The holidays are wonderful opportunities to socialize, give to others, and enjoy great food.
However, all of the delicious foods can be tempting and leave your overindulged tummy grumpy.
This doesn’t have to be the case though; you can enjoy tasty dishes and treats and avoid overeating while keeping your tummy both satisfied and happy.
How To Eat And Not Feel Stuffed
These simple steps will leave you feeling well so that you can enjoy the cheerful company and merriment of the season.
Think of them as non-food “courses” to serve alongside your meal (it’s even better if you can get your host or guests on-board with you): appetizer, main dish, and dessert.
The appetizer is what you can do to avoid overeating and prevent the overindulged tummy feeling from occurring, the main dish is what you can do in the moment to intercept any attempt to overindulge, and the dessert is what you can do if you found that you gave into temptation (you’re not alone!) and need immediate relief for tummy ailments.
Each course has three critical components to harness the synergy of digestive wellness:
1. Support your body
Natural foods and some supplements can help assist your body with its natural digestive process.
Related: 5 Ways To Avoid Overeating
A little support will ensure that your digestive system is not overburdened by foods that are richer than those to which you’re accustomed to consuming.
2. Move your body
Physical exercise helps increase blood flow to your digestive organs, oxygenate your body, and improve your digestion and elimination.
3. Relax your body
Relaxation helps shift your nervous system into parasympathetic mode (as opposed to sympathetic mode), which is associated with “rest and digest.”
When the parasympathetic nervous system is active, your body will best digest the foods you ingest, thereby making it less likely that you’ll feel bloated and experience indigestion.
You’ll also be more present so that you can introduce awareness to what you’re eating, and recognize the signals your body offers about how it’s feeling and what it needs.
Related: Relax! 3 Simple Ways To Fight Stress In Your Life
The Holiday Digestive Wellness Menu
The digestive system is integral to your feeling well and works with other organs and body systems to make sure that the food you eat is broken down, absorbed, and assimilated in your body.
While holiday fare might be a little more indulgent than your everyday food choices, you can support digestion to ensure the process runs efficiently and keeps you feeling vibrant.
Now it’s time to celebrate and look at the holiday digestive wellness menu.
1. Appetizer
Meant to whet your digestive fire and prepare your body for yummy foods, the appetizer will get your digestive juices flowing and calm your body. All components work together to optimize digestion so that you feel satisfied and energized after your meal.
Support Your Body:
Consume ½ tablespoon of pickled ginger about 15 minutes before your meal. Chew it well, then spit out the fibrous ginger parts.
Related: The Shocking Truth About Toxins (And Why Detoxing Is A Must)
This will assist your body with producing gastric juices to help your body breakdown the foods you eat:
Ingredients:
1 medium ginger root (or 3 knobs of ginger root)
1 lemon, juiced
½ tsp sea salt
Directions:
Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin from the ginger root.
Thinly slice the ginger root into strips using a vegetable peeler or mandolin, and add them to a glass bowl.
Squeeze the lemon juice over the ginger root strips and sprinkle sea salt on top. Mix everything together until combined. Cover and place in the refrigerator.
Move Your Body:
Combine a quick round of moderate- or low-intensity movement with a restorative yoga movement about 20-30 minutes before your holiday meal.
Related: 22 Great Gifts To Give Yourself These Holidays
I suggest 10-30 jumping jacks followed by a seated spinal twist. To move through a seated twist, sit on the floor with your torso erect and your legs gently crossed. Rest your hands on your knees or thighs, however is most comfortable. Inhale through your nose (you’ll feel your torso slightly lift), and exhale as you bring your left hand to rest on your right knee and your right hand to rest on the ground behind you. At the bottom of your exhale, inhale as you return to center.
Repeat on the opposite side, and then repeat the cycle a few times.
Relax Your Body:
Avoid overeating by saying grace before your meal. Take a deep breath in and close your eyes as you express gratitude for those who are with you and the meal you are about to share with them.
