There are many holidays in one year. And most holidays are very festive and fun; almost all of them involve some sort of food and drinks that really rise up to the occasion. And while holidays events to be happy about, they can spell havoc for an emotional eater. As an emotional eater, you feed your feelings, eat past your fullness and have a preference for food items that are less healthy. The overwhelming good feeling during holidays coupled with ample food offerings might do more harm than good.

1. Do not deprive yourself.

• You already expect that there will be lots of food on the table during holidays. Depriving yourself will just cause you to feel bad and eat so much more later on.
• The holidays are for having a great time with the people nearest and dearest to you. Putting too much focus on controlling your emotional eating will only make you miss all the fun.

2. Plan ahead.

• Making plans an important step to make sure you stay on track if you do not want to bring out the emotional eating monster in you during the holidays.
• If you are the one throwing a party, do careful meal planning to make sure you have a good balance of food items from the food pyramid and that not all your offerings are high in fat, sugar, salt and calories. Remember that what you will also have to eat what you serve and it also reflects on your lifestyle and personality.
• You can also incorporate other activities in the festivities so there’s more to do than eat.
• If you are the other who will attend a holiday party, you can still plan ahead to be able to avoid overeating. Some examples of forward thinking during the holidays include:

– Wearing clothes that fit just right so you will be conscious about not eating too much and risk looking like you will explode

– bringing something healthy if it’s a potluck party so you can be sure that you have something to munch on that is not too bad for you

3. Make wise choices at parties.

• Attending parties is part of what makes the holidays super fun. Don’t deprive yourself of social life just because you are afraid you will overeat. Try these tips instead:

–   Use smaller spoons or plates as much as you can. Seeing a full plate will trick your brain into thinking your emotional eating is already satisfied.

–   Have a little of everything, emphasis on a little. This is especially useful when you attend buffet parties. Tasting everything lets your taste buds experience variety, which lessens the feeling of wanting to eat more.

–   Drink more water so you feel full.

• Bring out the social butterfly in you. Mingle and talk to more people, dance, participate in games—do everything else so that you avoid staying next to food. As a bonus, you get to burn more calories and make new friends too.
• If you have more parties to attend in one night, inform the hosts of your time constraints so you can leave earlier or arrive later than others. This is also a convenient excuse not to indulge in too much food.

4. Practice sharing.

• The abundance of food during the holidays often also end up in an abundance of left overs. Pack your leftovers carefully so you can use them later.
• Combine meats (turkey, pot roasts and lamb chops) with salads and vegetable sides or find healthier recipes to use your leftovers with.
• If you really have too much leftovers and you want to avoid overindulging again, donate the good food to soup kitchens and shelters instead.

Tips

• Remember that stuffing your face with food is not a good way to make your holidays more memorable. While you might enjoy having such great gastronomic delights, once you consume food you won’t remember them anymore. Taking photos, playing with children, making new friends are some ways to spread the joy of the holidays and they all do not make you overeat.
• Make sure to plan more physical post-holiday activities so the food that you ate will not get stuck in your body unproductively.

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