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Holiday stress eating: understanding and overcoming overeating · SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions

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Music.
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Over the next few weeks, we're playing back some of our most listened to episodes
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as I take some time to prepare for all the amazing things we're bringing to you in 2025.
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Today's episode is about overeating and using food as a coping tool during the holiday season.
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If this sounds like you, there is actually science behind this and completely
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normal, and we're going to dive in it on today's episode.
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Overeating on all the delicious things that are more readily available to us
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during the holidays is so common.
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There are so many reasons for why it could be happening.
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And we're going to talk about some of these today, along with several of my
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tips for ways to combat that struggle.
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So buckle up. Let's get started.
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All right, y'all. It is the holiday season. We are smack in the middle of it.
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And so I want to talk today just
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about how it is just rampant amongst my clients, amongst people I know.
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I mean, I literally can just kind of look around wherever I am and kind of notice
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that people use food for coping.
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And so after this episode, you're going to understand a little bit more like why it happens.
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And honestly, my biggest prayer for this entire episode is that you can press
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stop when it's over and you can say, okay, I am normal.
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There is nothing wrong with me. Everyone struggles with this.
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Like, you know, a lot of, a lot of people will come to me just kind of almost
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in a way of like, Constance, I'm unable to be helped.
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I've got a problem, you know, because they love food so much or they turn to
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food out of such desperation in other areas of their lives.
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And they just, they feel like they are not able to control themselves around food.
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And so I see this magnified a lot during the holiday season.
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And part of it is because like, y'all, we got all that good stuff available to us right now.
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You know what I mean? Like, I don't know about you, but I'm not getting fudge
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and haystacks on a random day in March.
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You know what I mean? So here we are in the middle of December and you never
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know what you could be faced with food-wise at work or at a party or at your
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kid's school or who knows what.
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And so that alone can bring a little bit of uncertainty, but also a little bit of, you.
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I would say like you kind of give yourself a little more leniency around food.
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And so we're going to talk a little bit about that.
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But the first thing that I want to talk about right this minute is how this is such a normal thing.
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Okay, overeating specifically during the holiday season or eating things you
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normally wouldn't or, you know, kind of just eating more than you usually do is normal.
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And let me, I'm going to explain to you why it, I'm not, I'm not saying,
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oh, it's normal from like a everybody does it standpoint.
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I'm saying, baby, the science says it is normal.
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Okay. And so I'm going to tell, we're going to talk about a little bit of the science here. Okay.
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And so the body is a crazy, crazy thing.
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And so I think this to me is what is so mind blowing is like a lot of people,
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like I mentioned just a minute ago, like a lot of people are like,
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something's wrong with me instead of thinking.
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Okay, now this is just the way the body is.
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Like, and I only know me to the depths that I know me, right?
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Like, well, you don't know anybody else to the depths that you know yourself.
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And so you feel like your flaws or your shortcomings are on blast.
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And so you in turn feel like that there's something wrong with you when in reality,
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this is just the way we are, okay, across the board.
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And so, so I'm getting a little deep in my emotions about it.
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But I, This is a very important topic to me because I feel like with a lot of
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our ladies, half the battle is teaching them what true nutrition and weight
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loss should look like, right?
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But the other half is breaking down those barriers, breaking down those mental blockers,
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breaking down that total just self-doubt and self-hate because they have taught
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themselves, the devil has literally gotten in their brains and told them like,
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something's wrong with you.
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You're never going to lose weight. And this is why. So I'm here to tell you that.
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A lot of what we're going to talk about today is normal across the board.
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It's normal for everyone.
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And so we're going to talk about stress, okay?
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Because in the holiday season, hello, anybody got some stress going on? I know I do, right?
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It's not just the stress of if you live in a city and you have to drive through
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the chaos to and from, you know, that in itself can be stressful.
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But it is, we've talked about this a couple of podcast episodes ago,
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just like it's financial stress. My gosh, everything is so much more expensive
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right now, you know, this year in 2023 to begin with.
