Hey friends! Welcome back to another episode of Nourished to Bloom. Today, we're tackling a topic that's crucial as the holiday season approaches—how not to stuff down your holiday emotions with food. 🦃🎄✨
If the mere thought of holiday gatherings throws your emotions into a whirlwind, you're not alone. Whether it’s joy, stress, or overwhelm, holidays can be a mixed bag. But guess what? You don’t need to turn to food as a crutch. Let’s dive into five actionable steps to help you manage your holiday emotions effectively.
Key Takeaways:
- Recognize Triggers: Identify what stresses you out before it hits. Pinpoint those family interactions or holiday stresses so you can prepare.
- Name Your Emotions: Use an emotions wheel to clearly state what you're feeling. Are you seeking comfort, peace, or connection?
- Seek Comfort from Christ: When emotions run high, turn to your faith. Prayer and scripture can be your refuge and strength.
- Engage in True Self-Care: Simple activities like breathing exercises, walking, or setting boundaries can make all the difference.
- Nourish and Rest: Ensure you’re getting the nourishment and sleep you need. This prevents emotional eating and keeps you healthy.
✨ Steps for Managing Holiday Emotions:
- Recognize Triggers : Pinpoint what stresses you out and prepare in advance.
- Name Emotions : Understand your emotions deeply—know whether you’re seeking comfort, connection, or peace.
- Seek Comfort from Christ : Use prayer, scripture, and your faith as a source of strength.
- Honor Your Body : Engage in self-care practices and ensure you’re well-nourished and rested.
- Make Peace with Food
: Focus on intuitive eating—enjoy your meals without guilt by truly savoring what you love.
📣 And guess what? Next week's episode will be all about practical tips for managing holiday meals, especially on Thanksgiving. It’s going to be packed with insights you won't want to miss!
So, if you're ready to navigate your holiday emotions with faith and wisdom, tune in now. Let’s cultivate joy, peace, and true fulfillment during this holiday season.
Remember, beauty held is the seed, beauty shared is the flower. It’s your time to bloom! 🌸 Let’s get started!
Next Steps: Join the Faith Led Food Freedom Coaching Program- A 10 Week Christ-Centered Transformational Journey to Heal Your Relationship with Food & Your Body. Learn more at register at https://www.karatrochta.com/foodfreedom/ Book your FREE Wellness Audit Session at https://calendly.com/karatrochta/faithledwellness Join the 7 Day Faith-Led Wellness Challenge: www.challenge.karatrochta.com Nourished to Bloom Community: https://community.karatrochta.com/spaces/8590323/list Nourished to Bloom Show Notes: https://nourishedtobloom.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karatrochta/
Time Stamp Overview 00:17:06 Kara prompts for further response 06:21 Importance of identifying holiday triggers 08:49 Ways to seek solace in faith during emotional peaks 11:28 Practical and simple self-care tips for everyday peace 14:45 Making peace with holiday foods through intuitive eating 19:13 Teaser for next week’s practical holiday meals episode
Join The Nourished to Bloom Community: www.community.karatrochta.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/karatrochta
The Nourished to Bloom Podcast Show Notes: www.podcast.karatrochta.com/shownotes
00:00:01
Let's be real. The holidays can bring a mixed bag of
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emotions. There's always that anticipation and that joy and
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that excitement about being able to spend special time with
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loved ones and family and friends. But there's
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also the other side of the stress and the overwhelm and
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all of those emotional triggers that can come about from trying to, you
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know, set up the perfect holiday or, you know,
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emotional triggers from being around certain family members.
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It's just our emotions can run really, really high and across
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the whole spectrum during the holidays and that often leads
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to us really stuffing our faces with cookies and comfort
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foods, just trying to find a little bit of peace and comfort from
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all of our emotions. But how can we handle these feelings this
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holiday season without turning to food? Well, that's exactly what we're
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going to talk about in episode two of our series, Faith Led
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Wellness Holiday Game Plan. We're going to talk about
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how you can really manage your emotions, recognize your
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triggers so you can really find that true comfort
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that you are seeking and really be able to focus on
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having a peace filled and joy filled
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holiday season. Welcome to the
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Nourish to Bloom podcast where your faith meets your health.
