Food, stress and the holiday season...

Holiday hints and tips


Tips for managing food and stress during the holidays.

(1) Plan ahead. Think of a friend or family member who you can call when you are feeling stressed. We have feelings and emotions that resurface during the holiday season and it is important to have a plan for when those feelings arise so that we do not behave in a self-destructive way.

(2) Take care of your body! Traveling during the holiday season can be physically exhausting. Make sure your body has an opportunity to stretch and that your muscles are given a break and a chance to relax.

(3) Be sure to get enough sleep! The hustle and bustle of the holiday season may be exciting, but depriving your mind and body of sleep can create an unhealthy imbalance, which will interfere with your ability to handle stress positively.

(4) Listen to your body! During the holiday season it is easy to neglect our hunger and fullness signals. Try to maintain a balanced meal system and be kind to yourself about what you are eating.

(5) Take time for yourself! Plan to spend some time everyday - even if it is only 10 minutes - to take a walk, write, or just be. In order to maintain a perspective on the holiday season, it is important that you take some time to reflect on your experiences and the meaning of the holidays. Try to think about what is truly important in your life.

(6) Make sure that there is food available that you feel comfortable eating. Check ahead with the host and find out about ingredients if it will put you at ease. Offer to bring a dish so that you are sure there will be food available for you. It is ideal to have as little anxiety as possible surrounding the food, especially during the holiday season.

(7) Be curious. If you find that you are berating yourself for over-indulging or eating foods you normally would not eat, try not to be judgmental about those feelings. Write in a journal, call a friend, or talk about it with your therapist. Remember that the food is just a symptom of the emotions and everything else that you are feeling.

(8) Enjoy yourself! Make sure you take time to enjoy the people around you and the essence of the holiday season. Television depictions of the holidays do not resemble the reality that accompanies the festivities. Every family encounters stress and every family has a different holiday experience. Try to enjoy the special moments by creating memories instead of fussing over unfulfilled expectations.

(9) Focus on aspects of life unrelated to food and weight! Take a break from the repetitive messages about body image on television or in magazines. Do something you would not normally do - go for a hike, volunteer at a soup kitchen, or visit with friends. The holidays are a time for reflection and celebration, so make sure you take time to do both with the people you care about.

and you need to stop writting these long ass paragraphs thats why aint nobody reading this bull sh*t

Their is a 143 views as of my post, looks like someone is reading it and by posting you only verify that you have read it..

b*tch suck dick and go to hell im sure u wont be hugry then

You are just a stupid f*cking b*tch, Do realize that the more you post the more attention you are drawing to the very thing you are trying to hide. I am not supporting what you are against I am saying that if you dont want to support the things being written then why are you posting about things no one has posted about since december? By getting angry and swearing on the forums you are more likely to get people to read the tips rather than to stop it. In fact I never even noticed this until your post so how smart are you now dumb wh*re. I mean arnt you helping accomplishing the very thing you set out to stop? You need to quit your useless anger and start talking on a level that people are going to take you seriously.

First I think you need to ask yourself why you are doing this and what you are actually trying to achieve. If you want to come here and start pissing people off you will just get IP banned and people will keep on starving themselves, if you want to achieve something like make people feel better about themselves so they dont have to worry about what they eat then that is something you can work towards. The first thing you want to do is stop the negative attitude, you will only make people more upset and that upset will lead to depression that depression will lead to a lowered self esteem and that will lead to eating disorders, is that what you want? of course not I realize that you are trying to do something important and going about it in the best way you can find, but their is a better way. You can redirect your anger by working to help other people before they go through the same social pressures.

Think about what you value more, venting some anger and attracting more attention to something you are angry about and ultimatly helping in something your against or helping other people to stop the pressures and disorders that are being created. In other words do you more value the well being of people who are suffering or feeling better for one day because you went on a rampage and then making others feel bad for a lifetime. Their is another way you can work towards making people feel better about themselves instead of tearing them down and ultimatly helping yourself by helping them.

Well, shayla definitely doesn't look like she ever goes hungry.