8 Tips to Maintain Mindful Eating During the Holiday Season

8 Tips to Maintain Mindful Eating During the Holiday Season

Written by: Sophia Schweiger

Reviewed by: Andrew Wade, MS, RDN, LDN, CSSD

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The holidays can have a way of blurring the lines between celebration and overwhelm, especially when it comes to food. Between family dinners, cookie exchanges, and endless grazing, it can be easy to slip into autopilot. As the holiday season approaches, our routines inevitably bend, sometimes in ways that feel joyful, and other times in ways that leave us feeling disconnected from our own bodies.

The goal of mindful eating during the holidays is to reconnect the mind and body, allowing us to experience the full satisfaction, comfort, and joy that food brings during this season. It requires you to implement small moments of awareness throughout the day to stay intentional amidst the business. This is much easier said than done, but with a few actionable tips, you can bring presence back to the table this holiday season.

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Finding Balnace Between Festivities and Routine

The holidays tend to blur the lines between everyday routines with special occasions. One way to combat this is intentionally noting special days and events to help create a clearer mental framework. During these celebrations, we can enjoy tradition, socialization, and good food. There’s no need to focus on calorie counting during these celebrations, as they are only a small fraction of the “holiday season”. Instead, stay present and tune in to your body’s signals, enjoying food in a way that feels satisfying and balanced.

Mindless habit: Feeling stressed about maintaining goals because it seems like there’s always a reason to indulge during the holiday season.

Mindful shift: By noting the few true celebration days during the entire season, I can fully enjoy those moments while returning to my normal routine on the other days.

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Be a Cookie Snob

During the holidays, there seem to be endless food and dessert options—particularly cookies—at every celebration, in the break room at work, grocery stores, etc. With that said, avoid entering these spaces as if it were a free-for-all. By obtaining a free-for-all mentality, one will eat food that they don’t even particularly enjoy just because it's readily available, severing the connection between the mind and body when it comes to eating. Therefore, obtain a “cookie-snob” mentality, where you are able to selectively choose foods and desserts that excite and truly satisfy you. In other words, don’t settle for every cookie you come across, but pick a few that you look forward to eating every year and enjoy them. Being able to pass on certain food items is not restrictive, but it allows you to have clarity and be in control of your own body.

Mindless habit: During the holidays I feel like I eat endless cookies during work because my coworkers bring them in every week.

Mindful shift: I know that I always look forward to a couple specific cookies during the holidays, and I do not want to settle for cookies that I don’t particularly like.

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Avoid Grazing

Rather than grazing throughout the day, try to structure your meals and snacks into intentional “piles” to help maintain steady energy. Attach desserts to the end of these piles so that you enjoy them as a satisfying conclusion, leaving you comfortably full until the next meal. This approach supports a more gradual rise and fall in blood sugar, while allowing you to fully enjoy your treats without overindulging.

Mindless habit: Taking a cookie each time you pass the cookie table at a party.

Mindful shift: Attach the cookie you’ve been eyeing up to the end of your meal, creating a satisfying finish.

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Create Small Traditions

Take a moment to identify what genuinely brings you joy during this season. Then reserve a particular day to savor that tradition. By giving these experiences their own place, you not only keep them special and create something to look forward to year after year, but you are able to be fully present and savor the moment.

Mindless habit: I love hot chocolate, so December is the perfect excuse to drink it every day.

Mindful shift: Hot chocolate is a special part of the holidays for me, so each year on Christmas morning, my tradition is to drink a big mug of it as I open up the gifts.

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Make Room as Opposed to Saving Room

If you know you want dessert, treat it as part of the meal rather than an add-on. By leaving intentional space for it while eating, you can fully enjoy both the main dishes and the treat without overstuffing yourself. Trying to “make room” after the fact often leads to discomfort, but planning for dessert as a natural part of the meal allows you to savor it mindfully and stay comfortably satisfied.

Mindless habit: I am so stuffed from dinner, so I am just going to wait an hour before I eat some dessert.

Mindful shift: I know that I want dessert after dinner, so I am going to save room for it so I can truly enjoy it without feeling uncomfortably full.

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Scan Your Options

Before grabbing a plate and loading on whatever looks good, take a quick scan of your options to identify what you are most hungry for. Oftentimes, when making your plate at a holiday party, you may make it to the end of the food line and realize that you have no room for something you truly love. By giving the table a quick scan ahead of time, you can make room on your plate for the things you love, and pass on the things that you don’t want to fill up your plate.

Mindless habit: I filled my plate up so much that I don’t have room for the mashed potatoes at the end of the line. I’ll just have to come up for seconds.

Mindful shift: I scanned the table and I know exactly what I want to put on my plate, and what I want to skip past.

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Stay Excited About the Foods You Love

If you have a favorite holiday food or dessert, let it remain a special tradition. For example, if your grandma’s sugar cookies are something you truly look forward to, reserve them for the celebrations where they hold meaning. When we eat something special every day, it loses its charm; part of what makes these foods so enjoyable is that we experience them only once or twice a year.

Mindless habit: I used to my grandma’s sugar cookies, but I’ve eaten so many that I don’t really enjoy them anymore.

Mindful shift: I love my grandma’s sugar cookies, and I look forward to eating them each year at our cookie exchange.

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New Year’s Resolution Mindset

Avoid approaching the holidays with a “New Year’s resolution” mindset. This mentality can permit you to overindulge day after day, under the assumption that you’ll “get back on track” after the holidays. It encourages mindless eating and can trap you in a cycle of indulgence and restriction. Continuous overindulgence rarely leads to true enjoyment, and by February, those lofty goals often feel overwhelming. Instead, focus on intentionally enjoying the season. Savor foods, traditions, and moments without falling into disordered patterns.

Mindless habit: I’ll just indulge all month and plan to reset in the New Year.

Mindful shift: I am going to enjoy all of my favorite foods this holiday, but stay mindful about what I am eatly so that I can truly enjoy it.

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If you need guidance during the holiday season, reach out to scheduling@casespecificnutrition.com to connect with a Case Specific Dietitian. Our team provides individualized nutrition care across the Greater Pittsburgh area, as well as in Erie, Raleigh, and Tampa.