Prepare to conquer the festive season, free from guilt and brimming with joy! I'm Jo, your guide through the maze of holiday temptations and treats. Instead of falling into the trap of over-indulgence only to repent in January, I'm sharing my insights on embracing foods you genuinely love, not just what's available. Remember, there's no looming January diet and your favorite festive delights will still be around next month. Together, let's redefine our relationship with food, focusing on joy and satisfaction rather than guilt.
To help reinforce these habits, I've created a Binge Free Week Checklist. This tool isn't just another to-do list, it's your companion in managing your eating habits. By signing up, not only do you get this free checklist, but you also become a part of our community, receiving regular emails filled with wisdom from past episodes and updates about the show. So, let's put self-care first, stay connected, and navigate the festive season with joy and balance. Find the link to the checklist in the show notes and let this holiday season be about celebration, not guilt!
Thank you for listening to the Binge Eating Dietitian Podcast! As well as over 130 episodes, what else do I have in store for you?
Take care of yourself, Jo x
Prepare to conquer the festive season, free from guilt and brimming with joy! I'm Jo, your guide through the maze of holiday temptations and treats. Instead of falling into the trap of over-indulgence only to repent in January, I'm sharing my insights on embracing foods you genuinely love, not just what's available. Remember, there's no looming January diet and your favorite festive delights will still be around next month. Together, let's redefine our relationship with food, focusing on joy and satisfaction rather than guilt.
To help reinforce these habits, I've created a Binge Free Week Checklist. This tool isn't just another to-do list, it's your companion in managing your eating habits. By signing up, not only do you get this free checklist, but you also become a part of our community, receiving regular emails filled with wisdom from past episodes and updates about the show. So, let's put self-care first, stay connected, and navigate the festive season with joy and balance. Find the link to the checklist in the show notes and let this holiday season be about celebration, not guilt!
Thank you for listening to the Binge Eating Dietitian Podcast! As well as over 130 episodes, what else do I have in store for you?
Take care of yourself, Jo x
Hello and welcome back to another episode of binge eating dietitian. My name is Jo, I'm a registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counsellor, and I'm here to smash the taboo of binge eating. I hope that I find you well today and I hope that these episodes are helping you to feel even a little bit less alone, less alienated, less stigmatised for binge eating. Seen as you struggle with binge eating, you may find that December is just one long binge. This is a good time to just take a step back and reflect on how you approach food during this festive season, about your response to December, about how you go about the month and, of course, I'm not just talking about overeating here. If you are somebody who loves December because you love all the snack food it brings, all the cakes and chocolate and sweets that you don't get to have any other time of year, then you eat, drink and be merry. Once you're enjoying it, then I'm happy. Who I'm talking to today is people who identify as binge eating and, as I've described before, binge eating and overeating are very different, because in binge eating, it's eating a large volume of food, sure, but there is a level of distress and a feeling of being out of control that people who overeat don't experience. So today I'm tapping in to binge eating during the festive period and I'm going to offer you some tips that you can use to manage binge eating during this time Radio. So I am just going to get straight into it. Tip number one for managing binge eating during the festive period is to keep reminding yourself that the January diet is not coming. All of the foods that you're enjoying now in December will still be available in January. And okay, of course, I don't mean that you're going to have access to your mom's homemade ham and turkey dinner or some like festive snacks, like minced pies, will be available. But what I'm saying is that those delicious snack foods like cakes, sweets, chocolate, crisp, pretzels those are all available all year round.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, we live in a culture where January brings a new year and new me and that's when the diet starts. It's tapped into our subconscious that there is some restrictive plan coming on the first of January. So in December your job is to cram in as much food as possible. I want to ask you on a normal week of the year, so not in December are you somebody who starts a new diet on Monday and you're really quote unquote good with food until Friday, but then, when Friday comes, all of your rules are just thrown out the window and it's just a binge from Friday evening until the diet starts again on Monday morning. Is that something that you identify with? Well, remember earlier I said that for some people, december is just a month long binge, and I believe that that's because it's like December is the weekend and the other 11 months of the year are the week. So we try to be good with food from January till November. Of course, that doesn't happen consistently as that, but we try to be good with food throughout the year. Now, when December comes, it's just one big binge.
Speaker 1:Before the diet starts in January, whether it's a weekend or it's December, you have to start telling yourself that there is no diet coming. It's not coming on Monday and it's certainly not coming in January. And I don't mean just tell yourself once, now that you've listened to this podcast, you can tick that box and move on. No, any time you have a thought that says ah, I'll make up for this in January, I'm going to do some big diet in January. Therefore, I can eat whatever I want during December. The thing is yeah, you can eat whatever you want during December, but you can also eat whatever you want every other month of the year. Any time you have a thought that tells you that you need to, you know, eat this now, because in January you're not going to have access to it. I have a little rhyme that you can use. The rhyme goes like this this isn't a case of eat it now or never. I'll eat it today, on Monday, in January and whenever. Write that down, save it in the notes on your phone, and whenever you have a thought that says I must eat everything I can now because in January it's not going to be available, I want you to pull that out and remind yourself of it, and that active decision to remind yourself will reinforce that message that there is no Monday coming, there's no January diet and therefore food is not going to be limited at any point. All of the delicious foods that you're enjoying in December will be available in January and the rest of the year.
Speaker 1:Moving on to tip number two for managing festive binge eating is, for the most part, choose foods that you actually enjoy. Next time you're sitting down with a cup of tea, pull out a pen and paper and write down all of the festive foods that you enjoy in the month of December. So, whether that's things that you buy in or presents that you get or meals that you have out, write them all down and then I want you to circle the ones that you actually like. This is revolutionary because it highlights that I bet there are foods that you eat in this festive period that you don't actually like. They don't bring you joy, you don't get satisfaction from them. Perhaps you're eating certain foods just because they're available, because they're in the house.