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I'm your host, Cara Trachta, a registered dietitian and certified
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Catholic coach, and I'm here to help you cultivate a deeper connection with your
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body, your spirit and the nourishment that sustains them
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both in a world filled with noise and confusion
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about food, health and body image, this podcast offers truth
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and healing from a Christ centered perspective. Together, we'll
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untangle the deep roots of diet culture and discover what it means to
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truly care for ourselves through joyful nourishment of
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mind, body and soul. We're here to dive into the transformative
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power of intuitive eating coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian
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faith. With every episode, I'll be cheering you on,
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offering insights, inspiration and practical tools to help you
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heal your relationship with food and embrace the beauty of your
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body as a temple of the Holy Spirit with confidence
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and courage that can only be found in Christ.
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Join me as we journey together towards a more holistic approach to wellness,
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one that honors the wisdom of your body as God's creation,
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the teachings of our faith, and the unique purpose you're called to
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fulfill. You were made to bloom,
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to come into full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit
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for the Lord with your life. So if you're ready to nourish your body,
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feed your soul and bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're
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in the right place. And I'm so happy you're here. Welcome
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to Nourish to Bloom, where every day is a sacred
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invitation to thrive. Hey there. Welcome
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back to the Nourish to Bloom podcast. I'm Kara Trocter, your host
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and I'm so glad you're here. As we are diving into part two of
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our faith led wellness holiday game plan,
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I really think we're going to call this one, you know, five steps to not
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stuffing down your holiday emotions. But in today's
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episode, we're really going to talk about something that we all face, those
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heightened emotions, those broad spectrum of emotions ranging from, you know,
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such joy and happiness to stress and overwhelm that often comes with
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the holiday season. Really being able to understand
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what our triggers are and what we can do to avoid falling
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into that emotional eating pattern. The
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holidays can stir up just this wide range of feelings. Like
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I said, it's joy and anticipation. It's gratitude
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for the time of getting to really spend time with family
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and loved ones and close friends. It's also that
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anticipation of Christ's birth and just what that means
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for us as Christians. But for others,
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it also brings about feelings of stress and loneliness or
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even grief. And when you factor in that
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heightened pace, the number of social events and sometimes family
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tension, we kind of have this perfect recipe for
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emotional overload. So I really want to talk about how we can
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respond to these emotions in a way that aligns with our faith
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as well as our wellness goals. Instead of turning to food as a coping
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mechanism this holiday season, how we can really
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incorporate our faith and find some really practical,
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helpful tools in helping us deal with our emotions this holiday holiday
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season. So I'm going to really share like
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five steps to really help you not stuff down your holiday
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emotions. But first, I just really want to remind you of this
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truth, that emotions are a God given part
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of our humanity. That God so
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beautifully created us with the capacity to feel a
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range of emotions and that they serve
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as messengers to really help us understand what's going on inside of
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us. It allows us that kind of that first step to really being able
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to connect with with our bodies. And when we feel joy,
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it can remind us of the goodness in our lives. And when we
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feel sorrow, it's an invitation to seek comfort.
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And when we feel his and when we feel overwhelmed,
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it's often a signal for us to really slow down and to seek his
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peace. But for many of us, here's where things
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can really go off course. Instead of listening to these emotions,
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instead of understanding where physical sensations
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are occurring in our bodies, from our emotions.
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And seeking God's guidance, a lot of us turn to something
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immediate and comforting like food or maybe it's
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online shopping or you know, some something else,
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right? We're looking for comfort and we're looking from distraction, from
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these maybe uncomfortable feelings. But I know a lot of
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women really struggle with turning to food to deal with
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their emotions. And emotional eating often starts as
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just this way to feel better in the moment. But over time
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it becomes kind of like this friend
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who is always there. But it leads to frustration and
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guilt and even a negative cycle of relying on
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food to handle stress, to handle overwhelm, to handle
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uncomfortable emotions. So let's get into some faith led
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strategies and some intuitive eating principles that can help you break
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this cycle, especially during this holiday season.
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So step one is to recognize your triggers. The first step
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is really recognizing what actually triggers these
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emotional responses. And now is the time. Right
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before we're getting into Thanksgiving, we have a little bit of time to really sit
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down and figure out what triggers you in
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these holiday situations. During the holidays we can
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experience a lot of social and environmental triggers. For some
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of us it's the busyness of preparing, caring for family gatherings.
