Food Pressure - How to Deal With It This Holiday Season

How to Deal With the Press - Food Pressure That Is!

Food pressure, feeling compelled to eat something or a quantity of food that is not supportive to your health or fitness goals, can be manifest in countless ways. Whether perceived or real, food pressure can make the holiday season prime time for unwanted weight gain but it doesn’t have to be that way this year.

External food pressure is when someone is unrelenting in insisting that you eat a certain dish or a certain quantity of food. This person may be well meaning but the pressure can often come in forms of hurtful remarks (“oh so you are dieting AGAIN) or guilt trips (“I really worked hard to make this special dish. I can’t believe you won’t eat it.”). Internal food pressure is the pressure we feel when are compelled to alter our food choices based on what we believe those around us think or feel about our food choices.

4 Tips for Dealing with the Pressure

Tip#1: Offer to bring a few healthy dishes along to share. Your plate won’t look empty because you will have plenty of supportive options to choose from and maybe no one will notice you didn’t go back for your usual second serving of mom’s cornbread dressing.

Tip #2: Decide in advance when and how much you will indulge. Be polite yet stern when others try to influence you and focus on non-food parts of the celebration to turn the attention off of you and your dietary choices. Stick to your guns. Self-determination is one of the most powerful tools you have. If you go into a social situation with the thought, “I MAY have some dessert, a drink, etc”, you absolutely WILL have an indulgence and you will most likely feel bad about it since it was not part of your plan. This perceived failure then leads to more indulgences because the “I already messed up and I will start again tomorrow” mentality kicks in. You have the power and responsibility to remain in control- decide in advance.

Tip #3: If someone keeps pressuring you about your food, explain why you are choosing to eat what you have chosen and be enthusiastic about it. You just may inspire someone.

Tip #4: Realize that in most cases people really don’t care deeply about what is on your plate as long as you don’t make everyone else miserable because you feel you are missing out on the fun. Come to the gathering prepared with a game plan. Stick to it and most of all be upbeat and fun- no one may even notice what you ate.

Whether you experience external or internal food pressure during the holidays, the key point to remember is that you and only you have the power and the responsibility to create the health, look, and fitness that you desire. If you consistently give your power to others, you will never attain the health and happiness that is within your reach. At the end of the day, only you will live in your skin and you owe it to yourself to make the choices that will make you comfortable in that skin. Have a happy holiday season!