Give Yourself Permission To Eat This Season
“If you give yourself permission to eat, you can give yourself permission to stop”
This is one of my favorite quotes from psychologist, registered dietitian and feeding expert, Ellyn Satter. Take a moment to visualize yourself stepping
into a holiday gathering. The room smells delicious and the food looks amazing, to the point where your mouth is watering.
Ask yourself – What do I want? What looks good to me? How does this compare to your usual dialogue? What does it feel like?
Liberating perhaps?
Sadly, many people head into the holidays with a looming fear about the temptation of food and potential weight gain. Desire to maintain control quickly
turns to feelings of guilt over losing control. Did you know there’s actually more chance of overeating when you don’t permit yourself
to eat? True story. Learn more from Ellyn Satter, herself in this interview by Jean Fain, author of The Self-Compassion Diet.
The reality is, holidays are designed for overeating, so why not simply lean into it? Permit yourself to overeat, to feel “too full”. To
simply ENJOY the food. Try experimenting with that this season and let go of the guilt. You’re going to eat anyway!
If you’re interested in understanding more about how environmental factors contribute to our eating behavior, this Cornell article does a great job of summarizing the research.
