spend more time being mindful of these triggers and go out of your way to make your relationship with your body a more peaceful space.

Here are 5 things you can do to help yourself remain in the space of Body Acceptance, and perhaps work towards Body Appreciation.

1) Diversify Your Feed

Social media plays a big role in how we view and love our own bodies. You may not realize it, so check your social media feed now and see what kind of bodies are represented? Do you see mostly one gender or sex? Mostly one color body? Do you see any self-expression such as tattoos, colorful hair, etc. Do you see mostly fitness influencers or models? Do any of these bodies look like yours?

I am not one to celebrate social media, I do see the harm it does to many of my clients. However, social media has also been an amazing space for positive change and movements. There is a body positive movement going on right now. There are amazing influencers, dietitians, and therapists on social media doing their best to portray positive messages and reduce fat shaming or body stigma. You can diversify your feed by following more fitness influencers in different body sizes, or add to the food accounts you follow with intuitive eating dietitians!

Social media can become a positive place, but it is all in what you make it. If there are things that are too triggering, you may find it more healing to get off of social media all together. You could also delete your page and create a new account, a fresh start! I can say without shame, my Instagram is mostly intuitive eating/body positive, cats and plants!!

2) No More Comparing

How many times do you catch yourself thinking, “I wish my X looked like theirs.” Or even wanting to ask “You are so thin! What do you do?”

These are thoughts are so negative and can cause a lot of hard to your mental health and relationship with your body. Reframing these thoughts, or using distraction can be one way to combat them.

Reframing is the act of changing the first thought that comes to mind when you are comparing your body to someone else’s. For example, the original thought is, “I wish my body looked like theirs.” Reframing this looks like saying to yourself, “They are a beautiful person, but just because my body doesn’t look like theirs doesn’t mean I am not beautiful also.”

It can be hard to not compare or have negative thoughts about your own body. One thing you can do today is write a list of parts of your body you like or are neutral about. Too often we think about the things we don’t like about ourselves. Let’s spend a little bit of time complimenting ourselves!

3) Wear Comfortable Clothing That Fits Today

The clothing you wear is a constant daily reminder of how you feel in your own body. Do you have clothing in your closet that fits you at your current size? What about under garments?

Its not uncommon to hold on to old clothing that fit you while you were a smaller size. Often our clothing has a lot of memories attached to them and it can be hard to get rid of them. However, hanging onto clothing can be harmful to how we perceive the way we “should” look. Donate the clothes, you will always have the memories.

When shopping for clothes, tell yourself that you are going to buy clothes that fit your body today.

4) Affirmations

Consider what you tell yourself throughout the day, what is your self talk like? I know affirmations sound cheesy, but imagine if we talked to ourselves all day in affirmations?

Changing how we talk to ourselves can help change the way we believe in ourselves and how we view ourselves. Having trouble thinking of affirmations? There are a lot of Apps that create affirmations for you and send you them throughout the day as a little reminder.

All this step is asking you to do is talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend. You’re worthy of that.

Here are some affirmations to get you started:

“My body is worthy of nourishment.”

“I’m not going to sacrifice my mental health to have the perfect body.”

“I am strong.”

“I am powerful.”

“I am worthy of love.”

“I give my body permission to change.”

“I will allow myself to find pleasure in food without feeling guilt or judgment.”

“I am beautiful no matter how my body changes.”

“I am worthy of the time spent on healing my relationship with food and my body.”

Looking for more ideas? Check out our Instagram for more affirmations.

5) Focus on Health, Not Weight

Believe it or not, health does not equal weight.

Research has shown that it is more important to focus on what makes us feel good and healthy behaviors than changing your weight. If you’re wondering what this could look like, think about things you can ADD to your life such as more whole foods, more walking or stretching, more socializing with friends and laughter.

When you limit or restrict yourself, this typically moves us further from positive changes than not and has more opportunity to hurt our physical and mental health.

---

Body Appreciation is a journey, no one gets to that place overnight, or even over the course of a year. It is something to work hard at every day but ultimately leads to the most freedom and happiness.

We’re here cheering you on!

5 Signs of Bulimia Nervosa

It is not uncommon to be living with an eating disorder for many years without receiving support or recognizing how big of a problem it is to your health and disruption to your life. Eating disorders often occur in secret and thrive in isolation. The less an eating disorder is "exposed” or addressed, the more likely it is to exist under the radar. That is why it is so important to recognize these 5 signs and seek help, or encourage your loved one to get support.

What is Bulimia Nervosa?

Bulimia Nervosa is a serious eating disorder that affects your physical and mental health. The National Eating Disorder Association describes Bulimia Nervosa as:

Bulimia nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting designed to undo or compensate for the effects of binge eating.

National Eating Disorder Association

Since Bulimia Nervosa is considered a mental illness, it’s diagnostic criteria comes from the DSM 5 (Diagnostic Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition). Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by bingeing and purging cycles.

You may have experienced a binge if you eat a larger quantity of food in one sitting (a quantity that is much larger than you would typically eat and leaves you feeling uncomfortably full or sick), and a sense of lack of control while eating.

A key part to bingeing that is a hallmark of Bulimia Nervosa, is that after a binge you use some sort of compensatory behavior. Meaning there is an urge to “get rid of” the food you just consumed by using behaviors such as vomiting, laxatives, exercise, etc.

To receive a diagnosis of Bulimia Nervosa, one must be using those behaviors for a specific duration as outlined in the DSM 5. However, if you or your loved one struggle with this, even on what feels like an infrequent basis, I would strongly urge you to get support rather than let this continue. You are deserving of a better relationship with food and your body.

If you’re wondering if you or your loved one may have Bulimia Nervosa, here are 5 signs to look for:

5 Signs of Bulimia Nervosa

Sudden and extreme weight fluctuations

It is a common misconception that individuals with eating disorders must look frail and very thin. This is not the case for every eating disorder and individual. If you notice a drastic fluctuation in weight, this could be a sign that something is going on. Although, it is also possible for someone’s weight not to change in a noticeable way. Note: please be cautious if you have noticed changes in your loved one’s weight and feel concerned. Body image is a strong component to developing an eating disorder and your loved one may be sensitive to this information.

Frequent trips to the bathroom after eating

Frequent trips to the bathroom right after eating could be a potential warning sign. When someone is suffering from bulimia nervosa they may be using the bathroom after a meal or snack as an opportunity to purge the food they just ate via vomiting, laxatives or diuretics.

Obsessive behaviors and thoughts around food

This can be difficult to identify in today’s world where it is common to negatively talk about yours and others’ appearances or follow a restrictive diet. Food and weight are a normal conversation for many people. If you feel your loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, please know that these conversation topics can be a big trigger for them and cause them to use more eating disorder behaviors. Individuals struggling with an eating disorder may be obsessive around food to the point that it causes a lot of anxiety, fear, and may cause them to isolate or withdraw. The difference between dieting thoughts around food and eating disorder thoughts are that an eating disorder is much more disruptive to your quality of life.

Extreme mood swings, irritability and depression when food feels chaotic

Do you know how it feels to be hungry and cranky? Multiply this by 10 and now you know a glimpse of what it is like to be living with an eating disorder. Bulimia nervosa thrives off of trying to do things perfectly. When food feels chaotic or out of your control, it can cause big mood swings and fear. In addition, the restriction followed by bingeing and purging can be a dangerous combination.

Attempting to purge via vomiting or misuse of laxatives or diuretics

The most common aspect of bulimia nervosa is self-induced purging, or vomiting. If you are struggling with this, or suspect your loved one is struggling with this, please take caution in how you approach them and help them to find the support they need and deserve. Physical effects of purging includes damage to the teeth, specifically the enamel, and the esophagus. Often individuals who purge complain of acid reflux. Other forms of purging may include misuse of laxatives and diuretics. Both can be dangerous and cause irreversible side effects to the GI tract.

How do you approach a loved one?

First I want to say thank you for caring so deeply about your loved one and recognizing the difficult path they are on. Speculating your loved one has an eating disorder is a very hard space to be in because choosing whether or not to say something is a big decision.

It is normal for this conversation to elicit a strong reaction from the individual with the possible eating disorder. Recognize that this defensiveness is not coming from a place of ill-intent, but likely a place of fear, embarrassment, or the eating disorder itself being defensive.

Remaining calm and giving your loved one the opportunity to process next steps with you can be a great first step. Offer to help them find specialized providers and remind them you are a safe person for them to talk to.

I think I have Bulimia Nervosa, What do I do now?

You’re brave for reading this and for looking for guidance. It can be scary, the unknown of what to do next or what the next steps look like. However, you are deserving of a better life and it is possible to recover.

The first step is building your treatment team. Typically a treatment team consists of a therapist, registered dietitian, and physician. You deserve a team of professionals who are specialized in eating disorders, nothing but the best!

Once you have this team together, the hardest step is making the choice to show up to the appointments and trust in your team. Things sometimes can get worse before they get better, but don’t let this scare you. You are stronger than you think, heck, you’ve made it this far!

If you, or someone you care about, has disordered thoughts around food that may indicate a problem, do not hesitate to reach out or schedule a call.