Your Body is Ready
YOUR BODY DOESN’T NEED HOLIDAY PREPARATION
Your body is ready for the season.
Any season. All of the seasons.
You are allowed to eat food, all year long, without apology or question. You don’t need to earn your food. You don’t need to follow arbitrary food rules. You don’t need to skip out on fun eating. or social eating, or any kind of eating.
Although we are being inundated with messaging that tells us to avoid, to reconsider, to count or track or measure, these messages are being shared in the context of a $70 billion diet/wellness industry that wants return customers. Not an industry that cares, even a little bit, about the damage it does, the suffering that it causes, and the humans who are impacted as a result.
Might you eat foods in the context of holiday celebration that are different from what you eat in the rest of the year? Sure. Similarly, you might eat different foods in the summer than you do in the winter. You might eat different foods if you are eating at a friend’s house or at the office or if you’re traveling. You might eat different foods if you haven’t been to the grocery store. You might eat different foods if you are feeling adventurous in the kitchen. Or bored in the kitchen.
Dietary diversity is a normal part of eating and living. Your body can handle this.
And because diet culture suggests that your body needs to prep for the next holiday thing, you can bet on them to tell you that you need to ready yourself for the 2020 thing, too.
This is the same diet culture message that we live with every day, but it is packaged with a bow.
Don’t unwrap this gift that keeps on taking and taking and taking.
Holiday survival tips:
Tend to your mental health. Set limits. Uphold your boundaries. Talk to a friend or trusted confidant or therapist.
Eat regularly. Every 3 to 4 hours, including all food groups as you go. This prevents seasonal Hangry and promotes happy digestion, too.
Get enough sleep. Prioritize rest that extends beyond sleep, too. Take breaks because this season is overwhelming for many of us.
Celebrate if that feels right for you. Equally, know that you are okay if you aren’t celebrating like the people around you. ‘tis the session for comparison.
How are you?!
