If you are having concerns about holiday eating, let's consider some practical strategies for managing, using the Thanksgiving Holiday in the U.S. as an example.
First of all set the scene, the typical Thanksgiving is a sort of Homecoming- a get together with friends and relatives that you may not see in this combination too often. People get an update on each other and leave lots of idle time for conversation. In many families, it may be just a dinner time, or might be a whole weekend. As far as eating goes, many families do not serve meals all day, but instead may snack (to save up for dinner). Then, everyone gathers around to eat turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. Then they finish with pecan, pumpkin or apple pie and ice cream. Sound like your celebration? Or at least in part like your celebration?
For a person with any eating disorder, it is a challenge to manage this type of holiday--there's the family, the questions about their life,the idle time, the unstructured eating all day, the hunger at dinner time, the abundance of food and dessert. It can seem overwhelming.
Now consider a different approach-- imagine the day as it usually is, look at the hardest parts of the day and make a plan to make it easier.
Family-- Can you change the time you are there to make it easier?, Can you call some of the people you will see beforehand and rekindle the relationship before the holiday? Can you bring a friend or pet with you? Can you make a list of topics or things you want to share about your life so you set the boundaries of what you plan to disclose? Can you plan to take a walk or a drive to get out of the house?
Food-- Americans can get turkey and trimmings any day of the year, so the idea of fasting and bingeing on thanksgiving makes no sense. For a person with an eating disorder, it sets up more binges, perhaps purges or reactive restricting so...
Plan to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks on Thanksgiving (or follow your dietitian's plan). Do not save up your appetite by fasting. Rehearse which foods you expect to be available from hors d'oeuvres to desserts and plan accordingly. Eat normal portions of the meal--remembering that there are more starches served on Thanksgiving than usual meals and in order to taste all of them it requires a small portion. The same is true for dessert-there may be several offered, so decide ahead of time which ones and how much you plan to have. Make sure the dinner adds up to a regular dinner and the dessert adds up to one normal dessert. (If you want 2 types of pie have 1/2 of a piece of each).
Remember that all the foods are available at any time in America-- there is nothing so wonderful and special about it that you need to overeat-- And the main focus should be on enjoying the relationships with the people you are with. If you are spending the day with relatives who are dysfunctional, set realistic expectations for the day, and their limitations and enjoy them to the degree you can.
If a client does not appear to be a good candidate for outpatient nutritional counseling, they will be referred back to their primary healthcare professional or mental health practitioner or another healthcare professional. Every effort is made to coordinate care with existing healthcare and mental health professionals to maintain quality of care.