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And then, you know, then you got to buy all these toys and all these presents
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and all these things for people who really don't even need them, right?
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But you're doing it. And so then it is a lot more of the events,
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a lot more of the, you know, donations, a lot more of the giving,
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a lot, all these things that cost money. So that's stressful.
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Also, my ladies in the healthcare, my people, I know I have a few men that listen
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to you, but my people in the healthcare field, y'all are working so much right
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now because, you know, everybody's trying to get in before the end of the year.
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You know, kids parties, all the things you can get, you know,
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all the things with your children that is fun for them and you want to make
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sure it stays so fun, but it is also low-key, super stressful.
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Okay, not to mention family issues like, oh my gosh, holidays mean family time.
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And, you know, my mother-in-law wants me to be there on Christmas morning,
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but I want to wake up and be with my kids on Christmas morning.
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And that's not a real life situation, y'all, my mother-in-law.
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My mother-in-law is wonderful, but it's for some of you it is. It's a huge stressor.
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And just like, how are we going to divide our time amongst our families?
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You know, so all this, right, all this that I just mentioned,
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plus a ton that I probably didn't like grief and, you know, things like that, that causes stress.
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Okay. It is, again, this is normal. This is normal.
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I'm going to say it a hundred times today because we automatically feel a type
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of way about feeling stress in those situations. And like, what else are you
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supposed to feel when someone is asking you to step outside of your comfort zone?
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You know, stress, they say stress can be, you know, helpful,
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but also it is still stressful, right?
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And so if someone is asking you to step out of your comfort zone,
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if someone is asking you to spend a dollar that you know you don't have,
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if someone is asking you to be at a at a kid's Christmas party and a work meeting
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at the same time, like these are stressful things and it is okay to say so and to feel that, okay?
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And so when we do feel stress, our body responds, okay?
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And again, this is not something you can just block out.
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It's gonna happen. You're gonna feel stress around certain situations and then
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your body is gonna respond and our body responds by releasing cortisol.
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And cortisol is intended to help our body protect itself, right?
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Like that's the purpose of it all. We talk about this in depth in the membership
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with my ladies, but it's meant to protect itself, but...
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It can also increase that appetite, right? And so if you stay stressed out,
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like if you find yourself just constantly facing stressors,
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big stressors or little stressors, y'all, like somebody pulled out in front
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of you in traffic or you dropped something,
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your phone on the ground and thought you cracked the screen and your heart rate spiked for a minute.
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Like it doesn't all have to be like, oh, I don't have any money in my bank account kind of stressors.
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It can be any big or little. but if you stay consistently stressed out,
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that cortisol keeps coming.
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Okay. So it just, your body keeps getting flooded with that cortisol.
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And then what happens? You continue to want to eat.
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Okay. So it is a, it is a natural response when we're stressed in the holiday
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season or not, when we're stressed, it is a natural response to feel a lot more extra stress.
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And then in turn, feel like you might want to eat more. Okay.
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And let's layer that on. All right.
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When this all happens, baby, we don't crave fruits and vegetables, right?
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I wish, right? I wish I craved like a leafy green salad with no dressing, but that's not it.
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We crave high fat, high sugar or salty foods.
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Okay. We crave comfort foods and there is a reason they are called that. Okay.
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Comfort foods, these high fat, high sugar, high salt, like the foods that are
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the delicious foods, y'all, honestly, you know, they are called comfort foods
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because when we eat them, they release serotonin to our brain. Okay.
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And that, that right there, that release lessens the impact of the stressful
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hormones that we were feeling.
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Okay. So that serotonin release makes us go, huh?
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Okay. I'm calm. This is cool. This is cool. You know, it makes you slow down.
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It makes you feel good. You get a lot of some happy feelings and you get some
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calm feelings from those type of foods that release that serotonin.
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Okay. And so...
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That is why our brains automatically think like, hey, I'm stressed.
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Maybe I should go for the chips.
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Maybe I should grab a candy bar. You know, I'm stressed out.