Speaker 1:And circling back to point one, when you feel that there is a diet coming, there is this compulsion to eat whatever foods that you can get your hands on, because you know there's coming a time where it's not going to be available. Sometimes it can feel that you're not worthy of eating foods that you actually like. So if that hits home with you, I want you to take it from me, a professional, a registered dietitian, that you have permission to only eat foods that you like. And I caveat this by saying for the most part. And why I say for the most part is you know, it's unrealistic to say that everything that you eat for the rest of your life is going to be something that you love and that you enjoy and that brings you satisfaction. That's just unrealistic and isn't going to happen. So when I say for the most part, I mean that most of the foods that you eat should be foods that you enjoy.
Speaker 1:However, especially during the festive period, there's going to be times where it's not possible to eat something that you like. For example, I'll give you an example of myself. I'm really not a fan of Christmas cake, but whenever I am at home for Christmas and I go visit a relative at some point I'm going to be offered Christmas cake and even though I really don't like it, there is not a chance in hell I am refused in that carrot cake For many reasons. Firstly, that person has put so much love and care into making this gorgeous cake and secondly, food is part of social connection and enjoying foods with loved ones helps us to feel closer to them. So, for the most part, aim to eat foods that you actually enjoy, but do remember that it's not realistic to only have pleasurable, satisfying experiences, and you know, the time might come where you just have to eat your cousins half baked brownies because he puts so much love into them.
Speaker 1:Alright, moving on Tip number three for managing festive binge eating is to predict triggers and challenging times in advance. Sure, this festive period is such a lovely time All the twinkly sparkly lights and the crispy cold weather, and daily hot chocolates and Instagram pictures that just look perfect. But that's the thing. There is this pressure for your festive period to be perfect, and if you've listened to past episodes, then you know how I feel about perfectionism. On top of struggling with food, perhaps you work in retail and by the end of the festive period, you're just absolutely wrecked. Or maybe you have a relative who is constantly commenting on your weight, and the thought of meeting them and them having to look you up and down and mention your weight just sends a shiver down your spine, which is totally understandable, by the way.
Speaker 1:Taking all you know now about binge eating and the triggers, can you take a moment and look back on past December's and pinpoint any key moments that may have triggered you to binge eat? If you can't, don't worry, it's no big deal, but if you can, well, then you maybe can put some protective strategies in place this year to make sure it doesn't happen again. You might identify stress as being a major trigger for you, and prioritising managing stress is the perfect place to start in order to reduce or overcome binge eating this December. Focus on stress management. There's no better place to begin. Or if you know you're going to be attending a family gathering and you know it's going to be challenging, you know it's always stressful and maybe you do have relatives who you don't quite get on with, you could try planning out that event from start until finish. So think about who you're going to talk to, what you're going to talk about, and have some topics actually planned in advance. So things that obviously have nothing to do with weight or calories or food, but things that you can talk about, that are easy enough, topics to navigate, that aren't too stressful for you. And as part of that and I think most importantly is to plan out an exit strategy. Think about what time you're going to leave that event at and make sure you stick to it. There's this whole facade that this festive period is a perfect time of year and it's so wonderful and joyful, and for many it is, and maybe for you you enjoy some parts of it, but other parts you really find stressful. So just remember that good enough is good enough.
Speaker 1:And lastly, tip number four for navigating festive binge eating is to allow binges to happen, and actually this goes for all times of the year. You have to allow yourself to binge if it happens and forgive yourself for it. It would be really easy for me just to say now alright, those are my top tips. Go on and have a nice binge-free, festive December now. But the thing is, what are we doing there? We've just established this black and white mindset Because if you do binge, well then you have failed, because I've said you're going to have a binge-free December. Right when we say that it becomes pass or fail. And that's not a good mindset to have when trying to overcome binge eating. Alongside smashing the taboo of binge eating, one of my goals is to help you to overcome it, of course, but I'm wondering no illusions that that's going to happen straight away. If this episode helps you to just draw some awareness into binge eating around this time of year, then I'm happy out. I've done my job. So just to sum up the key points again keep reminding yourself that there's no diet coming in January and that you can eat these delicious foods in January as well. It's not just all about December. As much as possible, choose foods that you actually like. Tip number three is to predict challenging times and put some protective strategies in place. And tip number four is allow binges to happen and forgive yourself for them. All right, so there you have it. Those are my main points of advice for navigating festive binge eating. I really hope that you found them valuable. If you did, I would be so grateful if you could write and review this podcast on iTunes, and do come and say hi to me on Instagram. I'm at bingeeatingditition. I would love to hear how you're spending December and the festive period this year, and I'll see you on the next episode.
Speaker 1:This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical or mental health advice and it does not constitute a provider patient relationship. Thank you for listening to this repost episode of the binge eating dietitian podcast. If you didn't know already, I am taking some time away from the podcast in 2023 so I can focus on smashing binge eating in other ways. I am doing a doctorate degree. I'm doing a doctorate of education degree in the realm of binge eating and, as you can imagine, it's taking some of my time and attention away from other pursuits, like the podcast.
Speaker 1:I am keeping in touch with you on my mailing list though. So if you go to the link in the show notes now, you'll see a link there that says get your binge free week checklist. When you sign up to get the checklist, you will be added to my mailing list and I'll keep you posted on how things are going over there, and I am sharing all of old episodes because they are full of wisdom about binge eating that I know that you need to hear. So please keep listening and I'll chat to you soon over on my mailing list. Make sure you head to the link in the show notes now and sign up to get your free checklist to have a binge free week, and then you'll get my regular emails after that. Until then, please take care of yourself.