Christmas and Eating Disorders: How to Manage It

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Christmas and Eating Disorders: How to Manage It

Guidelines for Family Members and Patients with TCA at Christmas

Christmas arrives and the streets are filled with lights, meetings with family and friends begin, the illusion is reborn… But no, it’s not all happiness at Christmas. There are people who have a really bad time at this time either because they are alone, because they have lost a loved one recently or because they suffer from an illness.

In this article in Diario Femenino we want to focus on Christmas and Eating Disorders because, precisely, eating disorders make this time tinged with anguish for people who suffer from it. We have spoken with nutritionist Paola Cóser to give us some guidelines for both patients and relatives. This is how you can manage an ATT at Christmas.

How Christmas Affects a Person with TCA

Christmas is a different time in which we usually get out of the routine, something that makes for people with Eating Disorder (ED) more complicated days than normal. Why? Paola tells us some of the reasons:

Many more plans are made

Christmas is a time of plans and those plans are usually mostly related to food. We met friends and co-workers for lunch, had dinner often with family… “Christmas is associated with food and is a time of great difficulty for people with an Eating Disorder,” says Paola. People with ACT often feel a great deal of stress and stress when they feel compelled to eat or “peck” continuously away from home at this time.

More forbidden foods

The previous point is irremediably linked to a greater presence of unhealthy or prohibited foods for people with ACT. Nougat, polvorones… These sweets, for example, are present on almost all Christmas tables and their mere presence unleashes anxiety in those who suffer from an eating disorder, either because they feel pressured to eat them or because it increases the temptation to binge.

Goodbye routine

Christmas is also accompanied by holidays, free time, inactivity… This causes you to get out of the marked routine and get out of control schedules and meal planning, something of utmost importance for the recovery and treatment of people with ACT.

Christmas pressure on weight

It is widespread the idea that at Christmas yes or yes excesses are made and then in January it is time to join the gym or make strict diets to burn them. This fear and pressure of not taking an extra size at Christmas makes people with ACT obsessed greatly worsening the symptoms of their disorder.

How to Manage TCA at Christmas: Important Guidelines for Patients

Given the difficulty involved in all of the above, it is very important to follow some very marked guidelines so that Christmas does not worsen the eating disorder or roll back the progress made with treatment:

Time planning

“To manage the relationship with food at this time, the most important thing is to do good planning. For example, do other activities or plans that move away from food, “recommends nutritionist Paola Cóser.

It is also important to do good time planning, especially with regard to meal times, which should not go too far from the usual established routine.

Plans beyond food

Christmas plans don’t have to revolve around a restaurant, tapas or a plate of food. There are millions of activities that can be done at Christmas with both family and friends and that can greatly help keep the mind off the obsession with food. Relaxed walks, board games, ice skating, a Christmas movie afternoon

In addition, Paola Cóser adds: “Plans such as tapas, aperitif or cocktail should be avoided. It’s better to go to restaurants or cook menus at home with well-defined portions.”

Empathize with oneself

“If the person with ACT cannot avoid their impulses at this time, they must understand that it is part of the process and that little by little they will learn to manage the relationship with food,” says Paola.

What is advised in cases where someone has binged at mealtime, for example, is to redirect the situation. You should not seek compensation by not having dinner that day or killing yourself to exercise in the gym to burn everything consumed.

How a family member or friend of a person with ACT should act at Christmas

How a family member or friend of a person with ACT should act at Christmas

The role played by family and friends in the recovery of someone with an eating disorder is fundamental and more so on dates such as Christmas. Paola also gives us some very useful tips in this regard:

+Do not pressure: “It is very important not to pressure the person with TCA if he does not want to eat, since that would only cause compensatory or restrictive behaviors to return,” says Paola.

+Serve food on the plate: at Christmas meals it is very typical to serve dishes to share, something that does not benefit people with ACT at all. If you are in charge (or in charge) of organizing the Christmas menu and you have a family member with an eating disorder, it is best to serve the dishes individually (first, second and dessert) and adjust the quantities to what is necessary. The less copious the meals, the better. In addition, it is preferable that you all sit at the table to eat before you eat standing up buffet.

+Same menu for all people: “You don’t necessarily have to make big changes: a different menu, going to eat at healthier restaurants… The more the situation normalizes, the better,” Paola recommends.

+Avoid excessively long after-meals: it is best to spend a reasonable time on food and then do other activities that have nothing to do with it. In addition, it is important that at the table there are enriching topics of conversation that do not revolve all the time around food.

+Remove the sources of Christmas sweets: in the Christmas after-dinner it is also very common to put a source of sweets (marzipan, nougat, polvorones) and that this source remains on the table for hours and hours. It is best to prepare only those that are going to be consumed at the time and the rest is stored or removed.

+Empathize, empathize and empathize: put yourself in the place of the other. This is the real key to helping someone with an Eating Disorder, whether it’s Christmas or any other time of the year.

And you? Do you have someone close to you with TCA and do not know how to manage it or help them at Christmas? If you wish, you can tell us your experience in the comments. Together we will try to help you!

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