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And so it's easier for our brain to want to go to those type of foods because
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we know our brain knows y'all.
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Our brain, I mean, our body is so in tune. Our body is so smart.
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And so it knows if I eat these chips right here, I'm going to get a release.
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It may be just for one or two minutes, but it's going to feel really good.
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And I'm going to go there. That's why sometimes, I mean, sometimes,
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especially with eating, it
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can feel like you are thinking out of two different sides of your brain.
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You know, you can be thinking, oh my gosh, that bag of, you know,
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candy looks so good. I would love some candy right now.
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And then the other side of your
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brain can literally at the same time be thinking, you don't need that.
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You're trying to lose weight. You just signed up for Perfect Fit Nutrition Weight Loss.
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You don't need that. You know, that's not gonna make you feel good.
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You're gonna feel like crap after,
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you know, you're gonna go over on your calories for the day, whatever.
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But that other side of the brain is still saying, but let's just do it and find
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out, you know, and so it just depends on the day.
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And it depends on which side is, is louder, you know, who's gonna win.
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But there is a reason that that happens. And it's because of that process that
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I just mentioned, OK, and then when you do end up eating those comfort foods,
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what that does is tell your brain like, hey, let's do this again next time. Right.
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Because it feels so good. Your brain has that memory of, OK,
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last time she was stressed, we ate those chips and they were so good.
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Let's let's make sure to do that this time so that or, you know,
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next time so that we can make sure we calm down again.
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OK, and so this is a real thing. Like I'm not making this up.
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Like so much research dollars has been put into this cycle that I have just,
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you know, laid out for you here, the very, very, you know, basics of it.
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Okay. And so I think for all of us, it's super important to acknowledge that it's a real thing. Okay.
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Because by acknowledging that it's a real thing, that it's a scientific thing,
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it then frees you up from that guilt and that burden that you may be putting
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on yourself, you know, to do the right thing and stop eating the junk and all that.
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Because sometimes it's just our body response. Okay.
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And it takes a hot minute to undo something that our body and our mind and,
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you know, that we've been doing for years upon years.
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Okay. Think about it. Think about it. go back to your childhood.
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I know, I know that I still have a lot of this nostalgia eating.
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Okay. And honestly, y'all, I don't
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think that I will ever completely undo that because it is just such a.
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Comforting feeling. You know, it is something so powerful that I just,
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I don't, do I even want to stop eating out of nostalgia?
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And so let me talk about it. Okay. So like growing up, I think I may have talked
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about this before, but growing up, we would have milkshakes after dinner often,
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you know, like my mom would, we would, that would be our treat, you know?
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And so sometimes even still to this day at 36 years old, I'm like,
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I need a milkshake after dinner.
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Like something about it It makes me feel just this relief, this comfort,
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this home-like sense that I may, my emotions may have just craved for that day.
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You know what I mean? And so same with things like the holidays.
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The holidays are so full of nostalgic things for a lot of us,
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for, you know, traditions that we've just passed down for years and years,
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or for memories of our loved ones that may be gone.
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You know, like my, this is my mom's dad, Papu, he was our grandfather.
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He always made caramels and peanut brittle for the holiday season.
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And they were from out of town.
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But when they would come in town, we would have those.
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He would, we would make them with him.
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And so every Christmas, my family, we have tried to kind of carry on that tradition
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of doing that because it's just, it feels good. Okay.
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And yes, it involves food and yes, we're going to lick our fingers and we're
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going to eat too many of those caramels afterwards, you know,
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but there is just such a nostalgia there that makes us all feel warm and fuzzy inside, you know?
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And so it, again, like that is even, that is, that is an even deeper emotional thing is, um.
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Yeah, all the stress and the emotions and the cortisol and the serotonin and all that, yes.
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But then on another note, it's like, okay, I'm looking at somebody who has made,
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you know, an upside down, pineapple upside down cake.
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And I haven't had one of those since, you know, last year when my grandmother
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passed or whatever it is for you.
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And you just may want that pineapple upside down cake just to like feel,
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you know, connection to the past.
