It’s difficult to be mindful when eating socially at the best of times, and the holidays make it that much harder. You’re surrounded by all these special foods you don’t usually have, and you’ve got many social events crammed into a short period. How do you stay mindful and not go overboard with eating during all these events? Here are 5 tips to help. Tip 1: Have a Plan Planning may not seem to relate to mindful eating, but as I’ve written before, it helps to have some kind o

I saw a cartoon recently that said, with the holidays approaching, “it’s almost time to put the ol’ scale into hibernation for the winter.” It made me laugh, but it also got me thinking about how so many people go overboard with eating during the holidays and then try to recover in January with diets. Some of them might put the scale away, or some might weigh themselves and be depressed by what they see when they do this. The problem is, focusing on weight isn’t the best meas

If you’re like me, you might still be in shock that it’s November and that the holidays are coming up. Even though Thanksgiving is late this year, Christmas items are out in stores, holiday movies are playing, and people are making plans. Those plans always seem to include food, which makes this a difficult time for mindful eating. To help get through it, I suggest planning to use the 3 Rs. These aren’t Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, but instead a slightly modified version. Redu

I’ve recently started watching Grey’s Anatomy (only a decade or so late), and in the episode “Enough is Enough,” a man goes into the hospital after having swallowed 10 doll heads (!). At one point, Meredith Grey asks him, “Why does eating doll heads fill you up? What's the satisfaction?” She doesn’t get an answer, but it got me thinking about how we often eat things we don’t need because we’re looking for something to fill us up. Most of us don’t go to those lengths, but even