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By Matthew Eloyi
A festivity feast should be a joyous occasion, where people indulge in scrumptiousness and buttress their bonds of love. But quite often, these feasts end with a significant portion of the people laid up on the sofa, dealing with heartburn, hating themselves for their gluttony.
Gluttony has become an increasing component of festivities, particularly Christmas where food and drinks seem to be the centre of the celebration. Some even say Christmas comes with the “spirit” of gluttony, hence people can not “not” overeat during the celebration.
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While festivities like Christmas are wonderful occasions to unite with families and friends over delicious meals, many people quickly find themselves lamenting how much they indulged in food. Once-in-a-year gluttony may not be enough to pose grave worries to someone who is generally healthy, but the ‘food coma’ feeling of being full to the point of extreme weariness and intense stomach distress is an experience everyone would like to escape.
Overeating during festivities is understood to be psychological – when you see abundant amounts of food before you and are surrounded by family and friends eating, you are likely to eat and not realize you are full until it is too late, at which point you feel awful. Christmas is indeed one time of the year that gluttony is permissible!
It is also worth noting that the availability of food in excess is not the only reason people overeat during festivities. While it is a period of bliss and exchange of gifts, the Christmas period can also be a challenging time for a lot of people — family tensions might be simmering below the surface at lunch, or it may be the first Christmas since the death of a loved one. It’s well known that other emotional triggers can make one indulge in gluttony, so if you’re aware of them, you can pull back and realise that food is not necessarily going to help.
Even though gluttony is almost inevitable during festivities, it is possible to gorge yourself without experiencing lingering physical and emotional consequences. You can spare yourself some guilt and stress by sitting down to Christmas dinner with a feasting mentality rather than a bingeing mentality. Though you can’t do without food, you can change your mindsets about food, and your body may do the rest of the work for you. Mindfulness, cognitive restructuring, and the maintenance of routines can benefit gluttons and other individuals during festivities.