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Others it's the financial strain from holiday shopping
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or even like family tension that seems to resurface
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year after year after year. So now's the time to really sit
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down and say, okay, if I look back on years
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past, where are my sources of stress? Or where are my
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sources from overwhelm? Overwhelm coming from and
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just really being able to identify what these triggers
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are. So when we can identify our triggers,
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we're really allows us to be one step closer to managing them.
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And if we do that now, right, if we do this now, before
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we are sitting at that Thanksgiving table or before we're at that
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holiday party, we can really create this game
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plan. We can really dig into these, these steps that I'm going to share here.
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And it's not going to lead to that emotional eating cycle.
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And I think this is a really special opportunity and a
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powerful way to get clarity on your triggers is through
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prayer, through helping, you know, asking
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God to show you what your triggers are, to show you what is leading you
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to this emotional eating, taking a few quiet
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moments each day just to kind of lay these emotions that
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seem to be commonplace for you during the
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holidays, to lay these triggers before God. I think
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a really beautiful visual that someone once shared with me.
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Whether it's your struggles, whether it's your emotions, whether it's
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triggers. Whether it's the goals you have, it's just really thinking
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about taking these things to the
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altar, right? Taking them to God and placing them on the
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altar. Because that is where the transformation happens. It's
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bringing the things that you have and saying, lord, this is what
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I'm offering you. Can you please transform this into something better,
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into something good only you can provide? And that's
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always been a huge visual for me. And something that I rely on a
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lot is putting myself in that situation where I'm walking to the
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altar, carrying these, these gifts or these emotions or these
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triggers or these goals and placing them on the altar and just asking the
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Lord to transform them, to let them become part of his will. And it's
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something that is just been so powerful to
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place myself in that prayer, to place myself in that.
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That beautiful image and, and taking
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it before God, right? And. And it's allowing him to transform it. It's
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allowing him to reveal what's really weighing on us. And as we
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invite God into our emotions, we're not only leaning on his
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strength, but also gaining a level of awareness,
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a level of awareness of how he is
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inviting us to handle our triggers in a healthier way.
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Which leads into step two, really being able to name
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the idea, name the emotion, and identify the thought.
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Now, if you've identified your triggers or, you know, kind of what are the
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pat. The emotional patterns that you experience during the holidays, the next step
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is to really name that specific emotion you're feeling.
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We, I think, as a society, as a whole, have a
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really limited language, a really limited
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verbiage of our emotions. We kind of lump
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them into these very general categories of happy, sad,
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angry, right? And so I invite you just to
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Google an emotions wheel and really see
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the depth and the layers of your emotions. And the more
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specific you can be about the emotion, the
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better you are able to really understand
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how you can handle this emotional trigger, handle this emotion
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in a better way. Really getting to that root,
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but really, you know, figuring out what it is that you're feeling. Is it
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sadness? Is it anxiety? Is it
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frustration? And sometimes when we can do
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this, we realize that we're not actually hungry for food.
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We're often hungry for comfort, love, or peace.
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I tell people when I work with them through emotional eating, is that
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there's often this little thought that comes in there that we don't even recognize,
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but we feel this certain emotion, whether it's stress, overwhelm, anxiety,
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frustration, whatever it is, we feel this kind of negative,
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uncomfortable emotion. And the reality is
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that if things followed this ordered pattern, feeling those emotions
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wouldn't actually lead us to eating. But there's this
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little thought in there that is, that
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pops up after you feel this. It's like, I just want to feel peace. I
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just want to feel better. And somewhere along the way you have
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answered that, that question. You have answered that
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desire for comfort or for peace with food. And
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it's created this attachment, it's created this association that when
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you're seeking comfort or love or peace, you've been able
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to quickly find that and feel that by turning
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to food. And so it's become this habit. So one
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powerful question is to really ask yourself in these moments, what are
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you really seeking? And it often comes down to
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just, you know, those categories of comfort, love or peace. And when
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you recognize that, you can start to seek out other ways,
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other things that will provide you with that
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comfort, love or peace that is more helpful
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than turning to food. But I think it's important that
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you name that emotion because you're taking away some of its power when
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you do this. And this really allows us
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to lean into a really important part of intuitive eating and that's being
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attuned to those internal cues. Remember that our, all of our
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emotions have this physical manifestation. We feel them somewhere
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physically in our body. And this allows us to stop
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being a victim to our emotions. And we're really able to look at them
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and say, okay. Like we can take this non
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judgmental approach and say, okay, this is what I'm feeling. This
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is where I'm feeling it in, in my body. And
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now what can I do about it? What am I really seeking?
