The holiday season is here, which means people are going to more holiday parties where there will likely be a lot of high-calorie foods. After a holiday celebration that is centered around food, people sometimes get stressed by the amount of calories they consume because diet culture has led us to believe that we can’t eat a cookie unless we worked out and earned it. As a disabled person, I have to be a little more mindful of how much I eat on Christmas because I am more prone to constipation but even I sometimes eat too many cookies and get bloated. Before I healed my relationship with food the holidays were stressful because I was food-obsessed and all I could think about was how I was going to restrict myself later. There is so much pressure to restrict ourselves and get back to working out as soon as possible, which people think is healthy, but is so far from it. I hate to admit that I used to be that girl who would engage in unhealthy behaviors after the holidays that were making my food issues worse, that I would never do today. What should you not do after a holiday celebration? In this post, I am going to share a few things you should never do after the holidays.
Fasting to punish myself for all the calories I ate- After a holiday celebration, it is common for people to want to start a fast because sometimes people feel guilty for all the food they ate and think they can undo it all by fasting. Short fasts have some health benefits and it’s okay to fast if that is part of your normal routine, but you should never use fasting as a way of punishing yourself for all the food you eat, because that is disordered. Fasting helps some people improve their health, and I practiced it for a few months, but it did not work for me and only caused more constipation. The thing you will never see me do after a holiday celebration is start a fast because it’s unnecessary, and it doesn’t matter how many pieces of pie you ate yesterday, your body still needs nutrition today. Never feel like you have to fast after a large meal because it’s one day, and as long as you aren’t having a feast every single day, it’s not going to ruin any progress you have made. There is nothing wrong with fasting, but if you are doing it out of guilt or shame, it is diet culture, and I would encourage you to improve your relationship with food rather than cut more calories.
Start a highly restrictive diet— After a holiday celebration, there is a lot of pressure to start a highly restrictive diet because people often believe they have to restrict themselves to get back on track. Dieting can help some people improve their health, and I am not completely against dieting, but I would never start a restrictive diet after a holiday to punish myself because it makes celebrating the holidays less enjoyable. As a disabled person, I have always been against restrictive diets for me personally because they are not sustainable and sometimes cut out important nutrients that I need for better gut health. Some people think that they need to start a diet after a holiday, but I have never felt the pressure to do that because I know that as soon as I start eating healthy again, I will feel better. I will never start a diet after the holidays because it’s unnecessary and won’t do much for you if it’s too restrictive and you can’t stick to it.
Talk negatively about myself- After a holiday, sometimes people overeat and feel guilty for all the things they ate and shouldn’t have. People sometimes are hard on themselves and say negative things about themselves that they would never say to a friend. After a social gathering, I do not always feel the greatest, but I do my best to avoid negative self-talk and body checking because these types of actions only make you feel more guilty. Give yourself some self-love and stop the negative self-talk and do not say anything about yourself that you would not say to a friend. If you ate more than you should have use that as a learning experience and do better next time instead of turning it into self-hatred.
Start a juice cleanse- I love a good smoothie, but you will not see me substituting a broccoli smoothie for pizza anytime soon but let’s be real it’s not the same. Juice cleanses have become popular because it’s a quick way to lose weight but unless you have a medical reason for needing to drink smoothies all the time it’s not healthy to use it as a substitute for real food. You can be missing out on important nutrients which can cause things like constipation. I will never start a juice cleanse after the holidays because I know I feel my best when a vast majority of the things I eat are real food.
Do more exercise than I normally would– After a big meal people sometimes think that they need to do more exercise at a higher intensity to burn off all the calories they ate. I like to do short walks after meals because it helps with my digestion, and I have less stoma problems, but never will you see me doing a harder workout after a holiday. My workout routine will not change after the holidays because you can’t out-train a bad diet and don’t have to burn off every calorie you ate. Your body needs calories to function and it’s totally fine to eat a lot of calories and not exercise. Light exercise can help reduce bloating after a large meal, but it doesn’t have to be anything extreme.
Holidays can be stressful because there are a lot of events that are centered around food and people often think that one meal will ruin their progress. Fasting and restricting calories after a large meal is sadly so normalized in today’s society because we have been led to believe that severe restriction is healthy. If you want to do those things I am not here to tell you not to because it’s your life but never feel like you have to severely restrict yourself after every social gathering. I never change my diet after a holiday because I know that I am not going to be eating a feast every single day and don’t have to restrict myself. Holidays that are centered around food can cause a lot of guilt and shame and I think that it is so important that remind ourselves that even though all our friends are dieting that doesn’t mean we have to. Enjoy the holiday season and try not to get overly stressed and punish yourself after a social gathering for eating too much because it takes the joy out of celebrating Christmas. What things do you not do after a holiday? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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