Mindful Holiday Eating: 7 Tips to Help You Enjoy Your Holiday Meals and Make Healthier Choices
The holidays are a time for connection, tradition, celebration — and food. So how do you balance wanting to have fun and indulge in your favorite holiday dishes with your desire to “be healthy?”
If you’ve ever felt torn, you’re not alone and I’ve got good news. Healthy holiday eating doesn’t have to mean avoiding your favorite family recipes or feeling like you’re walking on eggshells around the dessert table. You don’t have to swear off bunches of foods.
Instead, aim for a balanced approach, or what I like to call “the middle way” with my clients. This includes savoring festive meals guilt-free, honoring your body’s nourishment needs and hunger-fullness cues, and feeling present for the special moments. Not only is this a more sustainable and pleasurable approach, but it also supports your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, or what I like to call your whole health.
Here are 7 of my top tips and strategies to help you have fun, tune into your body, and feel confident and comfortable walking away from the holiday table — nourished, satisfied, and stress-free.
Tip #1: Set An Intention for Your Holiday Meal
When my nutrition clients ask me for holiday eating tips, I start by asking them about their goals. “When it comes to food, how do you want your holiday to go? What would make the meal feel like a success?” I’ll probe. Rather than thinking about what you “should” do when it comes to your holiday eating, I prefer to get you thinking about what you’d like to do and how you’d like to feel when the meal, the day or the holiday celebration is over.
Setting your intention ahead of time can go a long way towards helping you stay mindful about your eating. For example, you may want to:
Eat until you’re comfortable, not stuffed
Enjoy your meals without guilt or remorse
Keep your plate colorful with fiber-rich options that support your digestion
Choose things you love and leave the rest
Pick one or two intentions that are meaningful for you. Once you know what you’re aiming for, you can walk your choices backwards to figure out what specific action steps can align with your intentions.
Tip #2: Don’t “Save Up” Your Calories
People often tell me they try to avoid eating much for a few days before the holiday meal or they skip breakfast and lunch on the day of the event to save up calories for the big meal. Inevitably, those same folks also say they tend to “overdo” it or feel out of control around the holiday foods.
Even though diet culture encourages this strategy, in reality, all this does is make you urgently hungry and set you up to overeat. It pushes you into another version of the restrict-binge cycle or all-or-nothing mindset.
It’s much easier to stay mindful and find the happy, healthy middle ground when you plan for consistent and sufficient meals and snacks even on special holidays.
Tip #3: Choose the Foods You Truly Love
Rather than loading your plate with everything on the buffet just because it’s in front of you, be intentional about choosing your favorite holiday dishes and adding in some gentle nutrition options to round out your meal.
Before you fill your plate, scan the table and ask yourself, “What do I really want to enjoy at this meal?”
I love sharing this mantra from Evelyn Tribole, one of the founders of the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating, with my clients, especially this time of year:
If you love it, savor it; and if you don’t love it, you don’t have to eat it.
Tip #4: Start with a Mindful First Bite (Or Commit to a 3-Bite Check In)
Often, when people think about mindful eating, they think they have to eliminate all distractions, eat unnaturally slowly, and fully lock into every sensory aspect of their meal. And sure, this is one version of mindful eating. But it’s probably not very realistic for most of us eating day in and day out in the real world, let alone at holiday gatherings.
Instead, I encourage my coaching clients to do one of two things, whichever feels most accessible:
Make the first bite mindful. Pause, take a deep breath, notice the foods and colors on your plate, check in with your body and hunger level, and perhaps reflect for a moment on the effort it took to get that meal to your plate. Maybe even use this pause to set your intention for the meal.
Practice a 3 bite check in. If you have more bandwidth, you can check in with your body, the food, and your intentions before your first bite, midway through your meal, and again after you’ve finished eating. Take note of how hungry or full you are, whether you’re still enjoying the foods on your plate, the sensory aspects of your meal, and whether this eating experience is unfolding in a way you’d like to repeat.
The feedback you’ll gather as you reflect on what went well and what felt challenging in your meal can teach you a lot about yourself, your eating, and your body’s cues.
Tip #5: Slow down and Savor the Experience
Eating quickly can lead to overeating and poor digestion; plus, it can detract from the overall experience of your meal. How many times have you rushed through eating something only to realize afterwards that you barely even tasted or enjoyed it?
To avoid this, do your best to slow down at mealtimes. If you’re having some appetizers, put them on a plate and intentionally take a few moments to sit down and enjoy them. If you’re eating dinner, set your fork down between bites, take some purposeful breaths and notice the flavors, temperatures, or textures of your food, or pause and chat with the person next to you.
Slowing down your meal will also allow your brain time to register that the stretch receptors in your stomach are filling up, supporting you to find your comfortable stopping point.
Tip #6: Ditch Food Guilt and Self-Judgment
The holidays only come around once a year and they’re an opportunity to enjoy your favorite foods, cherished traditions, and special treats. There’s no reason to feel guilty for eating and enjoying foods you love and want to eat — ever, and most especially over the holidays.
I tell my clients: guilt is not a food group!
Watch out for food-policing thoughts like, “I shouldn’t be eating this,” “I’ll make up for it later with some extra time at the gym,” or “this food is so bad and has so many calories or grams of sugar.” These types of thoughts can encourage an all-or-nothing mindset with food and trigger feelings of guilt, shame, and stress.
Instead, remind yourself that all foods can fit in a balanced diet, and then do your best to eat and enjoy your food mindfully, paying attention to how you feel and how you want to feel in your body.
Tip #7: Consider Building a Meditation Practice
As a dietitian, I strongly advocate for meditation as a tool for improving health. It plays a key role in healing your relationship with food and body while also supporting you to make positive changes in your eating habits. Through meditation, you learn to observe your thoughts and behaviors without judgment — helping to silence that critical inner voice — and to connect more deeply with your body and mind in the present moment.
You also strengthen your ability to pause before reacting, an essential skill for breaking unhelpful habits and creating more supportive ones. Meditation can help calm your nervous system and lower stress — something we can all benefit from during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
Try a short, guided meditation sometime prior to your holiday meal with apps like Insight Timer, Calm, and Happier. Or, you’ll reap the most benefits of meditation if you do it consistently, so consider building a regular, ongoing meditation practice to support your health journey.
Eat Well, Feel Good, and Enjoy the Holidays (and Your Food)
The holidays are meant to be enjoyed, and that includes the food. By learning to eat mindfully and intuitively, you can savor your favorite dishes, honor your body’s cues, and feel good — both physically and emotionally. Choose one or two of these ideas that feel the most beneficial for you and practice them over the next few weeks.
And remember, healthy holiday eating isn’t about rigid diets or restrictive rules; it’s about nourishing yourself in a way that feels balanced and sustainable. So, enjoy your holiday meals, celebrate the season, and treat yourself with the care and kindness you deserve.
If you’re ready to break free from the January diet trap and embrace a healthier, guilt-free relationship with food, I’m here to support you — and the best time to get started is now. Let’s work together to create lasting, flexible nutrition and health habits that will carry you through the holidays and beyond. Schedule a free call with me here to get started, and let’s get you feeling good and eating well all year long!