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What am I trying to avoid or distract myself from feeling?
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And when we try to, this allows us to try to pinpoint
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the thought or the belief that is leading to this emotion.
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What am I thinking that's making me feel this way?
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And then it allows us to really take some time to analyze that thought or
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that belief and hold it up to God's truth.
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Understanding if this thought or this belief is from God or from
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the enemy, could something else be true
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too? When we're able to look at your thoughts and
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emotions from this non judgmental place, it allows you to
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not act impulsively. It allows you to not
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just find yourself elbow deep in a bag of chips wondering how
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you got here again, but instead it creates space to
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let these feelings pass, to let these feelings
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really be able to be analyzed and taken to the Lord
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and then help you be able to make a more Informed decision
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on how to handle this emotion and this trigger
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and this leads into really step three, to seek
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true comfort from Christ.
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As Christians, we know that our deepest comfort
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comes from Christ. That Psalm 46:1
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reminds us that he is our refuge and our strength and an ever
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present help when we are in trouble, when
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we feel stressed or alone. Our first move doesn't have to be the
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fridge. Instead, we can turn to him in prayer,
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in worship, and even dive into scripture to
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find that comfort, to find that peace. When
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you're feeling, you know, these uncomfortable motion emotions,
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really being able to take them to the Lord as a prayer to say,
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this is what I'm feeling, can you help shed some light on
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this? Consider meditating on scriptures that speak
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peace into your life. Ones that remind us that
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we are to bring everything to God in prayer and that his peace
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will guard our hearts and our minds and that he will put us on
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that path of goodness.
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And when we, when we allow ourselves to seek comfort from
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Christ, it can be really a moment to let us feel
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grounded when we are feeling, you know, triggered or on edge.
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And I get it, I know sometimes this is, this is
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easier said than done. But we're trying to build new
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habits. And when we start to do this,
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even if it's just one out of like five times, right, that
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we're doing this, it's starting to build a habit of turning to Christ in these
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moments. And that it can be so transformative in your
00:16:07
life. And I want you to think about this is we're building these
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emotional muscles, like these emotional muscles that you didn't have
00:16:15
before to be able to better handle your emotions and your
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triggers. And so it's important to kind of have this game
00:16:22
plan, these ideas for how you can deal with these uncomfortable
00:16:25
emotions. So take some time now
00:16:29
to really start thinking about different ways that you can handle these
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potential holiday emotions that are going to arise, things
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that you can do instead of turning to food, one being, turning to
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Christ, turning to scripture, Right. I also find it helpful
00:16:44
to write these ideas down so you can pull them out when
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necessary. Instead of being in that moment and being like,
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what can I do? Instead of turning to food, it's written down, you can pull
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it out and it's like, it's almost like a menu, right? Of okay, in
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this moment, if I'm seeking comfort and peace, this
00:17:02
thing allows that to manifest in
00:17:06
my life. Right? So here are some ideas to get you started again. Turning
00:17:10
to scripture, turning to prayer, journaling,
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calling a friend, turning on some music,
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having A kitchen, dance party, reading a
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book, maybe cleaning something, or going for a
00:17:25
walk. These all provide helpful
00:17:28
distractions to create space between you and that emotion.
