Struggle to overcome their urge to eat, in front of a festive table with a variety of dishes, are called to give these days many people and especially those who try to control or reduce their weight. What causes the urge to eat? Is it realistic to stick to a diet plan during the holiday season? What can we do to manage holiday overeating so that what we eat doesn’t “eat” us?

Psychologists – psychotherapists Frosso Mitsiu and Anna Kalymniou, as well as dietician – nutritionist Kiki Gouta, specialized in eating disorders, provide answers to these questions and advice, speaking to APE-MPE.

“The urge to eat can sometimes have a biological background – and then the body really needs feedback, and other times it has a cognitive or emotional background – and then we talk about emotional eating/emotional hunger. In this case it is not our stomach that is hungry but our mind and our heart. Thoughts and feelings are what push us to eat and it’s hard sometimes to stop it, if we don’t eat all the sweets in the fridge or everything in sight. The need to control food is also what activates our urge to eat. As long as we are forbidden from doing something else, our insides want to do it, even if they don’t really want to. During the holiday season, each of us carries expectations, fears, loneliness, meetings with relatives who drain him, dreams that did not materialize, memories of people who are no longer alive, a daily life without meaning or an intense fatigue. All of these work at the same time as factors that trigger emotional eating,” notes Ms. Mitsiu.

How realistic is it to stick to a diet plan during the holiday season?

“Holidays are specific periods where, traditionally in Greece, food plays an important role as we make traditional dishes, kourabiedes, honey macaroons, etc. and we gather at the tables with friends and relatives to exchange wishes. Food is a way of connecting with others and can bring back fond memories of childhood. The relationship between emotions and food is quite complex and established from the first moment of our birth” notes, for her part, Mrs. Kalymniou and adds:

“Since we choose to celebrate traditionally and we are exposed to enough stimuli, it does not seem to be realistic to expect us to continue to follow the dietary plan that we followed in the previous days during the holiday season. It is not necessarily dysfunctional that we eat more or more erratically these days, and “binge eating” of this type is not a clinical entity. On the other hand, there is the case that we eat more and more restlessly because food can substitute for the lack of meaningful communication at the tables. One thinks: “better to eat than talk because things might not go well if I talk” and so, instead of externalizing one’s thoughts one eats instead of communicating.

How to manage overeating during the holidays so that what you eat does not “eat” you?

Answering this question, Mrs. Mitsiu recommends:

1. Keep notes and see when and under what circumstances emotional eating comes into your life. Morning noon evening; When you feel stressed, tired, lonely? Make a note of it so that next time you can choose what you want to do with it.

2. It is very important, at the moment when the idea of ​​emotional eating comes to your mind, to ask yourself: “now am I hungry or am I feeling tired, stressed, bored, lonely?”. This is valuable because it helps you each time to extend the time you go to eat and weaken the connection that exists in your mind, that when you are not well there will be this option.

3. See if nutrition, sleep, rest, hydration, exercise exist at a satisfactory level in your life. When it is not at a satisfactory level, we usually resort to snacking more often. Hunger and thirst are two doors side by side. Many times we think we want to eat, but in reality we may not have hydrated enough. The next time your mind wants to take you to food, drink some water.

4. After you see more clearly what is “stinging” your own mind, start feeding it with other alternatives. E.g. if for you there is the anxiety that triggers emotional eating, try going out for a walk, doing some form of exercise, taking a relaxing bath. If something makes you angry, start writing it down, if loneliness triggers emotional eating, try to call someone at that moment, do something that will make you feel better.

5 All this does not automatically stop emotional eating. But they give you the time to understand and realize what is happening in your mind and soul. Because the more we eat, all that we ingest are actually feelings and thoughts and probably inside you, your soul wants to say things.

6. Try to be kinder to yourself and don’t put him in a corner and hurt him. You may have emotionally eaten once again, but tomorrow you can do better and better.

Ms. Kalymniou, for her part, notes that in order to limit overeating during the holidays, one needs to look at the expectations one has of oneself during this period in relation to strictly following one’s nutritional plan and accepting that it is expected during the holidays, since it leaves the daily routine, to have a more erratic diet plan.

“One can already enjoy food, connect with others, accept that one can eat more or more erratically during the holiday season, excuse it, do what expresses oneself, what one needs and claim it. Don’t force yourself to do something compulsively when you don’t feel like it. To do what calms him down and gives him joy. Since he doesn’t want to go to a certain table, something else, e.g. exercise, walk, watch a movie, etc. Many times we think that at the family table we all have a great time or that during the holidays we have to do something specific. All of this creates expectations and eventually we may not be in that mood, get frustrated and resort to food to fill that emotional void. At the moment of overeating, notice if there is any unpleasant feeling that is trying to cover up through food so that you realize what it is replacing, recognize it and share it with someone.

Nutrition tips for the holiday season

Dietician – nutritionist Kiki Gouta recommends the following for the holiday season:

* Keep your body well hydrated because alcohol and eating out can lead to retention and dehydration.

* Start your day with a healthy breakfast, which will include some protein (cheese, egg, yogurt), at least one fruit or vegetable and some unsalted nuts. This way you will avoid feeling hungry while you wait for your main meal.

* Choose to start your dinner or lunch with a healthy dish, in which you will first put healthy – nutritious salad-type dishes to reduce your appetite and also enrich your meal with vitamins.

* Every 3-4 hours consume a healthy snack to keep your blood sugar levels at a good level. This will help control hunger.

* Choose side dishes such as lean turkey or chicken or meat, accompanying them with vegetables to reduce your mood for cuts high in fat such as bacon, fatty meat, etc.

*Wine and alcohol will definitely accompany your meal. Better to choose a glass of red wine that is rich in antioxidants. At the same time, drink water to avoid dehydration.

* Try a bite or two of the foods you want and enjoy the food without regrets or guilt.

* From sweets, choose those with the fewest ingredients because those with the fewest ingredients usually have the lowest calories. Also, if it is from fruit e.g. spoon sweets the healthier they are. Honey macaroons win the battle because they have olive oil and honey, while kourabiedes have butter and sugar, just like the king pie. The choice is yours.

* Choose to consume unsweetened tea before or after a meal. The tea is rich in antioxidants and will help you control the amount of sweets you will consume and the digestion process.

*Walk, run, bike, play with your kids or four-legged friends.