Celebrate with less stress, more exercise
in
Warwick
The holidays are full of great opportunities to gather with friends and family.
These social events almost always involve food. Schedules get hectic, and the additional demands on time can stress even the most organized people. Exercise often gets deleted from the schedule to make time for shopping or other holiday preparations. We sleep less and eat more. This chain of events often leads to weight gain between Thanksgiving and New Year's.
One of my patients described standing in her kitchen eating anything and everything in her cabinet - even snack items she didn't like. She realized she wasn't hungry and stopped to ask herself why she was doing this.
When she became overwhelmed by the stress of the holiday season, her eating went out of control.
We all have pleasant memories of food connected with special family members or celebrations. Comfort foods are what we crave when our nerves need soothing. We may react this way all year round in response to stressful situations. Eating can become a conditioned response to stress.
When we eat because we are upset, frustrated, worried, sad, angry or even happy, it is called emotional eating. It has nothing to do with hunger.
Often this leads to feelings of guilt or frustration and only adds to the stress.
Experts recommend keeping a food diary and recording not only the food eaten but the feelings or emotions experienced when food is consumed.
Over time, this diary will reveal the emotions that trigger overeating or binge eating. Once these triggers have been identified, we have to find new ways of reacting or dealing with these stressors.
Exercise is a very effective stress reliever. Try taking a short walk, dancing to your favorite music or doing some yard work instead of heading for a snack.
Find an exercise buddy, and make an appointment to walk together on a regular basis.
Whatever you do, keep physical activity on your calendar during the holidays. Minimize stress by simplifying your celebrations or sharing the workload.
After Hurricane Katrina, our family decided to donate money to charities involved with the recovery on the Coast. Since then, instead of stressing over shopping for each other, we each choose a charity and make a donation.
We have all enjoyed helping others and having more time to relax with family during the holidays.