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And while you and your therapist can work through that, however you feel fit,
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that's not my job or anybody else's job to tell you how you should feel in those
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moments with those foods in that nostalgia.
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But it is my job to encourage you to just recognize it as such, right?
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Just recognize that, okay, I have been in my emotions about X,
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Y, or Z, and now I'm seeing this thing that reminds me of my aunt or my, you know, whatever.
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And, you know, it may have led me to consume that food, okay?
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And that's it. There is no shaming behind it.
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There is no wishing it away. There is none of that.
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It is simply acknowledging the connection and then moving forward, right?
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Until you are ready or you are in need to take it a step further, okay?
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And you may not be. You know, for me, the caramels once every Christmas,
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I'm not going to take it a step further so that I don't ever make my grandfather's
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caramels again and eat them ever again. That is absolutely ludicrous.
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So, but some people, you know, it's a deeper struggle.
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And that is, again, a place for you and your therapist to, you know,
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help you figure out and then navigate.
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All right. But aside from that, okay, aside from the normalcy of a lot of those things.
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Let's talk about just what this season does to us in general that causes us
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to, again, want to eat even more or want to eat more of the junk, okay?
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So a lot of times during the holidays, we are also what? We are also lacking
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sleep, y'all. We're staying up later.
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I know just in my household, my kids, I mean, my kids usually go to bed by 745.
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And for the past few weeks, it has been 8.15, 8.30 that even they go down.
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And so for Jess and I, that automatically means later bedtime for us because
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we have a routine, you know, to get things done or to, you know,
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take our baths and do all of our stuff after we put them down.
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So that automatically puts us with less sleep, right? And so I know you guys are the same way.
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Might be staying out later, might be staying up later, especially those of you
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guys who have kids that are studying for a lot of finals or whatnot.
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And so sleep deprivation also causes our bodies to crave that junk food and
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eat more. And we just talked about it, right?
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Those types of foods make us feel better, make us feel comforted.
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So when our body's like, oh, I'm so tired, you know, it's like,
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what can I do to wake myself up and make myself feel better?
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You know, oh, sugar sounds good, you know.
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And then also on top of that, if you haven't gotten enough sleep,
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your body produces more ghrelin, which is a hormone that is produced by the stomach.
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And that hormone tells your brain when it's time to eat.
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Okay. And so if you haven't gotten enough sleep, your body is producing more of that hormone.
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So that means your brain is being, your stomach is telling your brain,
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it's time to eat. It's time to eat.
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It's time to eat more than it would if you were actually getting enough sleep.
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Okay. So studies show, and I mean, it makes sense, right?
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Studies show that people who do not get enough sleep, also consume more calories per day. Okay.
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And so I know that is so hard. In fact, as this recording is a little sooner
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than you will hear it, but on this exact day of this recording.
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One of our challenges to, we're doing a get yourself off this shelf push inside
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of the membership right now.
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And it's just little, little healthy habits that we
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encourage them to do every single day and some of them are like meditate or
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leave the dishes in the sink or you know walk
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you know park in the back of the parking lot and walk
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further or whatever it's just something little and it's a surprise every day
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to keep them on their toes during the holiday season so that they don't let
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all this stress and everything completely overwhelm them and forget about all
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the progress that they've made over the year on their weight loss but so anyway
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today's is go to bed 30 minutes earlier.
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Go to bed 30 minutes earlier and they're already, I mean, like,
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oh my gosh, this is going to be so hard, you know, because we're in the middle
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of it. We're in the middle of it.
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But we want rest as much as we possibly can get in the middle of the chaos, right?
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At least it will help us think more clearly and maybe eat a little bit,
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you know, a few bites less of the cupcake or whatever that's in the break room today.
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All right. Another thing to pay attention to, okay, for yourself is are you
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drinking more alcohol during this season, okay?
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It is full of the holiday festive cocktails, y'all, and I am a prime example, okay?
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We usually do not drink, you know, during the week, you know,
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maybe once on the weekend, if that, but these past few weeks, right?
