Get Ready--Here Comes Thanksgiving

Tuesday November 21, 2006

Thanksgiving can be hard to enjoy for someone with an eating disorder. Sean Locke / iStockphoto.com

Most people associate Thanksgiving with various kinds of pleasurable things--seeing family you may not see often, watching football, observing traditions...and eating from an avalanche of foods. If there is a day of the year that sanctions binge eating, Thanksgiving is it.

If you have an eating disorder, Thanksgiving can be frightening. You may not be able to be with family. Or maybe being with family often isn't fun, and the whole idea of observing traditions with them just seems like everyone's ignoring what's wrong with the family. If you struggle with anorexia nervosa, you may wonder how you're going to be at the table and not eat anything significant, and perhaps how you're going to do extra running for the following week. If you're dealing with bulimia nervosa, you may resign yourself to being triggered by the huge meal, and plan your binge and purge on leftovers in advance.

If this description rings true for you, the anxiety will be a challenge. But it doesn't have to ruin your day. Rather than planning extra exercise or binge eating, you can plan your day starting with seven ways to take the sting out of Thanksgiving. When our nation thought of having a big meal as a way of giving thanks, they didn't have you in mind. This is your chance to be kind to yourself when tradition is not.

And for the rest of us? Most of us who indulge at Thanksgiving are not binge eaters. But few of us actually pay attention to what our bodies are telling us at the holidays.

So tune in. Taste the cranberry sauce, or the pumpkin pie, or whatever you really enjoy. When you let your body tell you all about how it's enjoying certain foods, you'll find that it's more enjoyable without needing as much of it.

Who knows? Maybe you'll feel better about yourself after Thanksgiving than before!

Photo © iStockphoto.com/Sean Locke