The most wonderful time of year is approaching and you’re probably looking forward to the likes of holiday decorations, festive meals, parties aplenty, and well-earned time off with friends and family. However, the holiday season can seem daunting for some, particularly where food is concerned. If you’re determined to lean into the joy of the season and the yummy bites it brings—all without feeling like you’re ‘cheating’ or neglecting your nutrition plan and weight goals—you’ll want to keep reading.
Ahead, we’re covering dietitian-approved tips and tricks for merry and mindful eating throughout the holiday season.
7 Tips to Enjoy Your Holiday Foods
1. Identify Your Goals
First things first, figure out what your overarching goals are while navigating the holidays. No matter if you want to stick to your personalized nutrition plan, lose weight, save money on dining out, cut back on drinking, or anything else, it’s important to hone in on that—then pinpoint the reasoning behind it.
For instance, you might want to lose weight to keep your blood sugar in check and thus promote healthy metabolism, keep your energy up, and keep cravings at bay. A great way to support this is to incorporate HUM’s Best of Berberine supplement into your holiday routine for healthy glucose levels and weight management. Or you may be sober curious if alcohol derails your fitness goals, hinders your sleep quality, or leaves you with a raging hangover when you wake up.
According to Lauren Manaker, MS, RDN, LD, CLEC, a dietitian based in Charleston, South Carolina, focusing on your ‘why’ will set the foundation for you to establish new habits and keep you motivated.
2. Establish Habits to Achieve Your Goals
Once you hone in your goal and why you have it, it’s time to create new habits to set yourself up for success.
“Building new habits can be challenging, but creative strategies can help you overcome the obstacles in your path,” Manaker shares. “First, identify the specific hurdles you encounter and turn them into opportunities for growth.”
Piggybacking off the weight loss example above, perhaps your forthcoming hurdles include:
- A packed party lineup
- Not wanting to pass up on your favorite holiday foods
- Eating for comfort if the holidays are stressful or lonely
Once you identify your obstacles and/or patterns, you can get into planning mode.
While you don’t have to go cold turkey and so no to everything, you can find small yet significant ways to overcome these hurdles. For instance, if you know that you eat when you get stressed or upset, aim to create a new means of coping, such as practicing yoga, calling a friend, or doing a guided meditation.
And if you don’t want to skip your long-awaited festive foods, simply don’t. Instead, Amy Shapiro, MS, RD, a dietitian based in NYC, suggests making a flexible plan by the day or the week instead of micromanaging each and every meal. If you know you have a big dinner coming up, for example, you can aim to cook up more balanced fare at home in the days before and after.
3. Find Ways to Stay Consistent
Manaker notes that making a 180 on your habits can seem daunting. As such, she suggests starting slow. “Embrace the concept of micro-habits by breaking down your goal into smaller, manageable tasks that gradually build up to the new habit,” she advises.
She also recommends the concept of habit stacking, which involves incorporating new habits onto existing ones. For those hoping to stay healthy and in shape throughout the holiday season, this could entail:
- Doing a few extra laps around the grocery store to get more steps in
- Going for a brisk walk after your main meals or washing the dishes
- Eating a piece of fruit or dark chocolate when you usually opt for dessert
Need some extra help to solidify your habits? “Set an alarm [or reminder] on your phone as a reminder to do simple health-supporting tasks, like taking your vitamins or drinking more water,” Manaker shares.
Per a 2023 review in the journal Nutrients, adopting such small tips and tricks can easily and effectively help you avoid gaining weight throughout the holiday season.
4. Enlist a Friend to Stay on Track
Truth be told, self-discipline has never been my strong suit. However, I find that I’m much more likely to follow through on my goals and healthy habits when I set up accountability systems with friends.
Both dietitians are fans of this hack, too. “Enlisting the support of friends or a community with similar objectives [can] provide accountability and motivation,” Manaker says. “If you commit to, say, walking every other day, find a friend who will walk with you on the same schedule every week.”
It’s also not a problem if your friends have different goals. For instance, I’ve had success making a shared document in which each person writes three goals for the week (e.g., walking 10,000 steps a day, dining out only once per week, or working out four times). Each of us then recap successes or obstacles before making new or improved goals for the week thereafter. Such a process not only promotes commitment, mindfulness, and accountability, but also a built-in support system.
5. Plan Ahead
As Shapiro mentioned earlier, planning ahead can also set your diet up for success, both during and beyond the holiday season.
As you navigate your meal plan around big dinners and other food-filled gatherings, she suggests:
- Snacking throughout the day or before a big event to manage hunger cues
- Looking at menus before getting to a restaurant so you know if healthy options are available to you ahead of time
- Aiming to cut off food intake about 2 to 3 hours before bed to promote healthy digestion and a good night’s rest
6. Indulge in the Things You Truly Enjoy
“The holiday season is a time of joy and celebration, where food plays a central role in gatherings and festivities,” Manaker explains. “To navigate these moments gracefully while keeping your goals in check, it’s important to adopt a balanced approach.”
This could include abiding by the 80/20 rule—aka sticking to the script 80 percent of the time and giving yourself leeway for the remaining 20 percent. When it comes time to treat yourself, allow yourself to truly enjoy it. Shapiro advises being judicious about choosing which bites deserve to make the cut (i.e., those that really please your palate), while Manaker suggests practicing mindful eating by slowing down and savoring each bite.
7. Ditch Deprivation and Shame
As you navigate the foodie paradise that is the holiday season, remember that deprivation is never the way to go and guilt is counterproductive. “Food is joy for many [people], and deprivation can affect your mental health when taken to the extreme,” Manaker warns.
Rather, finding a sense of balance—i.e., sustainable habits that also allow for self-compassion and some wiggle room—is key. Reframe any decadent meals you’d perceive as ‘slip-ups’ or ‘failures’ as moments worth enjoying. “It is when you allow these moments to turn into ‘events’ that they will get in your way,” Shapiro explains. After all, Thanksgiving and other winter holiday meals only come around once a year; a handful of them aren’t going to sabotage your greater goals and otherwise healthy, consistent habits.
The Takeaway
On a parting note, Shapiro believes that maintaining your weight over the holidays is a success in and of itself, while weight loss could be considered a bonus. This holiday season, give yourself the gift of grace—and yes, the delicious bites that make the winter so merry and bright, as well.