The resulting peacefulness and mindfulness will prepare your body for the foods it is about to receive.
2. Main dish
This is an opportunity to reconnect with your intention to care for your body in a loving way that enables you to enjoy the holidays without overindulging.
Take the time to appreciate your special meal so that you remain relaxed and positioned to identify and respond to how your body is digesting the foods you’re consuming. Given the ideal conditions, your body will be able to handle the holiday meal like a pro.
Support Your Body:
Take a broad-spectrum digestive enzyme with the first few bites of your meal to provide your body with extra support to digest your holiday meal.
Related: 53 Surprising Ways To Get Rid Of Belly Fat
This will help mitigate stress on your digestive system from indulgent foods or one too many servings.
Move Your Body:
Use a small salad plate rather than a large dinner plate. Not only will your portions be halved, you’ll feel like you’re having a full plate (visual trick for the mind).
Then, if you decide you want seconds after finishing what you had on your plate, get up and walk around a little before doing so. This will give you a moment to reassess if you’re still hungry. Eating too much at once is a stress on the body and impedes digestion.
If you’re still hungry, have some more. Using a small plate and having to get up before having seconds will help you be mindful of your body’s cues to prevent you from reaching the point where you’re full.
Relax Your Body:
Eating isn’t a race! Chew your food well (try to chew each mouthful 20-30 times until it’s near liquid), put your fork down between bites, and take deep breaths throughout the meal.
Related: 10 Ways To Stop Stress Eating
It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to receive signals that you are no longer hungry. Taking the time to enjoy your food and the company you’re with will help your body produce needed digestive enzymes and encourage you to be aware of what you’re eating.
3. Dessert
You may have started off with the intention to follow the menu guidelines for your non-food appetizers and main dishes, but you just couldn’t resist the temptation to overindulge.
This has created stress in your body so natural digestive processes are hindered.
Have no fear! The dessert course will introduce effective relief so that you can continue enjoying the holiday. You want to shift your body to enhance digestion.
Support Your Body:
Chew on some fennel seeds (if you’re feeling up to it, you can drink strong fennel tea). If you have severe symptoms of overindulgence, you might consider taking a supplement such as Gaia Herbs Gas and Bloating.
Related: How To Beat The Bloat
Move Your Body:
Take a walk around the neighborhood to help digest your food (this is also a great distractor of tummy discomfort). If you’ve indulged so much that you’re not up to walking, lay on your left side, bend your knees and bring them up towards your chest. This will help support your body with the natural digestive process.
Relax Your Body:
Do some belly breathing. Lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor (or sitting upright with your head, neck, and spine aligned), place one hand on your belly about an inch below your belly button and the other hand right below your chest on your sternum.
Inhale through your nose and feel your lower belly expand as your diaphragm moves downward (chest does not move much). Follow the deep inhale with a complete exhale through your mouth and feel your belly relax and soften as it moves towards your spine (and your diaphragm moves upward).
Related: You’re Probably Not Breathing Right. Here’s How To Fix It
Repeat this cycle a few times.
The Takeaway
The holiday season is a fun time to socialize, and enjoy special meals and treats. Often, we are tempted by all of the choices and merriment, and ignore our body’s signals. This process creates stress in our body, which impedes our digestion and leaves us feeling sluggish, irritable, and bloated.
However, there’s a better way to approach holiday meals that can help you avoid overeating. Following the above non-food menu will offer you an easy action plan to prevent an overindulged tummy and effective remedies should you find that you did overindulge. Enjoy decadent dishes and tasty treats that characterize the season, while optimizing your digestion and feeling energized to partake in socializing and seasonal activities.
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Christine Cherpak is a health coach and yoga teacher who nourishes the human spirit and celebrates the rhythms of life. Freeing herself of food allergy restraints and claiming her true self, Christine empowers others to achieve a balanced state while learning to live, play, and love food again. Learn more about Christine by visiting Kalena Spire and Pinterest.
Photo by ginnerobot
*Updated on 1/8/2020