6 Tips to Survive the Holidays Without Overeating

For many people, the holidays are loaded with traditions. Food typically plays a big role in those traditions—and so do emotions: Stress, anxiety, anger, loneliness, and frustration are feelings that often surface during the holidays, whether you're with your family or not, and all are common triggers for overeating.
The best way to cope with parties, traveling, visiting family, big meals, and other challenges to healthy eating during the holiday season is to put a plan in place, and to follow it as best you can.
Start by anticipating trigger situations: A food trigger is any social, psychological, physiological, or situational event that prompts you to eat. Sometimes true physical hunger is a trigger, but that simply means it’s time to eat, at which point you are free to make a healthy choice. But many situations and emotions specifically related to the holidays can trigger you to eat when you’re not really hungry, or to overeat even when you’ve had enough.
Family gatherings, office parties, and get-togethers with friends are all environmental, or situational, triggers—and they are often emotional triggers as well. For some people, just being with other family members is enough to make them overeat. That might be because they revert back to their family’s traditional way of eating or it might be because of the anxiety they feel when they're with family. In the end, some people simply plan to spend less time with family because the after-effects are just too devastating:


1. Try to avoid “hot button” conversations that trigger emotional eating, such as political debates or rehashings of old family disputes. These are usually predictable, so it pays to take time before the holidays, when you are feeling calm, to think back to previous, similar situations, and to plan how you'll respond if you are cornered into conversations that tend to make you sad, mad, or frustrated enough to turn to food for comfort.


2. If your family's issue is a food-and-love connection—for example, a family member who does the cooking and always insists on second and third helpings—your plan could be to practice saying “no” before you get there. (Here are nine ways you can practice saying “no.”)


3. Loneliness can trigger you to overeat, whether you are actually alone or feeling "alone in a crowd" because you don't feel like you relate to anyone in the group or that you can find anyone to talk to. If your loneliness is situational—if you are going to be alone for the holidays and you don't want to be—reach out to a friend, neighbor, colleague, or like-minded relative, and try to make a plan to get together or to talk on the phone. Or find a church or local group that can use a volunteer at their holiday soup kitchen.


4. If you have plans with your family, but you're anticipating a deep sense of isolation or other negative feelings throughout the day and afterwards, you've probably been feeding those feelings for a long time, so the solution won't come quickly. But you can try to make another plan—say, to meet up with a friend at the end of the day or soon after. If you anticipate experiencing  loneliness, sadness, stress, or other difficult emotions, the idea is to set up something to look forward to.


5. Holiday food in and of itself is a trigger as well. How can you not eat food that looks, smells, and tastes so good? The truth is, you should allow yourself to eat, while at the same time taking a few precautions against extreme overeating.


Some people make the mistake of not eating on the day of a holiday meal or party, in anticipation of eating a lot at the evening celebration. That’s actually the worst strategy because, in the end, not eating can backfire and you may end up eating more than you would have because you arrive at the table famished. It's better to have a couple of light meals earlier in the day—yogurt with fruit, salad with chicken, and, of course, plenty of water—and enjoy normal serving sizes of your favorite holiday foods at the big meal.

At the meal, take small portions of everything you like, eat slowly, and finish everything on your plate before you consider second helpings of anything. Eating slowly allows time for your brain to get the signal from your stomach that it’s full, and when you feel full, you’re better able to resist second helpings. This is an especially good idea if you aim to save room (and conserve calories) for dessert.


6. It also help to get physical. Try to get a family member or someone else from the holiday table to take a long walk with you after dinner, or even before and after the meal. If you regularly go to the gym, take exercise classes, or work out on your own, plan to do a little extra the day before and the day after a holiday event, or anytime that week. The best approach is to make an advance plan to work in some exercise. (Here are 10 Ways to Get Yourself Moving.)