The holidays and disordered eating

 

Picture source. Holly Harris. 

The holidays can be a stressful time for those in eating disorder or disordered eating recovery. The current pandemic certainly adds another level of stress, anxiety and worry during this holiday season. 

Holiday meals can be triggering for those who seek control over food and have (or had) an unhealthy relationship with food and the body. Eating with others (even virtually) may bring an overwhelming amount of uncomfortable feelings. Whether you are afraid of gaining weight, trying new foods or binge eating, you dread the uneasy body image and diet conversations with family or you fear being unable to "burn off" the calories with your typical early morning T-day workout, you may find it hard to be kind to yourself during this holiday season. 

Although I am not advocating eating with members outside of your household (remember - we still have a deadly and highly contagious virus spreading quickly throughout our country), here are a few tips to help take the focus away from food during the upcoming holiday: 

• Food should never make you hate yourself. 
• Identify your triggers for overeating/binging or food restriction. For example, rather than going long hours without food or randomly eating something that you are not comfortable with, plan snacks and meals for yourself. 
• Prepare your responses for conversations about body image, dieting and weight. 
• Give yourself time and space during social interactions. 
• It's ok to eat a little more than you normally would. It's also ok to use the tools that help you eat in a responsible way that supports your physical and emotional health. 
• Keep diet talk off the table. You don't need to help others. You don't need to be helped over the Thanksgiving table. You don't need to debate over certain diets, not to mention starting an exercise plan with the goal of losing weight.
• Keep body image discussions away from the holiday season. Even the standard statement of "you look healthy" or "you look great" can be triggering. Many disordered eating behaviors stem from food control and body image/appearance. 
• Statements like "you/I put on some pounds" are also unacceptable. There's no need to criticize your body or other people's bodies. 
• Holiday eating is not a socially acceptable time to binge. Working out just to eat is not healthy. Compensation after eating is an eating disorder behavior. The talk of restriction or overexercise to compensate for a meal is not a healthy strategy. 
• It's physically healthier never to diet. It's emotionally healthier not to try to control body weight through a diet. A diet mentality leads to body dissatisfaction and an unhealthy relationship with food. All diets can be considered disordered eating. 
• Avoid all-or-nothing thinking. Eat with a mindset of curiosity. 
• Express gratitude when you feel anxious. 

Holiday traditions - Czech style

The holidays are a special time of the year because every family has its own special traditional celebration. And when you only celebrate a tradition once a year, you look forward to it year after year. Because traditions are important, there's a good chance that you spend the necessary time and effort on the traditions that make the holiday extra special for you and your family/friends. 

Consider your favorite movie, song, meal, dessert or game that you always look forward to on your favorite holiday. When something occurs only once a year, on a very special occasion, it's much more enjoyed compared to taking part in that tradition week after week, month after month. Let's not forget about the meaning behind the rituals, traditions and celebrations that have been in your family for longer than you can remember. 

If you are someone who gets overwhelmed and annoyed with a holiday that is heavily commercialized, consider exploring (or better yet, celebrating), a holiday with someone who is from another culture or nation. While you don't need to stop your own traditions, embracing a new culture can be an educational, enriching and inspiring part of life. 

As you may know, Karel is from Czech Republic and all of his family lives in Czech Republic. It's been 17 years since Karel has celebrated Christmas with his family. For the past eleven years, Karel has shared his holiday traditions with me - which is very important to me as I love learning about the rich customs, traditions and celebrations that take place in other cultures.

Here are a few of the Czech Christmas traditions (from this link):

During the evening of the 5th December (St. Nicholas Eve), children are very excited and watch for St. Nicholas (Svatý Mikuláš) to arrive. He normally is accompanied by one or more angels and one or more devils. He asks the children if they've been good all year and also asks them to sing a song or recite a poem, and gives them a basket of presents, often containing chocolate and fruit. If you've been naughty, the devil might give you a lump of coal. St Nicholas' Day is a very separate holiday than Christmas.

In the Czech language Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Veselé Vánoce'

The main Christmas celebrations are on Christmas Eve. Some people fast during Christmas Eve in the hope that they will see a vision of 'the golden pig' appear on the wall before dinner! This is meant to be a sign of good luck! (Karel's family didn't do this).

The Czech traditional Christmas dinner is eaten during the evening of Christmas Eve. The meal often consists of fish soup (made of carp), and fried carp with potato salad. (We modify this meal with tempeh for me and trout for Karel. Karel always makes his famous potato salad, where the only cooked vegetable is the potatoes. Everything else is raw. It tastes incredibly good!). 

