Embracing Health at Every Size During the Holiday Season

Diet culture is everywhere, and often times, it seems to be more prevalent during the holidays. With the hyperfocus on food during the holiday season, many individuals may find themselves feeling in a chaotic place when it comes to their bodies and relationships with food.

Christmas parties, potlucks, dinners, cookie decorating parties, festive events and more often are centered around food items that are demonized in the day to day of what we typically eat. Many of these dishes, desserts, etc. are usually labeled as “bad” to eat outside of a special occasion.

Embracing an Attitude of Acceptance

As a result of labeling foods in this manner, there is often “overindulgence” in the foods that are not usually allowed. It is not uncommon to hear people share regret, remorse, and shame for what and how they ate around the holidays.

This typically leads straight into New Years, with a resolution promising weight loss, stricter dieting, and the like. Dieting and further restriction of desirable foods or with the intention of fitting into a certain size are almost always detrimental to health: mind, body and spirit. This vicious cycle only leads to further chaos when it comes to our relationship with food and our body.

Rejecting the diet mentality and embracing the perspective that health is not based on rigid dieting or exercise rules can be helpful for not only the holiday season but for a lifetime! Allowing yourself to find pleasure in food while enjoying the company of loved ones can change your outlook on how you view yourself and others.

Challenging the Size Mentality

Embracing the Health at Every Size mentality also encompasses acceptance on a broader scale, outside of what society determines is associated with weight, size, BMI or any other labeling number. It is easy to fall into the mindset that health is only achieved with rigidity and if reaching a certain number, but this is absolutely not the case. When thinking about yourself and others, it is important to remember that size does not reflect status of health, as health is based upon multiple factors.

Keeping this perspective in mind this holiday season can be helpful for numerous reasons. We tend to be hard on ourselves, especially during and after the holidays, thinking that we have somehow tainted our health by enjoying the pleasurable aspects and traditions of the holidays. Reframe your thinking this holiday season and challenge yourself to think outside weight and size when it comes to health.

Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!

What do you think is challenging about embracing the mentality of health at every size?

About the Author: Crystal is a Masters-level Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with a specialty focus in eating disorders, maternal/child health and wellness, and intuitive eating. Combining clinical experience with a love of social media and writing, Crystal serves as the Director of Content and Social Media for Eating Disorder Hope/Addiction Hope, where her passion to help others find recovery and healing is integrated into each part of her work.

As a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Crystal has dedicated her career to helping others establish a healthy relationship with food and body through her work with EDH/AH and nutrition private practice.

The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.

We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.

Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on December 5, 2016
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com