Oops I ate a lot again, now what?

It's that season of feeling merry and bright, but also guilty and resentful for the food we're consuming. We're not morally inferior for enjoying food, so what can we do to combat these feelings?

Before we officially get to today’s newsletter, I want to announce that it is my one-year anniversary of joining this platform! More than 3,000 of you have chosen to subscribe to The Nutrition Tea Substack, for which I am so grateful. I wanted to create a space where I could write out my thoughts in more depth rather than with the word limits on social media. So, thank you so much for being here!

Also, an important announcement is that my book Live Nourished: Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame, and Reclaim Joy is 25% off when you purchase directly from Simon & Schuster. Please use this link here. The code is GIFT25.

Now, on to today’s newsletter…

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It’s Monday. It’s also the beginning of December, and we just had our Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. I’m sure many of you know what that means. Yup, it’s time for the endless promotion of diets, detoxes, cleanses, and potions.

The holidays usually translate as being surrounded by food for many of us. Delicious food and lots of it, to be exact. We are also approaching all the December festive holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and more), which we are going to be surrounded by, you guessed it, more food. This is when many people are probably panicking at the thought of eating so much. I hear you, but I think it would be helpful to remember a few things.

One reality of being human is that we need food. There’s no getting around this fact. Unfortunately, we are in the midst of the guilty feeling when it comes to eating food, and the holidays are known for their abundance. There are so many dishes and festive treats that we only see and eat a couple of times a year, so of course, there is going to be excitement when these foods are served.

It is perfectly normal to enjoy these foods and eat more than normal. Wait what? Yes. It is normal, and you are not a morally inferior person for looking forward to the cookies, pies, or any other dish. How many times a year do we eat these foods? Not often, right? These foods are delicious and often bring a nostalgic component as well, so of course, we get excited and can’t stop thinking about the gatherings that are coming our way. I, of course, understand that there is an uncomfortable feeling of eating past fullness, and I have some pointers in the last newsletter for this.

Your holiday survival list

However, society likes to play mind games with us and make us believe that we are wrong for looking forward to festivities. That’s, unfortunately, diet culture and fatphobia talking. We shouldn’t want to eat food, especially food that is palatable, because we should all strive to be as thin as possible. If there is one thing I would love us all to do, is to unsubscribe from this mentality.

The December festivities are going to bring up the desire to test out different restrictive diets. Many of these diets are likely to be ridiculously low in calories, as in the 1200 - 1500 range. I am an anti-diet dietitian, which means that I am not a fan of counting and obsessing over calories. However, the word calorie has always been associated with something negative and something to fear.

Here’s the thing: calories are units of energy. That’s actually their definition. We, as functional human beings, need energy in order to get through the day, let alone thrive. Calories are essential to life. If we eat 400 calories of food, that is 400 units of energy that our body can then use. Now, here’s the part that folks might forget: our bodies don’t just need calories for movement and exercise. Our bodies need them for everyday living. We all have a basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the baseline number of calories we need just to function. And no, the number isn’t zero. Our bodies need about 1,300 calories alone just for our organs to function. A brain needs 240–320 calories. Our liver, 200 calories. Our heart, 440 calories. And our kidneys, 420 calories. That’s 1,300 calories total,