I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break with your friends and family! I am gearing up for a busy week and looking forward to eating the last of our leftovers. For those of you that don’t know, I started working at the local Children’s hospital which is super exciting! I have always had a special place in my heart for working with kiddos and with my new job, I am receiving some intense pediatrics training. It is definitely pushing me in terms of my professional development and the job itself is intensely rewarding. There are super hard days, but over all, I am really enjoying my new role in addition to my practice. I have always loved all aspects of nutrition including acute care and nutrition support, so I feel like I have the best of both worlds right now with my outpatient practice and the clinical work. Lots to be thankful for indeed!
In my practice, I am constantly reminded of the challenges that a lot of you face out there when handling food during the holidays. I have read countless ‘healthy eating’ blogs that review tips on how to ‘stay on track’ during the holidays which, let’s face it, is just another way to encourage restriction and reinforce the diet mentality. What I like to remind my clients about is all of the incredible moments that happen around the holidays and food is often times a part of these moments. Food will always be a celebration of life! Eating during the holidays provides us with an opportunity to take time for food and ourselves and learn how to check in with our bodies to assess where our hunger truly feels like.
I have been printing the Intuitive Eater’s Holiday Bill of Rights by Registered Dietitian and Intuitive Eating expert Evelyn Tribole for essentially all of my clients. This guide provides such wonderful reminders to us during this time of year and gives us permission for food. I believe it fosters the steps necessary to build a positive relationship with food. Naturally, I wanted to share it with all of you on my blog so here it is! 🙂
by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDWhat if peace on earth could begin at the dinner table? Imagine experiencing an inner peace, free from incessant worry about what to eat. It’s hard to enjoy the holidays when you are preoccupied with eating or worried about what to say to relatives who have an annual tradition of telling you what and how to eat.Consider your Intuitive Eating Bill of Rights, as we enter the holiday season, to help you foster inner peace with food, mind and body.1. 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.
2. You have the right to enjoy second servings without apology.
3. You have the right to honor your fullness, even if that means saying “no thank you” to dessert or a second helping of food.
4. It is not your responsibility to make someone happy by overeating, even if it took hours to prepare a specialty holiday dish.
5. You have the right to say, “No thank you,” without explanation, when offered more food.
6. 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.”
7. You have the right to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast.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.
(Note this was originally posted in 2010).
Copyright © 2010 by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD Published at www.IntuitiveEating.orgYou can find the original post here: http://www.intuitiveeating.org/intuitive-eaters-holiday-bill-of-rights/
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And just to share, here is the pecan pie I made for my father in law for Thanksgiving and my Grandma’s orange cranberry relish recipe that is my favorite! It adds the perfect amount of tartness to the plate and a beautiful pop of color.
Remember to enjoy this season and use it as a the perfect opportunity to take time for you and the foods that you enjoy and help your body feel at its best.
Questions for comments:
– Which number is your favorite in the bill of rights?
– What have you noticed in particular about your relationship with food during the holidays?
– Share a holiday favorite food that you truly savor and enjoy.
Until next time, eat well!
Korrin Fotheringham, MS, RDN, CD
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist
Northwood Nutrition, LLC
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