How Food-Centered Holidays Intensify Body Image, Anxiety, and Disordered Eating Struggles in Erie, PA
Every fall, you feel it - the anxiety creeping in. As the weather turns, you realize that it’s getting closer and closer to the winter holidays - and all of the family gatherings. Lots of people feel anxious eating in front of other people - but for you, you worry that people will realize just how much you’re eating. Whether it’s too much or too little, you just know someone will have a comment. You know you’ll see all those distant relatives for the first time since last winter, and they’ll mention your weight. They’ll tut and shake their heads, or worse, tell you you look “so great!” when you certainly don’t feel great - and you wonder if you can do this again. These moments often bring up body image and anxiety all at once, making the season feel heavy instead of joyful.
It’s normal for the winter holidays to stir up anxiety for a number of reasons - but you don’t have to white-knuckle it. In this blog, we examine why anxiety comes up around the holidays and how you can get through it with the support of specialized anxiety therapy in Erie, PA.
Overview of Food-Centered Holidays and Their Significance
The winter holidays can bring up many memories—the gathering, the celebrations—but often the first thing people think of is the traditional food served at holiday gatherings. Festive celebrations promote a sense of cultural pride, often serve as a nostalgic link to the past through storytelling, and express the values and beliefs rooted in the meaning food holds for their people. There are so many special holidays throughout the winter season that carry symbolic meaning through their food preparation, decorations, and components with specific purposes. Whether it’s Christmas, Eid al-Fitr, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Lunar New Year, or any of the many others, food plays an important part in the celebration for most.
Body Image and Anxiety: Navigating Holiday Meals
When food is the main focus during holidays, of course, you’d feel more anxious about eating and how you look, especially if you already struggle with body image and body positivity. Things like social media, advertising, cultural pressures and habits, past experiences, bullying, and self-criticism can all add to this stress. Many of us see people we haven’t seen in a long time at holiday gatherings, inviting comments about how we’ve changed over the months or years, more than other food-centric gatherings. Therefore, holiday events centered on food can make you worry more about your appearance and what you eat than usual, adding to the already high stress the holiday season brings.
What is the Role of Food in Holiday Celebrations?
During the holidays, people often feel torn between maintaining cultural food traditions and handling the new pressures of taking on the responsibility of cooking recipes we all remember from childhood, while also considering more dietary needs than ever before. There’s a lot of focus on impressing family members, especially the dreaded “in-laws”. Other pressures, such as being a good host or making everything from scratch, can add to the stress. You may think that if you spend too much time in the kitchen, you will have to make up for it later with diets or resolutions focused on changing the physical body. The juggling act of balancing old traditions with new expectations can feel impossible, and the stress can create an environment where an unhealthy relationship with food could develop.
Understanding Disordered Eating and Body Image Issues
Disordered eating is identified as an uncomfortable relationship with food that affects a person's body, mind, emotions, and daily life. Some problematic examples of the effects of food-based challenges include:
Worrying a lot about food or weight.
Following strict diets.
Skipping meals.
Hiding food.
Counting calories or using weight control products without a doctor’s advice..
Warning signs that food-based challenges may be becoming increasingly problematic and more serious, impacting a person more specifically, include:
Always thinking about food.
Sudden weight changes.
Eating in secret.
Feeling tired from not eating enough.
Wearing loose clothes to hide your body.
Avoiding social events or not eating around others.
Holding yourself to strict food rules.
Increasing self-criticism about your body.
While not everyone who experiences the above may end up having a diagnosable eating disorder, often these issues can lead to eating disorders like avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. Disordered eating is serious, so reaching out to friends, family, or health professionals can help. There are also resources if you need more information or support.
Many people find that their worries about body image get worse during the holidays. Social events, family gatherings, and cultural expectations can add stress and bring up strong emotions. With so much special food around, it’s normal to feel anxious about eating, gaining weight, or losing control. These feelings can lead to guilt or shame after meals, changes in eating habits focused on “being good”, or feelings of self-consciousness, especially in groups, to keep up with what others are “not doing”. The colder months can also mean less activity, a lower mood, and more loneliness, which sometimes leads people to turn to food for comfort.
