Have you noticed how whenever there’s a food-based holiday, whether it’s Easter, Christmas or New Year’s, the diet talk starts to getting louder? 

Every colleague, distant relative, or news presenter seems to know the best and latest method to burn off those easter eggs, stay healthier during the holidays, or avoid temptation altogether.

While this advice *usually* comes from a good place, it’s not necessarily helpful.

It often triggers feelings of food shame, guilt or fear, making eating during the holidays quite challenging for some people.

And unfortunately, with Easter being the chocolate-filled holiday it is, there can be a tremendous amount of food anxiety around this time of year (because diet culture teaches us chocolate is bad)

So if you’re noticing these feelings creeping in over the long weekend, here are five friendly non-diet reminders to help drown out the noisy diet talk!

Tips for a Non-diet Easter 

Reminder 1. Food is more than fuel!

Of course, food is critical to our survival physically, but it also plays an equally important role in our social well-being. In fact, research suggests being socially connected is just as important as the food we put into our bodies.

Reminder 2. Find the grey area! Challenge all-or-nothing thinking

Don’t set yourself up for failure with all-or-nothing, thinking like “I’ll be “good” today and not eat chocolate.

It means as soon as you eat one chocolate egg, it could spiral into ten or 20+ chocolate eggs. ⁠

Eat a couple of eggs, find the satisfaction – have a few more later or eat more the next day.

Just because you ate a few chocolate eggs doesn’t mean you must keep eating them (unless you feel like doing so, of course).

Reminder 3. Honour your hunger

Of course, with Easter and the nature of a long weekend, your eating routine may get thrown out the window (which is fine). But if, for example, you’re going out for lunch in a few hours and notice feelings of hunger emerge, give yourself permission to eat something.

If you let yourself get overly hungry, you’re more likely to feel out of control around the food and binge eat past comfortable fullness. Keep some quick and easy snacks in the house to satisfy your hunger.

Reminder 4. It’s ok to say no (full stop)

When you inevitably find yourself in a situation where a relative or friend offers you food you don’t feel like, it’s ok to say no thank you. (the end, no need for an excuse).

So often, we say, “No, thank you, I had dessert yesterday, so I don’t need x today,” or, “No, thank you, I shouldn’t; I’ve eaten so much already today”.

If you find yourself in this situation, remember it’s perfectly ok to say, “No, thank you, I don’t feel like it”. – no excuse needed

And, if people continue to push, they’re the one’s not respecting your boundaries.

*Of course, this can be a tricky skill to navigate, especially if your family is persistent!

Exercise at your own discretion!

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Reminder 5. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat your Easter favourites

If you’re familiar with Intuitive Eating, you’ll know the antidote to feeling out of control around food is giving yourself unconditional permission to eat it.  

Try to head into Easter with the mindset, “I can eat this food today, tomorrow or any other day of the year if I feel like it”.

If we still have strong food rules, when we inevitably break them, we’re more likely to say, “What the hell” and jam a whole bag of eggs in our mouth because our ‘good eating’ has been ruined for the day.

Food rule mentality – ‘I can eat chocolate, but only two squares of dark chocolate each day’.

Vs.

Unconditional permission – ‘I can eat chocolate’.

Bonus Reminder – Don’t beat yourself up if you overindulge

You’re only human. Find compassion for yourself this Easter!

It happens to the best of us! We get distracted talking to Aunt Suzie, and suddenly, we’ve polished off an entire bowl of creme eggs.

You can say, “What the hell” and feel guilty as you continue eating more eggs.

Or you can find self-compassion, eat more eggs if you feel like it or move on with your day.

Whatever your Easter looks like, I hope you find time for the things and activities you enjoy!