Needless to say it has been an UNFORGETTABLE year and we could all do with a bit of festive, Christmas cheers, don’t you?
Seeing the sparkling Christmas lights, the cheesy Christmas shirt, hearing the carols playing puts a smile on my face and brings up my mood. It’s the little things that can make big differences.
What I love about this time of year is the gatherings with friends and family around lots and lots of food. I love seeing a table full of a variety of different food; nevertheless, my eyes are bigger than my stomach. Although there is only so much food I can fit, this is also the time of year where I am most excited about food and have my tricks to to get the most enjoyment out of my food which I’m happy to be sharing with you today.
There’s nothing more I want for you this Christmas than to be free to enjoy the feasting with family and friends without any guilt or shame.
Here are my tips to truly enjoying your Christmas feast:
Throw away the food rules
If you are someone who feels anxious during the festive season and worried about all the food that is around you that might be “bad”, worried about gaining weight, worried about what you can or cannot have or what you should or should not eat, can I challenge you to leave that at the door?
Now is not the time for food rules (or any time for that matter). Food rules can make you feel anxious and stressed around food, and leave you feeling shameful and guilty afterwards; and this is not what we want to feel like at Christmas now do we? We want you ENJOY Christmas – family, friends, food and all!
Instead of putting food rules on yourself, give yourself the freedom and permission to eat. You are allowed and have full permission to eat whatever is at the Christmas feast! There is no “shoulds” or “should nots” or “good” or “bad”, there is only food. And you can eat it if you want to!
But do you know what you want to eat? That brings me to my next point…
Go Scouting
To eat what you want, you have to know what’s available first right?
Go scout around and see where all the food is. What’s on the table, where is the food (you know, not every table got the same food – some are better than others), what’s for dessert? Check out what looks good and what looks…not so good… (let’s be honest, not everything everyone brings is necessary to our personal liking haha).
Now that you know what’s out there and what tickles your interest, you are ready to grab a plate!
Get a sampling plate
Have you ever heaped something on your plate, thinking “this must be good!”, only to put it in your mouth and realise, oh no…. Now you have a heap of food that you feel like you have to finish even though it didn’t taste nice or was not what you thought it was.
The sampling plate is going to help you avoid this situation so you can enjoy the food that you ACTUALLY want to eat.
After you have scouted around and made a mental note of all the food that takes your interest, go take a small sample of each (I like taking just enough for a taste – it’s basically a taste testing platter). Now you can taste each of the food you thought looked good and taste test to see if it is actually good and if you actually want to eat it. Then, you can go back to the dishes you really like and eat what you really want!
Take time to enjoy
You’ve just picked out the best food to your liking, now it’s time to enjoy it! It’s not a race to finish your plate first, so take the time to enjoy it. Take time to really taste and appreciate the food that has been made (you know what they say, the “secret ingredient” is love). You will taste more and enjoy more of your food if you take more time to notice the flavours and taste that it offers.
Sip your drinks
Are you really enjoying the taste of your drinks when you are just downing them? You may be able to get more down with speed, but you get to taste more when you slow down.
Whether it’s wine, beer or soft drinks, sip instead of scull, there is no need to rush. It’s ok to slow down, it’s the holidays afterall!
If you are worried that people are going to pressure you to drink more, just keep a full glass in your hand. People aren’t watching and keeping count of how many you are drinking, they will just think you must be drinking because you have a full class in your hand.
I hope you found these tips helpful to enjoying the most out of your Christmas with family, friends and food.
If you are looking for a quick and easy idea to bring to the table this Christmas, check out my Christmas Antipasto Bites on Balanced Body.
And if you are looking for more tips to enjoying food without guilt or shame, download my FREE “Eat what you want, when you want” Guide to help you on your journey
I wish you all a very Merry and safe Christmas!