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It's just been like, I mean, we've had holiday parties on a Wednesday.
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We've had, you know, and so you
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go and you have a drink And it's not even excessive drinking, right? Okay.
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It's just putting alcohol into your system, period.
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And it can affect your weight loss. It can affect your eating.
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Okay. Alcohol makes you want to eat more. Okay.
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And usually, especially if you've had an excessive amount of alcohol,
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usually you don't make the healthiest choices, right?
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I do not know a time in my life that I have even had one glass of wine,
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just one, and then said, golly, I would love to have some carrots and a ranch right now.
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No, no way. I want like something salty. I want crackers.
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I want french fries. I want, you know, if I'm hungry, I'm going for something
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that, you know, is, is, is a comfort, right?
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Like we talked about earlier, I'm not going for the healthy option that's in the refrigerator.
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Okay. And so two, I mean, just alcohol does affect your, your mental state,
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your brain, your brain state.
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And so, So, you know, it does also make us be like, oh, yeah,
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it's fine. I'll just have some French fries, right?
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Whereas in your totally sober state, you might be like, no, no,
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French fries. I don't need French fries today.
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I had them, you know, yesterday or whatever it may be.
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You just make more sound decisions when you have not had alcohol. But aside from that.
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Drinking alcohol in general makes you want to eat more.
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Okay. And then again, like we said, the mental part of it, you don't usually
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choose the healthiest options.
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Plus, alcohol dehydrates you. Okay. So like, it is so, why do we drink alcohol, y'all?
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But you know, because you're sitting there sipping your wine or you're sipping
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your alcoholic beverage, and then you continue to sip it because you're wanting
22:31
to continue to drink something, your body is actually, you know,
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probably dehydrated, especially if you didn't get enough water in earlier in the day.
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And so really your body's like, give me some water.
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Give me some water. But we're like, oh, I'm so thirsty. I don't know why I keep
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drinking this wine so fast.
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But it's your body really saying I need some water.
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Okay. And then sometimes if you're, if you really are super dehydrated or whatnot,
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your body can actually think that you're hungry when you're really thirsty.
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Okay. So you may honestly not be hungry at all, but because you've had that
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alcohol and because you're dehydrated, your body's like, yeah, let's have a snack.
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A snack sounds exactly like what we need, you know? And so again,
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I'm not shaming anybody because I'm, I mean, y'all, I can't shame you if I'm
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going to behave the same way, right?
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But just paying attention to yourself, right?
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Like, okay, do you notice the days that you have that you do drink,
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you know, you make more poor eating decisions.
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And even the day after, are you making poor eating decisions and just kind of
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get in tune with yourself in that area. Okay.
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So my next one is giving yourself permission. Okay.
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And this, this is such a topic that I feel like is.
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Y'all, I just feel like it's so underlying and no one really talks about it,
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but it's a real live thing that a lot of us do. Okay.
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And so are you, because, because you're stressed,
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because it's the holiday season, because it's your boss's annual party that
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he always has the best foods at or best drinks at or whatever,
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are we making that a reason to give ourself permission to overeat and indulge.
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Okay. Are you saying, Oh, I get to do this once a year.
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You know, I know I already had a drink, but maybe I'll just have another,
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you know, Oh, I'm so stressed out today. I think I'm going to have,
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you know, I'm going to drive through the drive-thru because I deserve it.
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You know, I am, I am very guilty of this y'all.
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I am when I am zooming around, I mean, I Zoom.
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I do not walk. I do not run. I Zoom when I get stressed out.
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So when I'm in the house and I'm just cleaning up or getting ready or cooking
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or doing something, you know, I've got a million things on my mental to-do list
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that I'm running down, okay?
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That is when I notice myself also grab a snack that I usually wouldn't grab,
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you know, like one of my kids' cookie snacks or, you know.
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Pick up something that I otherwise would not when my brain is more clear,
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when my mind is moving slower, I would think through and I would not consume.
