Are you tired of getting up from that Christmas table feeling as if you're going to burst?  Well, if so, here are a few things to think about: 

Have you been dieting leading up to Christmas??? You know, we often do.  Sometimes because we're going to see friends or family members who we either want to impress with our weight loss or because we're fearful of the comments they might make about how much weight we've picked up or just because we're forever on a diet… it's just a way of life.  If so Christmas might just be the time to let go and 'let it all hang out.'  Almost like it's a reward for having lived in such a restricted manner for so long.   So along comes Christmas with all those foods that you don't often get a chance to eat – oops!  "They only come around once a year so I'd best tuck in because otherwise I'm going to have to wait another whole year for them".   So we over-eat in anticipation of the deprivation still to come.  We convince ourselves that this is the only time of the year when we can have the decadent Christmas pud lathered with caramel sauce and turkey with oodles of gravy and stuffing. When really, it wouldn't be a sin to have them at other times of the year too if we really wanted them.

So what to do?

Don't go to the table with a diet mentality – instead approach it with an attitude of curiosity.  So before you even pick anything, take a really good look at the table – how does the food look?  How does the table look?  Do you like how the food and table are arranged?  Do you like the colours?  Is there anything that stands out as looking particularly fab and anything that doesn't look that great?  Take in all the great aroma's – what aroma's do you like the best, which are strongest, are there any that particularly get those I-can't-wait-to-eat-you-thoughts-a-humming?  Listen to the sounds in the room, watch the faces of the people around the table… treat this as a sensory feast and not just for your tastebuds but for all your senses.

If the table is literally groaning with yummy-gotta-have-em-all-goodies, dish up a small amount of everything (and when I say 'small', I mean about a teaspoon of each). "Are you kidding?"  I can just hear you all chorusing, "a teaspoon won't do it for me!"  Relax… the idea of dishing up a teaspoon for starters is so that you can really savour each and every morsel… and as you're eating ask yourself which of these are really as delicious as you thought and which you'd really like to have more of and which you could leave.  Make a point of putting down your knife and folk in between mouthfuls so as to disengage the eating machine that so easily gets onto auto pilot.  Then if you want more – and remember the object of this exercise is to help you leave the table feeling good –when your plate is finished put down your eating utensils, sit back and enjoy the conversation for 5 minutes before going to get a small helping of those things you really did enjoy….

And don't forget that if you know you’re going to want to have that 'must have' pud… to leave room for it too!

 
Cari Corbet-Owen is the author of Mind over Fatter (www.mindoverfatter.co.za).  For more information:  on the Mind over Fatter non-diet programme, joining our free online support group, or becoming a Mind over Fatter group leader please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it