Intuitive Eater's Holiday Bill of Rights

Picture of Miriam Hi Fit Fam!

This month I want to prepare us for holiday time because it all starts NOW! From Halloween to New Year’s day. In my practice I often see a huge disparity of typical eating patterns within this time frame, and, it’s mostly emotional. Because of diet mentality history and News Year’s Resolutions we set ourselves up for the deprivation and binge cycle; come Halloween we are ready to go to town on that candy.

Then Thanksgiving rolls on by and we think we need to eat until sickingly stuffed because we never have that kind of food. The reality is you can have Halloween candy, Thanksgiving food, Christmas delicacies, and New Year’s treats any ol day of the year. You can always have this food. Say it with me! You can always have this food. Or any food for that matter. We live in that kind of world folks where food is abundant. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat and enjoy and you will notice these big swings (weight and food intake) dissipate from Halloween to New Years. Other tips below.

Read through the Intuitive Eater’s Holiday Bill of Rights now before Halloween to set you and your family up for success.

family eating together

Intuitive Eater’s Holiday Bill of Rights

You have the right to savor your meal, without cajoling or judgment, and without discussion of calories eaten or the amount of exercise needed to burn off said calories.
You have the right to enjoy second servings without apology.
You have the right to honor your fullness, even if that means saying “no thank you” to dessert or a second helping of food.
It is not your responsibility to make someone happy by overeating, even if it took hours to prepare a specialty holiday dish.
You have the right to say, “No thank you,” without explanation, when offered more food.
You have the right to stick to your original answer of “no”, even if you are asked multiple times. Just calmly and politely repeat “No, thank you, really.”
You have the right to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast.
You have the right to feel less than “cheerful” no matter what others are saying about the ‘true spirit’ of the holiday season. You have the right to honor your true feelings and respond to them with compassion.
You have the right to eat more of the “holiday food” later if you didn’t get enough. If there isn’t a “later” then remind yourself that there is tomorrow and you won’t perish today. And you can always go buy more food!
You have the right to not eat the holiday food if your body doesn’t want that food. Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean you have to eat it.
You have a right to notice how your body responds to different foods and to eat foods that look good, taste good and make you FEEL GOOD.
You have the right to share your inner peace with food, without judgement! Others may just even be jealous!
You have the right to enjoy your food immensely even if a loved one with food challenges is present.
You have the right not to participate in diet/weight talk.

You have the right to stay focused on your body needs and not engage in over consumption behavior or talk just because you’re around a loved one who wants you to join in. Let your journeys be separate.
You have the right to use the hunger fullness scale even if you have to whip it out in front of people.
You have the right to eat others’ forbidden foods without feeling guilty.
You have the right to say a graceful “Thank you” when someone compliments you without denying their comment or putting yourself down.
And Elyse Resch,co-author of Intuitive Eating offers this gem: “You have the right to feel the painful feelings that may come up at holiday time and to ask for support from someone safe.”

Remember, no one, except for you, knows how you feel, both emotionally and physically. Only you can be the expert of your body, which requires inner attunement, rather than the external, well-meaning, suggestions from family.

Use the hunger scale and emotional vs. physical hunger chart to keep in contact with your body signals!