00:17:32
And when you're feeling ready, you can come back with a clear mind to
00:17:36
be able to process whatever it was that you were feeling in that
00:17:39
moment. I just want you to remember that emotional eating,
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it's not bad, it's. It only becomes a
00:17:46
problem when like food becomes your only reliable friend. The only way
00:17:50
that you seek out comfort and peace. There are definitely times
00:17:54
that I still find myself like on edge
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and just having a little bit of whatever that food is really
00:18:01
does allow me to kind of level that playing field, to bring
00:18:05
myself back to this, this place of comfort and peace
00:18:09
and then being able to process that process and process that
00:18:13
emotion or incorporate a different coping
00:18:16
mechanism. So just know that even if you find yourself
00:18:20
still turning to food, that it's, it can be a way, as
00:18:24
you start, are starting this process to kind of bring yourself back
00:18:27
down to this point where then you can recognize that
00:18:31
you want to deal with this in a certain way again. The problem with
00:18:35
emotional eating really is when food just becomes your only
00:18:38
reliable way to deal and process with emotions.
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And so step four really leads us into something
00:18:47
that's foundational for our health. And when we have this in
00:18:51
place, it really does make a huge impact on our emotional well
00:18:55
being. And that's really being able to make space for real self
00:18:58
care. The holidays are often
00:19:02
packed with demands, like neverending
00:19:05
demands emotionally with our time, with our energy,
00:19:09
with our finances. And oftentimes without realizing
00:19:12
it, we might let our personal needs really fall to the wayside.
00:19:16
And I think this really leaves us more vulnerable to
00:19:20
emotional eating because we're trying to almost like fill
00:19:23
up with food, right? We're trying to
00:19:27
make ourselves feel better or get ourselves back up to this, this place of
00:19:31
feeling like we can manage all of these things. And
00:19:35
we're trying to do that by turning to food. And I think
00:19:38
it's important to realize here that when we're talking about self
00:19:42
care that it doesn't have to be elaborate. It's not
00:19:45
these, you know, kid free weekends or spa days, but it's,
00:19:49
it's really being able to take care of yourself on a daily basis
00:19:53
throughout the entire day. And so sometimes it's something as simple as
00:19:57
taking five minutes to just breathe
00:20:01
or it's going for a short walk
00:20:04
or really being able to set boundaries to protect your
00:20:08
peace and your time and your energy. Really
00:20:11
those boundaries being a way for your. Yes, to mean yes and your no
00:20:15
to mean no. And when you make space for self care,
00:20:19
it really is less likely that you're going to seek out
00:20:23
emotional eating to be able to feel okay or to be
00:20:27
able to feel better. And I find it especially
00:20:30
helpful during the holidays to focus on really like two important things
00:20:34
when it comes to self care. One being focusing on
00:20:38
adequate nourishment so you don't wind up being ravenously
00:20:41
hungry. And so you're just grabbing whatever to eat. You're really
00:20:45
allowing yourself to be nourished throughout the day. And so that's going to
00:20:49
again boost your energy to allow you to
00:20:52
fulfill these, you know, greater demands. And,
00:20:56
and you're just not like, you know,
00:21:00
I mean, I've been guilty of this, right? You're, you're Christmas shopping all day and
00:21:04
all you've had is like a coffee in the morning and like you end up
00:21:07
grabbing that cake pop or whatever from Starbucks, right?
00:21:11
Like that is not taking care of yourself. And then you're just, you start to,
00:21:15
in this downward spiral, spiral of being drained physically,
00:21:18
mentally and emotionally. So if we're
00:21:22
adequately nourishing ourselves, we are almost being able
00:21:25
to, you know, prepare ourselves and
00:21:30
put ourselves in a good place to better handle these increased
00:21:33
holiday demands. And let's just like add this little caveat on there, right?
00:21:37
When we are adequately nourishing ourselves and we have this self care in
00:21:41
place, it's going to help us
00:21:44
stay, stay healthy. And so then we're not, you know, having a
00:21:48
weakened immune system on top of that and being more susceptible to illness.
00:21:52
It's just my little caveat there. I think it's also helpful. This
00:21:56
is like the second thing that I think is really important to focus on, especially
00:21:59
during the holiday is on getting adequate sleep and rest.
00:22:03
And I know that that is so counterintuitive to our culture, especially this time
00:22:07
of year with a hustle and the bustle. But rest and adequate sleep
00:22:11
are so foundational for good health and they can make a
00:22:15
huge, huge impact not only on your physical health, but really
00:22:18
on your, on your emotional health. And that's
00:22:22
really going to limit your struggle with emotional eating. And
00:22:25
then just as a reminder as Catholics and Christians,
00:22:29
our self care is an act of stewardship. We're
00:22:33
honoring the bodies and the minds that God has given us by taking
00:22:37
care of them. So don't feel guilty about saying no
00:22:40
to that extra event or really taking some time to
00:22:44
recharge because it's really an essential part of staying well. And it's
00:22:48
essential an essential part for us to really be able to live
00:22:52
out our vocations and the purpose that Christ has
00:22:56
put in our lives of how we are living that vocation
00:22:59
of, you know, loving and serving him and others.
