{"id":6757,"date":"2014-12-08T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=6757"},"modified":"2014-12-05T08:51:40","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T13:51:40","slug":"do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html","title":{"rendered":"Do You Really Want to Eat That Holiday Cake? 10 Ways to Stop!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2011\/07\/PressPauseb4youeat.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-353\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2011\/07\/PressPauseb4youeat.jpg\" alt=\"PressPauseb4youeat\" width=\"200\" height=\"302\" \/><\/a>I know, the Christmas cookies are everywhere. There are candies, special coffees, extra treats&#8230;.all temptations to indulge.<\/p>\n<p>So before you dive into that third cookie, ask yourself, &#8220;Do I really want to eat this? Will I be upset and sorry later?&#8221; If the answer is, &#8220;No, I&#8217;ll be upset later,&#8221; here are 10\u00a0tips to help you resist too many treats. It&#8217;s not that you can&#8217;t indulge! But you need to stay in control of the eating rather than the eating controlling you!<\/p>\n<p><strong>1) Don\u2019t go hungry to party events<\/strong>. Drink a glass of water or eat a small piece of fruit before you go. A ravenous appetite makes it hard to resist the seductive presentation of holiday foods.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>2) Find the vegetable tray and stay close to it.<\/strong>\u00a0If you feel the urge to nibble, hang out next to the low cal options and nibble away!<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>3) Bring a low cal food item to an event<\/strong>. If you bring something you like that is low cal, you know there will be something healthy to choose from among all the items.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>4) Don&#8217;t have food items on your desk or out in a public area<\/strong>. Seeing is inviting. If the candy is on your desk, you will probably eat too many pieces. Hide it in a drawer, cupboard and bring it out for guests.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>5) Walk away.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Remove yourself from the source of the temptation. Don&#8217;t stare at it and try to exert willpower. Move away!<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>6) Press pause before you eat<\/strong>. Yes, it is the name of my book but it works. Stop, think and decide. Tell yourself you can have the food item. But ask, &#8220;Will I be sorry later?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a07) Focus on the people at an\u00a0event and not the food<\/strong>. Try to mingle and involve yourself in conversation versus isolating yourself at the food tables.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>8) Try not to eat because you feel uncomfortable or anxious<\/strong>. Food events are social events and people eat to decrease anxiety. Prepare a strategy ahead of time, \u201cIf I begin to feel anxious or uncomfortable, I will\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>9) Try to not eat because you feel out of control.<\/strong> The holidays can be overwhelming. Sometimes we grab food because we feel out of control and it is momentarily comforting. But when you eat out of control, it only adds to the feeling.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>10) If you overdo it, don\u2019t get crazy<\/strong>. Just regroup after the event and cut back at the next few meals. Too many people say, \u201cOh I really blew it so I might as well continue to eat.\u201d That\u2019s the wrong approach. Instead say, \u201cOK I blew it but I can get back in control and cut back on the next few meals.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know, the Christmas cookies are everywhere. There are candies, special coffees, extra treats&#8230;.all temptations to indulge. So before you dive into that third cookie, ask yourself, &#8220;Do I really want to eat this? Will I be upset and sorry later?&#8221; If the answer is, &#8220;No, I&#8217;ll be upset later,&#8221; here are 10\u00a0tips to help&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[918],"tags":[3123,3124,631,632,27],"class_list":["post-6757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-relationship-to-food","tag-eating-and-holidays","tag-eating-out-of-control","tag-holiday-eating","tag-overeating","tag-weight-gain"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Do You Really Want to Eat That Holiday Cake? 10 Ways to Stop!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do You Really Want to Eat That Holiday Cake? 10 Ways to Stop!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I know, the Christmas cookies are everywhere. There are candies, special coffees, extra treats&#8230;.all temptations to indulge. So before you dive into that third cookie, ask yourself, &#8220;Do I really want to eat this? Will I be upset and sorry later?&#8221; If the answer is, &#8220;No, I&#8217;ll be upset later,&#8221; here are 10\u00a0tips to help&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-08T11:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-05T13:51:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2011\/07\/PressPauseb4youeat.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do You Really Want to Eat That Holiday Cake? 10 Ways to Stop!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do You Really Want to Eat That Holiday Cake? 10 Ways to Stop!","og_description":"I know, the Christmas cookies are everywhere. There are candies, special coffees, extra treats&#8230;.all temptations to indulge. So before you dive into that third cookie, ask yourself, &#8220;Do I really want to eat this? Will I be upset and sorry later?&#8221; If the answer is, &#8220;No, I&#8217;ll be upset later,&#8221; here are 10\u00a0tips to help&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2014-12-08T11:00:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-05T13:51:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2011\/07\/PressPauseb4youeat.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html","name":"Do You Really Want to Eat That Holiday Cake? 10 Ways to Stop!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2011\/07\/PressPauseb4youeat.jpg","datePublished":"2014-12-08T11:00:59+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-05T13:51:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2011\/07\/PressPauseb4youeat.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2011\/07\/PressPauseb4youeat.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2014\/12\/do-you-really-want-to-eat-that-holiday-cake-10-ways-to-stop.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do You Really Want to Eat That Holiday Cake? 10 Ways to Stop!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice &amp; Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. 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