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Okay. And so it's very common during this time, this season,
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you know, like if you're out at Walmart shopping for Christmas gifts and you're
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at the checkout line, you just grab a Twix bar and eat it because you're like,
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I'm so busy and I'm kind of hungry and this is here and it looks great.
25:41
And I got to get on to target now, you know, you're so, and you allow yourself
25:46
in those moments to kind of passively.
25:50
Eat those things because you feel so overwhelmed, because you feel so busy,
25:56
because you feel like, oh, it doesn't count, right?
26:00
Because I'm so busy. I haven't had time to think about what I'm doing.
26:03
I'm so busy. It doesn't count.
26:05
And so that along with, again, going to a party.
26:08
Again, I'm all about enjoying the special foods at a party, but I'm talking
26:13
more about, okay, you've had enough, your belly is full, but you continue walking
26:19
back over by the cheese plate.
26:22
You continue picking at the dessert on your plate.
26:26
You know, you are fully satisfied in your body, but your brain and your tongue
26:33
might be saying, hey, I want some more of that.
26:36
And this is a one-time thing a year. Let me just go ahead and have that second
26:40
piece of dessert, even though I'm truly full, you know.
26:44
So are you giving yourself permission during these, you know,
26:51
moments that otherwise you would not?
26:55
And again, I'm not shaming you for it. I'm not telling you any type of way.
26:58
I'm just encouraging you to think about it.
27:01
Even on the back end, you know, after it's happened, you think about,
27:05
oh my gosh, why did I eat that extra dessert?
27:07
You know, not in a shameful way, but really thinking about how you were processing
27:12
and how you were behaving in that moment to maybe hopefully bring it to the
27:16
top of your brain for the future, right?
27:19
For the next party you go to, to maybe have you, you know, try to be a little
27:24
more aware in those moments. Okay.
27:26
So I do want to get to some ways for overcoming it. Okay. For combating it. And again.
27:32
This is not foolproof. This is, you know, you could do, you could follow these
27:37
tips one day and walk away and be like, Constance, I killed it.
27:42
I did so good. I feel so satisfied.
27:44
I don't feel deprived at all, you know, but I felt like I stayed between the lines.
27:48
But then the next day you could attempt this and totally blow it.
27:53
Okay. And so I am the same way. There are still, this, this is my life.
27:57
This is what I've done for years upon years. I have helped people in this area amongst many others.
28:03
But even still, there are some days that I'm like, dang, man,
28:07
I was already full and I ate that extra chest square.
28:10
You know, like, because again, you cannot control these type of things as much
28:15
as you wish you could when you're in the midst of conversations or other responsibilities
28:22
or a hundred different things going on in a hundred different directions.
28:25
We are not perfect, y'all. We are not, but we are never going to be perfect.
28:30
And that includes in our food and in our eating, even when you know the right thing to do, right?
28:38
It still does not mean you're always going to do it. Okay, so my number one
28:42
tip here, and I think you've kind of heard it throughout this whole podcast
28:46
episode, is to get ahead of it and just be honest with yourself about it, okay?
28:51
So just think through some of the things that I've mentioned today and just be honest.
28:55
Like, okay, yeah, you're right, Constance. I have been drinking a little too
28:59
much extra alcohol lately, and I can see how that might cause me to want to eat more.
29:07
Some extra snacks at night. Okay. Or yes, Constance, I did exactly what you said.
29:12
You know, I went to this Christmas party last week and I was totally full,
29:16
but I was standing there with my girlfriends drinking another glass of wine
29:19
and I just kept picking at that cheese board and I was mad at myself for it the next day. Okay.
29:24
Just be, just bringing it to light instead of trying to shove it down inside
29:29
of you and pretend like it never happened. Right.
29:32
So just get ahead of it. Be honest with yourself. Acknowledge it, okay?
29:36
And so then pay attention to yourself, right, in those moments.
29:40
Again, reflect back because knowledge is power, right?
29:44
So now that you have brought it to light and you know what you did or what you're
29:48
doing, what your habits tend to be, the knowledge is where you then start to
29:54
climb your way out of it, right?
