Getting Your Diet Back On Track After The Holidays With EFT

The holiday season is over and festive celebrations have settled down. Often this is when thoughts about food habits and diet pop up alongside the realization that the pre-holiday diet pattern has been lost. Keeping up the diet during the holiday season can be tremendously difficult, even if one's diet was going per schedule before the holidays. This happens to many of us regardless of what kind of diet plan we have been on. Getting back on track can be challenging but utilizing Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can help address the multiple factors that may be involved.

Addressing Potential Factors in Re-establishing Your Pre-Holiday Diet

Situational Factors: It is not always possible to stick to the diet during the holidays due to unpredictable situations at home. Guests arrive, plans change, shopping expeditions and unavailability of specific kinds of diets in the places you visit. To address this using EFT you might say, "Even though I could not stick to the low carbohydrate diet plan because I could not cook a separate diet for myself during the holidays, I deeply and completely accept myself."

Self-judgement: It is natural for self-judgement to occur after discontinuing a diet. This self-criticism can lead to the formation of negative self-concepts and contribute to a lack of motivation to get back on the diet again. The following are examples of using EFT in this situation: "Even though I judge myself for being very careless with my diet during the holidays, I deeply and completely accept myself." "Even though I know I always do this, I deeply and completely accept myself." "Even though I start something, but don't continue it in the long run, I deeply and completely accept myself."

Social Acceptance: When we go to holiday or festive parties, some people find it uncomfortable avoiding certain foods. There can be a discomfort in saying "no" to eating specific food items, feeling that others will think bad of us. In this case we might tap on: "Even though it could have been rude if I had said no to certain foods at the party, I deeply and completely accept myself." "Even though I could not say no to my favorite dessert because it was so tempting, I deeply and completely accept myself."

Using EFT to work with Emotions

There may be many emotional responses related to the inability to stay on one's diet.

• Guilt: "Even though I am feeling guilty that I have messed up with my diet, I deeply and completely accept myself." "Even though I am feeling guilty for eating more carbs/dairy items/fatty items during the holidays, I deeply and completely accept myself."
• Anger: "Even though I am angry at myself for ruining all the progress that I made so far in my diet, I deeply and completely accept myself." "Even though I am angry at myself/ hate myself for discontinuing my diet, I deeply and completely accept myself."
• Sadness: "Even though I am sad because I am back to square one, I deeply and completely accept myself." "Even though it makes me sad that I had no control over my diet now, I deeply and completely accept myself." "Even though I am sad because I have this health issue now due to improper dieting, I deeply and completely accept myself."
• Fear: "Even though I am scared that I will not be able to stick to my diet again, I deeply and completely accept myself."
• Craving: "Even though I now crave this food item because I have started eating it again, I deeply and completely accept myself."

In conclusion, whether it is reducing the intake of carbohydrates/fatty foods or increasing the amount of fiber intake, diet is an important factor in improving our overall wellness. When we slip from our healthier routine, feeling guilty about it and being hard on oneself is not the real solution to getting back on track. Indeed, judging yourself critically will cause more harm than good. Perhaps, being present with our emotions around it and understanding the pace of our body will help us to kick start our diet plan again with a more neutral and encouraging attitude. The contribution of emotions cannot be downplayed when it comes to diet and lifestyle. When the situation arises to be loose and flexible about the diet, we can always get back on track by understanding our emotions and regulating them properly. EFT is a wonderful tool that supports the journey of dieting for any health benefits.

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Saranya Shanthakumar is a certified accredited EFT practitioner based in Tamil Nadu, India.

Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash