Enhancing Wellness in
School Mental Health

The Benefits of a Healthy Diet

Food and eating are emotionally charged issues for many of us, especially during the holiday season. Even though the self-destructive ingestion of food and other substances is normalized in our own and many other cultures, it entails risk to our physical health and can negatively impact our self-esteem.
Regulating our food intake is essential in maintaining the energy and stamina we need for effective functioning, for our own personal activity and for optimizing our health.
Moderation is Key
Moderating food intake is no small task in a culture of plenty. With so much attractive, very easily accessible, immensely appealing food, it is very easy to overeat. In addition, many cultural and social settings pressure us to eat and drink more during the upcoming holidays.
It is hard to maintain limits when cultural norms or social interactions encourage us to show our heartiness or “appetite for life” through excessive eating.
Unhealthy Dieting
Despite the widely known health risks and ineffectiveness of “on and off” dieting, it is both fashionable and tempting to experiment with the diet of the day.
Depriving ourselves of adequate nourishment and then going off the diet can become reinforcing and lead to negative results, particularly weight gain. Along with moderate portions, stable eating habits produce more long-lasting, positive effects than crash and burn diets.
Mental Health Professionals and Eating
Mental health professionals, as a group, remain conscious of the benefits of healthy eating. But like others, they may not make the best choices for their own eating. Food intake can be an emotionally charged issue for clinicians, as the competing demands of work and home leave little time for planning a healthy eating routine.
There is a dearth of literature that evaluates clinician struggles with food and it relation to positive outcomes for the .
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To learn more about recent changes to the food pyramid, please visit the US Dept. of Agriculture website at http://mypyramid.gov/.

Ten Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating

Be realistic. Don’t try to lose pounds during the holidays, instead try to maintain your current weight.
Plan time for exercise. Exercise helps relieve holiday stress and prevent weight gain. Try 10- or 15-minute brisk walks twice a day.
Don’t skip meals. Before leaving for a party eat a light snack, you will be less tempted to over-indulge.
Survey party buffets before filling your plate. Choose your favorite foods and skip your least favorite. Include vegetables and fruits to keep your plate balanced.
Eat until you are satisfied, not stuffed. Savor your favorite holiday treats while eating small portions. Sit down, get comfortable, and enjoy.
Be careful with beverages. Alcohol can lessen inhibitions and induce overeating; non-alcoholic beverages can be full of calories and sugar.
If you overeat at one meal go light on the next. It takes 500 calories per day above your normal/maintenance consumption to gain one pound. It is impossible to gain weight from one piece of pie!
Take the focus off food. Turn candy and cookie making time into non-edible projects like making wreaths, dough art decorations or a gingerbread house. Plan group activities with family and friends that aren’t all about food.
Bring your own healthy dish to a holiday gathering.
Practice Healthy Holiday Cooking. Preparing favorite dishes lower in fat and calories will help promote healthy holiday eating.
Macaire, G. Tips for healthy holiday eating. Retrieved November 10, 2005, from http://www.cpmc.org/about/e-health/11-05%20healthy-holidays.html

The Benefits of a Healthy Diet (cont)

Benefits
Consciously thinking through some basic guidelines for healthy eating is usually worth the time and effort. For those who have had significant struggles with healthy eating, a consultation with a nutritionist about healthy guidelines for food intake is advisable. Most people gain the following benefits from a well-rounded diet with an appropriate number of calories and moderate exercise:
A stable blood sugar level
Weight stabilization
A balance between structure and flexibility that is useful alone or in social settings
An antidote to the on-and-off diet roller-coaster
A “prosthesis” against using food to act out unprocessed emotional reactions; and
A long-term habit of monitoring food and other substance intake
Baker, E. K. (2003). Caring for ourselves: A therapist’s guide to personal and professional well-being. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.