00:23:04
And then step five to not stuffing down your holiday emotions
00:23:07
is really reframing how you view, quote, unquote,
00:23:11
treats and holiday foods and being able to let go of
00:23:15
guilt. So often we label foods
00:23:18
as good or bad, and if we're eating something indulgent, we
00:23:22
feel guilty. And I feel like this is so, so compounded during the
00:23:26
holidays. But here's the thing. Remember, food is
00:23:29
not a moral issue. It does
00:23:33
not define if we are good or bad, and it does not define our worth
00:23:37
or our faithfulness. And with intuitive
00:23:40
eating, the whole goal is to be making peace with
00:23:44
all foods. That means even during the holidays,
00:23:48
it means that we can enjoy these holiday foods, these things that
00:23:51
maybe come around only once a year without
00:23:55
guilt. We can embrace the freedom to eat
00:23:59
what brings us satisfaction and nourishment,
00:24:02
and that actually lessens the power that these foods have
00:24:06
over us. This doesn't mean, you know, eating in excess,
00:24:10
but really being able to enjoy these, these fun
00:24:13
foods, these foods that maybe have tradition and meaning and
00:24:17
maybe more emotional meaning because they only come around, you
00:24:20
know, once during the year, but being able to enjoy them
00:24:24
mindfully and gratitude and, and how they can bring us
00:24:28
a sense of joy and connect us more deeply to
00:24:32
those that we love and to this holiday season.
00:24:35
But this step really relies on being attuned with your body's
00:24:39
hunger and fullness cues, as well as your mindset and
00:24:43
how, what your relationship is with food. So approaching these
00:24:47
foods from a place of freedom and peace, because if you
00:24:51
view these holiday foods as things that are, quote, unquote
00:24:54
forbidden, you're definitely going to be more likely to
00:24:57
overindulge and then you're going to feel guilty and shame
00:25:01
forever thinking or wanting to enjoy them.
00:25:04
And so as you approach the holiday foods, ask yourself, what is it
00:25:08
that you really want? What is it that you're really looking forward to?
00:25:13
What would taste the best? Or, you know, what
00:25:16
are you most looking forward to? And then give yourself permission to really
00:25:20
enjoy these foods. And if something doesn't taste as good as you
00:25:24
thought, then don't eat it. I have found that a really
00:25:27
good motto, I mean, for most everything,
00:25:31
like for most times of the year, but really during the holidays, is to really
00:25:35
think about what is worthy of my taste buds.
00:25:39
Because during my dieting days, I would often find myself eating Things
00:25:43
that I didn't really enjoy or maybe didn't taste as
00:25:46
good as I thought they would, but I would eat them anyway because my mindset
00:25:50
was I needed to get these foods while I can before I start the diet
00:25:54
again on Monday. But with an intuitive eating
00:25:58
approach, it's more about truly seeking like what is going to bring me
00:26:02
satisfaction both from a taste standpoint as well as
00:26:05
the amount that I'm eating. I, I, I can, I,
00:26:09
I share this, this example a lot.
00:26:13
But this is kind of how I, this is kind of how this motto of
00:26:16
like what is worthy of my taste buds kind of plays out. So we
00:26:20
have two Thanksgiving meals and
00:26:24
you know, one of them is with my in laws and man, my mother in
00:26:27
law makes really, really good mashed potatoes. They are so, so
00:26:30
good. And this, the other Thanksgiving
00:26:35
dinner that we go to, the potatoes are just, they're really not that good, they're
00:26:39
over peppered, they don't have much flavor. I just don't really
00:26:42
enjoy them. And so now I approach this as, okay, well, when I'm
00:26:46
eating this one Thanksgiving meal, I know that these mashed potatoes are going
00:26:50
to taste so good and so I'm going to enjoy them at that Thanksgiving meal.
