A holiday is a dieter’s get out of jail free card. On these significant days, many of us feel like it’s “ok” to give ourselves permission to eat anything that we want.  The food, itself, tends to have a special significance as well because we often reserve certain dishes only for specific holidays!

Before I started eating intuitively, all of the major holidays and my birthday, of course, were my “eat whatever you want” special days.  Even though I eat what I want every day now, in my mind, I have continued to associate the holidays with a time to eat certain foods. In my family, turkey and candied yams were the special items I ate for Thanksgiving and Christmas, Easter focused on ham and dressing, and Memorial Day, well this day is dedicated to cookout food: grilled hamburger patties and hot dogs covered with barbecue sauce, a side of mac ‘n cheese, and some baked beans.

By checking in with my own body, I’ve learned that eating traditional holiday dishes tend to make me feel heavier than I like to feel. The beauty of learning to eat intuitively is that you can recognize thoughts about what you “should” eat for the holidays and step outside of that default eating pattern and ask yourself what foods do I really want to eat on the holidays. Sometimes, you may want to prepare and eat the “special foods” connected with the holidays and sometimes you may discover that eating less heavy and more colorful foods will actually get you into the satisfied zone.

Permission to eat whatever you want often comes with permission to eat to the point of feeling stuffed! While the process of eating whatever you want can feel liberating and fun, the after effects of an overfull tummy doesn’t leave me feeling good at all. How about you?

Yet, for years on a holiday, I and most people I know lived with the cycle of eating whatever we wanted, feeling “stuffed” and heavy, and then passing out or sitting around waiting for our stomachs to empty a bit for the next round. When I truly understood, when it truly clicked that feeling stuffed is a sign of overeating, I was like “What’s up with that?” How did feeling stuffed (i.e., overeating) become normal?

Like me, you may have experienced being overfull as having certain warm and soothing sensations. I used to call it “blissing out.” So, respecting my fullness did not feel normal at all. What felt normal was overeating at just about every single meal. The result? Consistent and predictable weight gain.

As an intuitive eater, I have chosen to let go of feeling stuffed, even on the holidays!  Honestly, it took me a couple of years to learn how to listen to my fullness signals because a part of me was comforted by feeling overfull. So, during the beginning months of making intuitive eating principles the foundation of my eating, I spent many meals watching myself get to the point of feeling overfull. Being present with feeling overfull helped me recognize that I really did not like the overfull pressure in my stomach or knowing that I was flooding my body with more food than it needed.

So, with a commitment to intuitive eating, patience with my body and my pattern of overeating, I did eventually experience a breakthrough.  And, I’m not perfect. I do have times when I push up against my fullness and get a little overfull. However, stuffed has lost its appeal and I find joy in the fact that I can respect my fullness. Why? Because honoring my body’s signals to stop eating means that I can support it maintaining a sense of balance and optimal well-being.

One of the unexpected and ultimate gifts that comes from respecting your fullness is that eating becomes even more pleasurable! When you honor your fullness, you get to pass on feeling like you need to roll out of your chair onto the floor and open the top button of your pants. You get to pass on possible feelings of guilt associated with overeating. You get to eat again more quickly and experience the taste and nourishing pleasure of food because your body’s not trying to empty excess food out of your system hours later.

Learning how to listen to your body’s fullness signals is a win-win situation for you and your body. So, if overfull or stuffed is a normal part of your eating experience during the holidays or most days during the year, it’s possible to create a new more joyful and balanced relationship with food.

A holiday can sometimes be one of those days when I might get a bit overfull. I’ve noticed that when I’m presented with a smorgasbord of food, I get excited and tend to want to taste a little bit of everything. When I taste a little bit of everything, it’s easy to sacrifice respecting my fullness for the taste pleasure of food.

Give yourself permission NOT to try everything when a buffet of food is available. Instead, take the time to look at the options and hand-picked the items that will leave you feeling comfortably satisfied. Notice the smells, the colors, the textures and create a plate of food specially for you. Try this trick during the summer holidays and let me know how it works for you!

Eat Intuitively, Move Joyfully, Love Your Body!