29:56
Okay, so don't totally avoid those habits that we have talked through here,
30:01
but face them head on, okay?
30:03
And so really getting specific about things that you notice?
30:06
Like, are you noticing that, okay, in this holiday season, it's more stressful?
30:10
Are you eating more at your desk by yourself at work?
30:15
Okay. Are you moseying to the break room because there's always food in there
30:19
lately because of the holidays?
30:20
And are you taking it back to your desk and then just eating more mindlessly there? Okay.
30:26
Or is it when you get home? Do you get off of a stressful day at work?
30:31
You come through the crazy, you know, shop in traffic and then you get home
30:34
and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm starving and I need to eat the house down.
30:38
Or is it after the kids go to bed? Like, do you get cozied up and kind of watch
30:42
a show and finally have that down?
30:44
This is a common one for a lot of my ladies, because we're a lot of us are moms and have a lot going on.
30:49
And so after the kids go to bed, it's like, this is my me time.
30:54
But instead of really focusing on doing something that encourages rest,
30:59
that encourages rejuvenation, encourages, you know, peace, you eat, okay?
31:05
You mindlessly eat while you watch like Desperate Housewives or something really
31:09
overwhelming and stressful.
31:11
And so, you know, you're looking at it as your me time, but what good is that
31:16
truly doing you? What rest is that really giving you?
31:19
Okay, and then what types of foods are you gravitating towards?
31:23
What are you eating? Because saying like, I'm just not going to eat after the
31:27
kids go to bed. I'm just not going to do that anymore.
31:30
You're lying to yourself. Like you may be able to hold that down for like a
31:34
week max, but then you're going to trend back into that habit that you've held
31:39
for years upon years, right?
31:41
So instead of saying, I'm not going to do this, think about what you're doing.
31:45
Think about your habits and then think about how you could change it a little
31:49
bit. Okay, so could you keep some healthier options for your snacks that you're
31:54
going to have when the kids go to bed?
31:56
Could you, you know, take a bath and read a book instead?
31:59
Could you, you know, when you get home from work, could you already have some snacks ready to go?
32:05
Or could you eat your snack, a decently satisfying snack, right?
32:10
It doesn't have to be like, again, carrots and ranch. It can be something that
32:13
you enjoy before you leave work so that when you walk in the house,
32:18
you're not starving. You're not looking for a snack.
32:21
You're not eating 25 more chips than you would have if you just ate before you
32:26
left the dang office, right?
32:27
So just thinking about some things like that and how you could just make tiny
32:32
tweaks to help yourself out in those situations and truly make yourself a little
32:39
more proud of how you're facing those situations, right?
32:43
Also, thinking about your emotions and how it might be triggering, okay, because like.
32:49
Some of us are dealing with some real live emotions right now.
32:52
Y'all, I have talked to a few clients just in the past week or so that like,
32:56
yeah, holiday stress doesn't help, but there's also just like a lot of other
33:01
crappy life going on, right?
33:04
And again, you cannot turn one thing off and turn eating on.
33:10
Like you cannot turn off your totally bad day, your stress from your balls,
33:15
your marital issues, all your struggles. You cannot turn that off and then turn
33:21
eating healthy foods on. It does not work that way.
33:25
They are cohesive. They are intermingled, whether we like it or not.
33:30
And so you just have to think about how are those emotions maybe triggering
33:35
some of these eating experiences?
33:38
And then maybe how can we, in a more healthy manner, try to deal with those
33:44
emotions as they come instead of running to that food?
33:48
Next, this is my biggest tip for a lot of my clients.
33:51
Well, the next two, actually, actually the next three is to just wait a beat.
33:56
OK, a lot of times, like I like I mentioned, when I'm zooming,
34:00
you know, I'm grabbing food and I'm whatever I'm and then I'm like,
34:03
what did I just do? Just wait a beat.
34:05
If you notice yourself going towards the pantry, going towards the break room,
34:09
getting some food out of your snack drawer, whatever it is, wait a beat and
34:13
say, OK, I'm going to set this timer for 10 minutes.
