Food Tips for An Enjoyable Holiday Season- Dessert Edition

What are some of your favorite desserts? Mine are brownies, ice cream, and dark chocolate covered nuts. Desserts are a fixture around the holiday buffet or dinner table because they’re a part of every culture’s cuisine. I’ll bet you’d have a difficult time not listing at least one kind of dessert that your family ate around the holidays. For many of us holiday desserts remind us of loved ones past and present, conjure up memories about places and events, and connect us over shared experiences. Personally, fudge reminds me of my great grandmother Katherine and candy cane cookies remind me of my grandma Ann.

If you are working on developing a positive relationship with food, especially sweet foods, the holidays can be challenging. The more desserts and sweets there are around stores, offices, parties, and gatherings, the more diet chatter there is about calories, overeating, etc. Thoughts like “I love pecan pie, but I shouldn’t eat it” gives the dessert power over you rather than you being in charge of the decision. If you’re finding yourself in challenging situations around desserts here are a few things to consider:

• You have permission to eat dessert any time you want

• You have permission to eat desserts you don’t really like any time you want

• You have permission to decline dessert if you don’t feel like eating it

• You have permission to walk away from conversations about diet culture

• You have permission to be in charge of your food decisions

Hope your holidays are filled with the sweet freedom of permission to eat desserts you love!

Photo by Sabri Tuzcu (@sabrituzcu) via Unsplash