Is it your first holiday in a while?
With covid restrictions eased for the first summer in three years, many people are booking holidays and crossing their fingers that they will actually be able to go.
If you’re planning to get away over the next few weeks, I guess you’re looking forward to a change of scene and maybe a change of how you usually eat. Holiday eating is a mix of joy and angst for many people I’ve worked with – being able to sit back and enjoy what someone else is cooking for you, or having fun with a primus stove in the open air is the up-side of being away from home, whilst struggling with over-eating as you let your holiday hair down can be a source of angst.
Want some simple tips to help you really enjoy your holiday and come back feeling happy?
If you’ve recently been developing a pattern of eating that has helped you feel healthier or more relaxed around food, going on holiday may present a bit of a challenge. The point of going away is partly to get away from the everyday routine of life.
But what if you have worked hard to get into a new routine around eating?
Will your holiday end up feeling like a backward step on the food front?
In this blog I will give you some simple quick tips to help you prepare your holiday eating mindset, so that when you get to your holiday destination you’ve already done the thinking and can let go and relax.
Steps to help enjoy your food on holiday, and stick to your goals
Using mental imagery can help you to stick to your eating intentions whilst enjoying your holiday. Mental imagery is much more strongly emotionally charged than other types of thought, and this means that using imagery can help us work consistently towards a new goal despite obstacles.
The approach I’ll guide you through here is a short version of Functional Imagery Training, developed at the University of Plymouth, which is really effective in helping you to stick to your goals.
Here are the steps you can follow
Step 1
The first step is to experience what we mean by ‘imagery mode’.
Here is the “Lemon exercise” developed by the team at Plymouth* for you to try out before we move on. You might like someone to read it out loud to you so you can really focus…
Close your eyes and go inside and think of a lemon.
Hold the lemon in your hand and notice the temperature of it against your skin.
Rub your thumb over it and notice the texture of the peel
Throw it up in the air and catch it so you feel the weight of it in your hand
Take a chopping board and a knife, hold the lemon steady in one hand and slowly start cutting it in half
Notice the sound of the knife cutting through the lemon
Notice the smell of the zest
As you keep cutting, see juice dribbling onto the board
Take one half and a cup, and start squeezing the juice out.
Take a sip of the juice and taste it.
This is “imagery mode”
You might have found that you could almost smell or taste the lemon as you did this. If not, don’t worry – just notice what it feels like to create an image of a lemon using as many of your senses as possible.
Step 2
The second step is to imagine what will happen if you eat in a way that you know will leave you feeling regretful after the holiday is over.
Go back into imagery mode – close your eyes and go inside
Think back to a holiday in the past where you regretted how you’d eaten after you got home
Recall what you thought and felt after the holiday ended
Picture this happening again after this coming holiday and imagine a particular scene in the future (eg sitting in your kitchen with a cup of tea) after you get home when you’ll be feeling that regret
Step into that future scene and look around at what you can see
Notice all the sounds you can hear
Breathe in and notice what you can smell
Notice what you are feeling and thinking in this future scene
OK, now come back to the present and notice particularly what that felt like and what thoughts were running through your head. Now we’re going to move on to a different outcome.
Step 3
The third step is to imagine what will happen if you stick to your goals around eating, health and weight.
Go back into imagery mode – close your eyes and go inside
Imagine a particular scene in the future, after you get back from holiday, when you’ll most feel the benefits of having stuck to your eating plan whilst you were away
Step into that future scene and look around at what you can see
Notice all the sounds you can hear
Breathe in and notice what you can smell
Notice what you are feeling and thinking in this future scene
OK, come back to the present and notice what that felt like and how it compares with the previous imagery. Notice the contrast between the two scenes in terms of how you feel and what thoughts are going through your mind.
I guess it felt good and maybe a bit inspiring to really step into that positive future scene. We can call this future success scene your Goal Image.
Step 4
The final step in this short exercise is to give the goal image a name. Perhaps “my new relationship with food” or “proud of feeling in control” or “coffee break with colleagues”. Whatever reminds you of what is important about your goal image for you.
How to use this imagery when you’re away
Now you’ve done the ground work of creating a goal image, whenever you’re faced with a choice between eating in line with your health goals or not, bring your goal image vividly to mind. That will help you connect with why you might prefer to take the harder of the two options and make it easier to do just that.
Remember what you are really wanting to get from your holiday
Enjoyable and interesting meals may be central to your holiday pleasure – great! You can enjoy those meals to the full, and maybe pass on the food that you won’t enjoy eating so much.
I wish you a restful and enjoyable holiday where you can also
- connect with people or nature
- have Fun!
- experience the stimulation of being in a new place or culture
Holiday reading
If you want to read many more tips about changing how you eat so you get more pleasure from eating and greater freedom around food, pack a copy of my book “How to Retrain Your Appetite”. It’s available in paperback and on kindle so the choice is yours!
Reference
* Solbrig, L et al (2018) Functional Imagery Training versus Motivational Interviewing for Weight Loss. Int. Journal of Obesity, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0122-1
photo by Katherine Place of Dreams for Unsplash