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In This Issue:
Featured Wellness Message: Think Twice About Post-Holiday Dieting
Recommended Resource: It’s Not You, It’s Your Diet
My Featured Blog Post: Prepare and Plan for 2022 by Clarifying Your Values
My Recent Blog Post: Fall Reminds Us About the Importance of Letting Go
My Psychology Today Article: How to Resist the Urge to Binge Eat Over the Holidays
Think Twice About Post-Holiday Dieting
Whether you’re going to a tamale party, a get-together with friends, a New Year’s Eve bash, or hosting something intimate at home, I hope you, like me, will enjoy the people and the atmosphere even more than the food on your plate.
What I hope you won’t do is start dieting. Many people use the holidays as an excuse to diet or to talk about starting a diet in the new year. Remember that diets are harmful. Diets disconnect your mind and body by overriding your body’s messages about what you need and what you enjoy. They often lead to your body slowing your metabolism and holding onto every calorie in an attempt to conserve energy. They also lead to shame when the rules and behaviors become unsustainable. Finally, research shows that dieting can lead to eating disorders—and those can be fatal.
Plain and simple: diets are counterproductive. ​
Grandma’s cookies may be too delicious to pass up—and that’s okay. (I can still picture the cookies my grandmother used to make, and oh how I wish she were still able to be with us on holidays and treat us with her baking too.) ​By all means, enjoy the special foods that give you pleasure.
And also enjoy a newfound strength in taking charge of your holiday mindset. Find something meaningful about the holiday or event to focus on, listen to your body, be kind to yourself when experiencing negative emotions, and savor every moment of connection.
See you in the new year!
It’s Not You, It’s Your Diet
Learn why diets fail us and what we can do instead
“Most people think that diets fail because of lack of willpower,” says Dr. Kelli Rugless, a clinical psychologist and certified eating disorders specialist, in her seven-minute video about the harmful effects of diets. “That’s not the case. They fail because our biological drive outweighs our commitment to our goals.
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“Dieting completely disrupts our ability to listen and to be aware of our internal bodily cues—cues that are designed to keep us alive, like hunger and fullness and rest,” Rugless continues. When diets disrupt our mind-body communication—by rigidly telling us how, when, how much, and what to feed ourselves—we lose touch with our innate wisdom.
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Dr. Rugless uses toddlers as an example of our born ability to perfectly know when and how much to eat. Unfortunately, food trends, cultural traditions, fad diets, and even our own emotions or distorted thinking can interfere with our body’s messages to us.
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If you aren’t in tune with your body’s messages, you can practice listening. Simply pause before and during a meal to check in with what your body is really craving and when it’s nearing fullness. Practice eating enough, getting started before you are too hungry, and stopping before you feel too full.
To hear Dr. Rugless talk about the damaging effects of dieting, watch this video.
“Counting calories is not the answer, because eating is not the problem.” —Anita Johnson
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“Studies show that one-third to two-thirds of dieters wind up regaining more weight than they lost on a diet. Not to mention, dieting can cause some harmful side effects like weight cycling, food preoccupation, low self-esteem, poor mental health, and eating disorders… So, at best, dieting can taint your relationship with food and tarnish your self-esteem. At worst, it can lead to a full-blown eating disorder.” —Kara Lydon, RD, LDN
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Prepare and Plan for 2022 by Clarifying Your Values
Set yourself up for success by revisiting what’s most important to you
Before we know it, 2022 will be here, and a new year is a great opportunity to take stock and make plans for how you want the next year to be. Revisiting your values is an excellent way to set yourself up for the months ahead.
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Values are the core beliefs that guide each of us in how we act, and they underlie how we think. They’re essentially the compass we follow. They can take us in the direction of who we want to be, how we want to treat people, and how we want to respond to situations.
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Research tells us that establishing values can improve our relationships with others, boost our health, and help reduce stress. That’s because clear values can guide us in establishing a strong sense of self.
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Ready to clarify your values? Complete the values-clarification exercise in the full article, which you can read on my blog.
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Fall Reminds Us About the Importance of Letting Go
How will you make way for new things to come?
While the shifting of seasons brings many changes to our physical world, it can also spark change in our personal lives.
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Just as trees shed their leaves, letting go is part of the cycle that makes way for something new. Yet, it can be difficult to know exactly what to get rid of.
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Here are some signs to look out for to help you decide if it’s time to let go:
It makes you upset.It’s destructive. It’s not productive.
Do you have a relationship, a job, habits, or even a box of junk that you need to let go of? Explore this topic more by reading my full blog post.
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How to Resist the Urge to Binge Eat Over the Holidays
Use mindfulness to experience joy and stop obsessing about food
This holiday season, when it comes to your relationship with food, change is possible when you’re willing to try something new. If you experience an urge to binge eat, being mindful can make all the difference.
Paying attention to what you are doing, when you are doing it, intercepts autopilot mode. It gives you time to pause rather than reacting with a habitual behavior.
Are you ready to become empowered? Do you want to feel more in control in the moments that follow an urge?
Even if you’ve had trouble stopping binge eating in the past, this holiday season can be different. If you’re willing to try something new, read the tips in the Psychology Today article I wrote this time last year. You can begin to change your relationship with food.
I’ve seen people transform their eating over and over again by staying mindful, building helpful habits, and cultivating joy. Happy Holidays!
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