34:16
And in 10 minutes, if I am still wanting this, you know, cupcake,
34:22
this, you know, piece of candy, this bag of chips, whatever it is,
34:26
if I'm still wanting this,
34:27
then I'll have it because I will know then that I've made a mindful choice instead
34:32
of just eating it, rushing around or eating it while I'm working or eating it
34:36
when I'm flooded with other thoughts
34:38
and emotions and not even enjoying it while I was eating it, right?
34:42
And so I will tell you all a funny, this weekend I was making our daughter's birthday cake.
34:48
And I made a ton of buttercream. And.
34:52
I caught myself licking my fingers so many times that finally I started going
34:57
to the sink and spitting it back out.
34:59
I'm like, I'm going to get a stomach ache if I don't stop just constantly treating
35:04
myself to this buttercream on my fingers, you know?
35:08
And so I should have just waited a beat, but at least I did think about it while
35:12
I was mid-lick, you know what I mean?
35:14
But just waiting that beat and checking in with yourself before you put anything
35:19
in your mouth can be extremely helpful with not only, you know,
35:23
not over-consuming foods,
35:25
but also with your mindset around your self-control around foods, right?
35:30
It teaches you that like, oh, I can actually say no to this.
35:35
You know, I can actually choose or, you know, and that in itself gives you so
35:40
much more confidence when facing food.
35:42
Okay, so my next one is drinking some water instead of eating.
35:45
Okay, always tell yourself like i'm going to drink eight ounces of water just
35:49
like waiting a beat But instead i'm going to drink eight ounces of water and then come back to this.
35:54
Okay, because again If if you don't know without a doubt that you're getting
35:59
all your water ounces in then I can Promise you you're not If you are not like
36:05
for sure drinking all your water and kind of tracking it and been doing it for
36:08
years and keeping up with it Even if you've been doing it for years if you've
36:11
kind of fallen off that that focus.
36:15
You're probably not getting enough water.
36:17
Okay. And so, but that causes extra cravings that causes you to think you're
36:21
hungry when you're really thirsty. Okay. So just drink some water.
36:24
And then the last one is just tell yourself you'll come back to it.
36:29
Okay. I will get back here.
36:32
I will, you know, go for a walk around my neighborhood and then I'll come back
36:37
and have this because a lot of times when you come back to it, you no longer want it.
36:42
Again, that's kind on what I mentioned earlier. Like your mindset is just...
36:46
Different after you've given yourself a beat. Okay.
36:50
So, because honestly, I just, I hope, I really hope that this has been helpful.
36:57
I hope if anything, it has been kind of a relief for you because a lot of us
37:03
want to just say, okay, yeah, I had that Twix in the, in the target checkout
37:06
line, but I just won't do that next time.
37:09
And like that kind of mindset is a straight up lie. Like you are lying to yourself.
37:13
You're setting yourself up to get the dang Twix next time at Target and then say it.
37:18
So you won't do it next time all over again. Okay.
37:22
Instead of just saying, yep, I grabbed that Twix at Target.
37:26
I was having a stressful day. I was overwhelmed. Do I love that I made that decision?
37:30
Nope. But I'm a work in progress, right? So getting comfortable with your struggles,
37:35
getting comfortable even with your bad decisions around food is the only way
37:40
to start clawing yourself out,
37:43
right? It's the only way, okay?
37:45
So I hope that this episode was helpful for you guys. I hope that you were able
37:50
to walk into the rest of these holiday weeks days as, you know,
37:54
a little bit more confident in your food.
37:58
And as always, y'all remember, especially during this holiday season, to say grace.
38:05
Thank you for listening to today's episode of Say Grace Podcast.
38:05
Music.
38:09
If you enjoyed it, it would mean the world to me if you left me a five-star review.
38:14
Also, make sure to follow the show so you don't miss another episode.
38:19
Plus, if you're interested in learning more about losing weight and eating the food you.
38:23
Music.