00:26:53
But I know that the other one, that the dressing, the stuffing is
00:26:57
like so amazing and I enjoy that more.
00:27:01
And so I'm going to opt out of the potatoes because they really don't taste
00:27:04
that good. Whereas in the past it would be like, well, I just have to
00:27:07
eat it all because it's all here instead of really asking myself.
00:27:12
And even as I serve my plate and taking bites like, huh, this doesn't
00:27:16
taste as good as I thought. I'm done with this. Or this
00:27:19
tastes really, really good. And maybe I want seconds on this because this is
00:27:23
amazing, right? But this is all about being attuned with
00:27:27
your body, being attuned with what your preferences are and,
00:27:31
and really embracing intuitive eating in the
00:27:34
moment while you are eating. So
00:27:38
before going to a gathering, like really just if you
00:27:42
know that you're going to be at certain places and like the
00:27:45
dessert is amazing there, like great, enjoy it there. But if you're going to
00:27:49
another place and you're like, okay, this is like store bought
00:27:53
pie or frozen pie and you're like this, this isn't as good as
00:27:57
the homemade thing. It's this other thing over here. You have the permission to
00:28:01
opt out of it. That's where this beauty comes in of really relying
00:28:04
on what will bring you satisfaction and what your food preferences
00:28:08
are and I think the other thing is as you're, as you're
00:28:12
gathering and you're going to holiday events, just reminding yourself of
00:28:16
what is your real goal of being at these these
00:28:20
events? What is the real purpose of being at these
00:28:24
gatherings? That maybe you're there to just really enjoy the
00:28:27
company, to enjoy the joy of the season and what that
00:28:31
has to offer. And yeah, maybe it is enjoying a cookie or
00:28:35
two, but just let yourself savor those moments
00:28:38
without attaching to guilt or feeling shame
00:28:41
afterwards. So just to recap, here are some
00:28:45
of the key points for navigating these holiday emotions so you're
00:28:49
not stuffing them down 1. Remember to recognize your
00:28:52
triggers and bring them to God for clarity
00:28:56
to name the emotion and identify the thought you're experiencing
00:29:00
to be able to take away its power. 3. Seek
00:29:04
true comfort in Christ, not in food.
00:29:07
4. Make space for real self care and honoring the
00:29:11
body, honoring the body and mind that God
00:29:15
has given you. And 5 reframe your thoughts
00:29:18
about treats and release the guilt by making peace with all
00:29:22
foods. Enjoy them mindfully and focus on the true
00:29:25
spirit of this season.
00:29:30
Friends, God cares about every single part of us, our
00:29:33
emotions, our health and our joy. By leaning
00:29:37
on him and practicing these steps, you can experience
00:29:41
a holiday season that's truly fulfilling without
00:29:44
needing to rely on food as your comfort or distraction.
00:29:49
Really remember that you are loved,
00:29:53
that God finds you so worthy and valuable and you are
00:29:56
not defined by what's on your plate. So
00:30:00
thank you for joining me in this second episode of our
00:30:04
Faith Led Wellness Holiday Game Plan series. Next
00:30:08
week we're diving into part three of our series with an
00:30:11
episode I like to call Winner, Winner Turkey Dinner. We're going
00:30:15
to get really, really practical and I'm going to share with you a game
00:30:19
plan, a blueprint, whatever you want to call it, but it's an approach on
00:30:23
how to exactly navigate all the food you are
00:30:26
faced with on Thanksgiving Day and all the holiday parties
00:30:30
so you can ensure that you are getting the most satisfaction
00:30:34
without having to unbutton your pants because you are so
00:30:37
uncomfortably full. So I hope that you have found
00:30:40
encouragement and practical tips to carry with you from this
00:30:43
episode into the holiday season. If you ever have
00:30:47
any questions or thoughts or stories, feel free to reach out
00:30:51
to me, send me a message through Instagram. And
00:30:55
I really love hearing from you and hearing how this
00:30:58
episode, these podcast episodes are really allowing
00:31:02
transformation to happen in your life. Of course, all glory
00:31:05
to God for this gift and this space of being
00:31:09
able to be here together. I hope you have a beautiful and blessed
00:31:13
week. And I will see you next week. Talk soon. Bye.
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