Ježíšek 'Little Jesus' (the Czech version of Christkindl) brings presents during the Christmas Eve dinner and leaves them under the Christmas Tree. Czech children have their dinner in a different from where the tree is located. When they hear the bell ring (usually after the children have finished eating their main meal but when they are still at the table), that means that Ježíšek had been and has left their presents under the tree. The presents are normally opened right after dinner. (The Christmas tree was never purchased or decorated until Christmas eve and he never saw the tree until the bell rang, which told Karel that "Little Jesus" came. The tree stayed up until the New Year.).

During the holiday season apples are used a lot by Czech people to predict the future. After Christmas dinner, every person is given a apple which they cut in half from the stem down and they study the shape that the seeds inside show. If the seeds appear in a star shape, it means that health, happiness and unity is predicted for the new year. But if it’s shaped like a four-pointed cross that means bad luck will be brought to someone at the table and someone will get sick or even die. (We have never done this but Karel told me about this tradition).

We hope you enjoyed your holiday traditions! 

Happy Holidays from Trimarni!

One of the best things about the holiday season is to reflect, look ahead at the coming year and to express gratitude to our supporters, friends and followers. 

On behalf of the Trimarni team, we would like to give you a big THANK YOU.

Wishing you a healthy, happy, loving and joyful holiday. 

-The Trimarni Team (Marni, Karel, Joe and Joey)

Reframe your thinking over the holiday season

When was the last time you beat yourself up for “cheating” on your diet or for missing a workout?

Athletes are typically very determined, passionate, focused and hard working and when put into certain life situations, athletes can be very on or off. Either choices are a success or a failed attempt.

Because of this natural tendency to want to be "on" all the time, it’s understandable that many athletes feel a loss of control around the holiday season as it relates to succeeding with healthy eating and consistent exercising. 
With 365 days in a year, there’s no reason to be extreme with your dietary and exercise habits around the holiday season. But at the same time, you can maintain great health and wellness over the holidays with a little shift in your thinking.

All you need is a little reframing to help shift your mind out of negative thinking. 

According to Molly Kellogg, RD, LCSW, and author of Counseling Tips for Nutrition Therapists, “Reframing a problem involves placing it in a different context (or frame) and thereby changing its meaning. Often, this means taking something seen as bad (problem) and shifting either its content or its context so it can be seen as useful rather than bad. The new perspective leads either to acceptance or to creativity about what to do differently.”

For example, instead of saying “I can never control myself around sweets during the holidays” say, “I feel so lucky that so many people care about me and want to bake me cookies for the holidays.” Or, instead of saying, “I have so much to do, I can't even find time to exercise” say to yourself, “I’m thankful to have a family to care for and I deserve to take care of myself so I can be a better parent for my family.”

Holidays present a wonderful opportunity to enjoy different foods you likely would not consume on a daily basis and to change up your routine training regime. This may feel like an uncomfortable and overwhelming time of the year due to all the changes in your eating patterns and exercise routine but bringing behaviors of extreme discipline and restriction will only make you feel more anxious about the holidays.  Because your thought processes are creating beliefs and assumptions that this is an uncomfortable and overwhelming time of the year, it's important that you recognize that you are simply associating a negative thought to every situation out of your control.

Because the holidays are a time to share love and create memories with others, the most powerful thing you can do for your mind, body and soul is to stretch your boundaries when it comes to approaching specific situations. 

I encourage you to step away from rigid thinking (all or nothing) and think about how you can successfully navigate your way through the holiday season with a healthy mind and body.  

Instead of saying, “I hate how I feel when I eat so much bad food” say, “I am equipped with the necessary tools to indulge responsibly and to eat until I feel satisfied."

Without even realizing it, you have probably reframed countless situations in training to finish a workout or on race day, in order to cross the finish line. For example, instead of saying "I am so tired, I should give up now" you say "I may be tired but I can rest when I am done!".

In your ongoing quest to become a smarter, healthier and stronger athlete, consider the negative thought patterns that are keeping you from finding better balance in your life. 

This is a great quote from Molly Kellogg you may want to keep in mind as we approach the holiday season.

"It takes courage to demand time for yourself. At first glance, it may seem to be the ultimate in selfishness, a real slap in the face to those who love and depend on you. It's not. It means you care enough to want to see the best in yourself and give only the best to others."

Happy Holidays!!

Sending our wishes to you for a happy, healthy, fun, safe and memorable holiday season. 

Thank you for your continued Trimarni support!

-Marni, Karel and Campy