How to Navigate Holiday Food Without Losing Yourself

The holidays are supposed to feel joyful — full of warmth, tradition, and connection. But for many of us, they also come with something else: noise.

Food noise. Body noise. Wellness noise.

It’s the background chatter that ramps up this time of year — conversations about “earning” dessert, friends talking about “getting back on track,” and a never-ending stream of posts reminding us that we should somehow be enjoying and restraining ourselves at the same time.

If you’ve ever felt torn between wanting to be present and feeling guilty for enjoying food, you’re not alone. The holidays can bring up years of conditioning about control, morality, and body image — and it makes sense that trust feels hard.

The Noise That Drowns Out Our Cues

So much of what we’ve been taught about holiday eating is rooted in control.We’re told to “be good” before the big meal, to “save calories,” to “earn” pie with exercise.

These messages disconnect us from our own internal cues. Instead of listening inward, we start making choices based on:

• What others are eating

• What we think we should do

• What will make us seem “healthy” or “disciplined”

• 
  

When that noise takes over, it’s not just our relationship with food that suffers — it’s our relationship with ourselves. We stop trusting our body’s ability to self-regulate, and that loss of trust breeds shame.

The truth is: your body has always known how to guide you.The noise just got louder.

How Trauma & Disconnection Show Up Around Holiday Food

For many of my patients, the difficulty isn’t just about food itself — it’s about safety.When you’ve experienced trauma, control often feels like protection. Restricting, planning, or fixating on “rules” can become ways to manage anxiety or uncertainty.

But the nervous system can’t tell the difference between a genuine threat and diet culture messaging that says your body is the problem. Both send the same signal: “You’re not safe here.”

That’s why body trust work at the holidays — or any time — starts with creating safety before anything else.Not forcing cues, not micromanaging hunger, but rebuilding the sense that it’s safe to listen again.

Rebuilding Trust at the Table

Body trust during the holidays doesn’t mean perfectly intuitive eating. It means bringing compassion to the process — giving yourself permission to be human in a world that tells you not to be.

Try these gentle shifts:

1. Pause Before the Noise

Before you eat any holiday food, take one deep breath. Ask:

“What do I actually want right now?”“What would feel good — physically or emotionally?”

Even if the answer feels unclear, asking begins the reconnection.

2. Honor Satisfaction

Pleasure is a valid and important cue. Taste, texture, and comfort are all forms of information. You don’t have to “earn” enjoyment. In fact, satisfaction helps regulate eating patterns naturally.

3. Release the Rules

You don’t need to compensate for food with movement or restriction. Your body already knows how to metabolize, restore, and balance itself when it’s nourished consistently.

4. Offer Consistency

Eating regularly throughout the day — even on holidays — tells your body, “I’ll take care of you.” This predictability lowers stress hormones and supports more attuned hunger and fullness cues.

The Radical Act of Self-Trust

In a culture obsessed with control, accepting and trusting your body is a radical act.

It’s radical to eat because you’re hungry — not because the clock or your app told you to. It’s radical to rest when your body asks for it, instead of punishing it into productivity. It’s radical to exist in a body without trying to shrink it.

Each small act of listening — every deep breath, every moment of softness — is an act of resistance against the systems that profit from your doubt.

This season, let “being good” mean being gentle. Let nourishment mean enough.

A Gentle Practice

Try this short grounding exercise before or after a meal:

1. Sit or stand comfortably and notice your breath.

2. Scan your body for three sensations — warmth, tension, pressure, stillness.

3. Silently name them: “I notice warmth in my chest. I notice my feet on the floor.”

4. Ask: “What is my body asking for right now?”

   
   

You don’t have to fix or change anything. Just notice.

That’s body trust in practice — a quiet reconnection beneath all the noise.

Closing Thoughts

Your body isn’t fragile or untrustworthy. It’s wise. It’s been protecting you through years of mixed messages, stress, and survival.

You don’t need to start over this holiday season — you just need to start listening.

If you want to explore this work more deeply, stay tuned for my upcoming Exploring Body Trust Bundle — a self-paced resource designed to help you rebuild safety, awareness, and nourishment through every season.

Your body isn’t a project. It’s your home. And it’s waiting for you to come back. 🌿

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Ready to explore this work more deeply? Schedule an intro call with us today!

About the Author:

Rachel Caine, MS, RDN, LDN, is a registered dietitian based out of Watertown, MA, who specializes in trauma-informed nutrition care, intuitive eating, and building body trust and neutrality. Through her insurance-based private practice, Rachel helps clients reconnect with their physical selves and develop a more intuitive and compassionate relationship with food.