Surviving Festive Food
by Bronwen de Klerk

Festive Season food is just so yummy. It is almost impossible to get through the holidays without a little indulgence here and there. But for those who are trying to lose weight, Christmas time is absolute torture. How can you possibly lose weight when faced with mom’s special oven-roasted potatoes and glazed gammon, followed by steaming fruitcake and full-cream vanilla ice cream for desert?

The Scenario
Let’s say we have two people preparing to go to Christmas lunch:

The first, Miss Naturally Thin, gets dressed and ready to go not giving a second thought about the food that will be served for lunch.

The second, Miss Compulsive Dieter, fights with the chatter in her head as she prepares to go:

‘No… I have to be good. I’m just going to have the white meat – no stuffing, no skin. Then I’ll just fill myself with vegetables so I won’t be tempted to have desert.’

They both arrive at their lunch destination. Miss Naturally Thin picks on some of the snacks while sipping on her drink. Miss Compulsive Dieter argues with her little voice as she sips on her diet soda:

‘I don’t need to eat those snacks – just wait for lunch!’

Lunch is served and Miss Compulsive Dieter follows her plan – fill up on veggies, white meat, no skin – perfect! Then desert is served. Miss Naturally Thin has her serving. Miss Compulsive Dieter gives desert a miss: ‘Oh, no thanks, I couldn’t possibly eat another thing,’ she says, as she feels herself slowly giving in to her little voice:

‘Mmm… that fruit cake looks delicious. Those veggies really didn’t hit the spot. If only I could just have a taste of desert.’

Both ladies go home. Miss Naturally Thin is satisfied and relaxed. Miss Compulsive Dieter feels full and deprived. Her little voice has got louder:

‘I really wish I could have had some fruit cake. Why can’t I be like other thin people that can eat whatever they want without getting fat! I think I need a treat, I feel so deprived.’

The little voice has now taken over… she takes a sharp left to the corner shop. The diet mentality has been pushed aside – she is on binge auto-pilot. The shopping basket gets piled up with cakes and biscuits – alas, they don’t have fruit cake! She gets home and everything she has bought disappears in a blur. Her little voice:

‘It’s just not fruit cake, is it?’

Miss Compulsive Dieter sits there – guilt ridden. ‘Why did I eat all of that food? I was so good at lunch. I’m such a bad person,’ she says while gazing at all the empty wrappers and crumbs. The guilt gets stored along with all those extra kilojoules:

‘I’m a disgusting fat person. I need more self-control or I’ll stay fat forever.’

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? I know it’s a scene I played out many times before finding peace with food and my body. I was constantly bickering with myself. I was never fully present at any event – my mind was always focused on what I should and shouldn’t be eating. If somebody asked me if I enjoyed a particular event, I would always judge it by how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ my eating was.

The Solution
So how do you get through the Festive Season Feasts, guilt free? Become friends with your body and its little voice. Fighting with them just causes a rebellion. The reason that naturally thin people can eat ‘whatever they like’ is that they listen to their bodies. They will only eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. They also don’t deprive themselves. If they feel like having some desert they will do so. Sometimes a taste is all it takes to put out the flames of craving.

And if you do eat something ‘naughty’, let it go. It’s only a ‘naughty’ food because you’ve said it is. Sure, we all know that there is very little nutritional value in a fruit mince pie, but anything in moderation is not going to damage your health. Swaying between deprivation and bingeing certainly will.

So the key to getting through this Festive Season is to listen to your body. Eat only when you are truly hungry and stop when you are full. And know that you can have something whenever you really want it – that way you won’t feel you need to eat everything in sight because tomorrow you are going to be ‘on diet’.

Your body has the wisdom to keep you ‘naturally thin’ – listen to it.

Contact Bronwen to find out more about how you can lose weight without ever needing to diet again…