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Making Peace with the Pantry

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How To Prevent A Downward Holiday Eating Spiral At Thanksgiving
Relationship with Food Amy Barnette Relationship with Food Amy Barnette

How To Prevent A Downward Holiday Eating Spiral At Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can be a pretty stressful holiday. Not only is COVID-19 causing it to look very different this year, but it is also a holiday that largely revolves around food. The focus on the feast can leave many of us feeling anxious and fearful about overindulging and triggering a downward spiral of overeating between now and the new year.

If you find yourself worried about the holidays, read on for a few things you can do to prevent yourself from sliding down that slippery overindulging slope.

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Strategy #5: Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide
Relationship with Food Amy Barnette Relationship with Food Amy Barnette

Strategy #5: Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide

Address Your Stress

Our health is greatly determined by how balanced the two branches of our autonomic nervous system are - the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. Chronic stress causes most people to spend more time with the sympathetic nervous system dominate and active. This post outlines several ways to address your stress and bring your autonomic nervous system into balance.

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Strategy #4: Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide
Relationship with Food Amy Barnette Relationship with Food Amy Barnette

Strategy #4: Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide

Rest and Repair

Our culture teaches us that we must push ourselves into the ground in order to get results and achieve success. I fell for this belief hook, line and sinker. But this philosophy also broke my body. In this post, I share how chronic stress took a toll on my health and also offer an invitation to challenge this long-standing cultural norm and redefine what it means to work hard.

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Strategy #1: Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide
Relationship with Food Amy Barnette Relationship with Food Amy Barnette

Strategy #1: Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide

Create A Schedule. But One That Works For You.

This is a time of uncertainty and many unknowns. Both of which are incredibly stressful. So it makes total and complete sense that you might feel nudged to snack more often than usual right now. One of the best ways I have found to counter the unsettling feelings that accompany uncertainty, is to purposely and intentionally create certainty where you can. And one super simple way to do this is to establish a quarantine schedule.

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Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide
Relationship with Food Amy Barnette Relationship with Food Amy Barnette

Your Quarantine Stress Eating Survival Guide

The desire to mindlessly snack and emotionally eat has increased substantially since our COVID-19 quarantine began. I have found myself looking in the pantry and refrigerator on a pretty regular basis these last few days. I am not physically hungry but I am stressed, overwhelmed and incredibly antsy. And I am wanting a distraction.

As most of us know, food can definitely provide that distraction for us. However, the relief we experience is only temporary. Not to mention, it is usually followed by varying degrees of guilt, shame and/or overeating. How is it that one mindless pretzel can, oh so easily, turn into the entire bag?!

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Why You Should Kick Calorie Counting to the Curb

Why You Should Kick Calorie Counting to the Curb

The diet and food industry has long sold us the idea that in order to lose weight, we should count calories, limit portions, and exercise more. That maintaining a healthy weight is all about discipline, willpower, and self-control. 

But listen up friends. We need to ditch this mentality. Like STAT. We need to stop counting calories (and carbs and fat grams and anything else for that matter!) and switch our focus to consuming whole, real food and to upgrading the QUALITY of our diets. I know counting and measuring can be hard to let go of but a new study that was reported on by the New York Times last week may help you change your mind. 

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