Can the Holidays Intensify Anxiety?
Yes. Family judgments, cultural expectations, and comments under people’s breath can really put a damper on your jolly holiday mood - especially when they have to do with the food you’re eating. You might get advice you didn’t ask for, overhear criticism about your body, or feel self-conscious about what or how much you’re eating. The anticipatory anxiety of food and weight talk can make you uncomfortable around relatives and take away from the fun of the holidays. Since families play a big role in how we think about bodies and eating, it’s important to set gentle, clear boundaries with our family about how they connect with us in food-related discussions to support maintaining minimal anxiety, our peace, and power over our own bodies.
The way the media talks about eating and body image during the holidays can make you feel even more anxious. There is a lot of pressure to keep your body the same, even though holiday meals often mean eating more. The media often connects certain body types with shame, guilt, and the idea that you need to 'fix' yourself after the holidays, as if you did something wrong. People in larger bodies are rarely portrayed positively in holiday ads, and as soon as the holidays are over, the ads switch right over to the New Year’s resolution and “working off the holidays” or “getting back on track”. This story often ignores the rich variety of cultures and traditions celebrated during the holidays, as well as the importance of food-related celebrations in connection with joy and love. It is important to ask whose interests this post-holiday “new year, new me” message serves (hint - it’s capitalism). By promoting these ideas, the diet industry benefits from the pressure they create, leading people down a path to purchase products that are focused on, meeting unrealistic body image standards.
What are Strategies for Coping with the Holidays?
The holidays are stressful enough by themselves, and when you struggle with disordered eating or body issues, this time of year can be extra weighty. Between trying to fit in 4 separate holiday celebration parties, eating festive meals at both your parents and your in-laws’, and making everybody happy, carrying anxiety about your eating habits, weight, and body image can be the metaphorical straw that broke the camel’s back. Here are some small things you can do to take care of yourself during this challenging time:
Let Yourself Be Less Than Perfect
We know that, going into the holidays, stress will be high. Do what you can to give yourself grace in this few month span by giving yourself small manageable ways to add compassion to your self-care tank by booking in an extra manicure, unplugging from your electronics, enjoying a solo spa day at home, taking the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off from work, or even (gasp!) give yourself permission not to go to the big family gathering if you are truly dreading it. If it makes you that unhappy, you don’t have to be there!
Setting a Boundary
Setting boundaries with family during the holidays can feel stressful or even make you anxious, but it really is okay to stand up for yourself. Chances are, Great Aunt Judy will soon ask about the carbs on your plate or talk about the latest low-carb trend. She probably means well, but comes off as critical instead. This could be a great time to practice setting a boundary. To set a boundary, you could say, “Let’s focus on enjoying the meal together, not what anyone is eating.” In turn, this gentle and kind reminder to Great Aunt Judy, or any other person, this request can help protect your peace and refocus on the holiday's true meaning, which is not on anyone’s physical body but on connection.
Have a Support Person
Interacting with family alone can feel like you’re going crazy. Take a friend, or open up to a favorite cousin, about how worried you are. Have your bestie on speed dial to vent via text while you’re taking a break in the bathroom, or to call with an “emergency” if Aunt Mildred just won’t shut up about her favorite diet craze and you need to leave, now. Don’t be afraid to be the person who spends time with kids or animals during the holiday, which can give you the perfect opportunity to get some relief through laughter, not taking yourself too seriously, and getting outside to have some fun when diet talk starts.
Connect with a Therapist
The upcoming holiday season is known to be a challenging time, so it could be the perfect time to begin working with a therapist. Metamorphosis Counseling offers an inclusive, welcoming environment for people in the Erie area. Nicole Kent, a registered art therapist and licensed professional counselor, specializes in helping individuals with concerns related to food and body image. She uses a non-judgmental, client-centered approach to address shame and guilt, working at your pace to explore the origins and functions of eating challenges, identifying connections to other symptoms from past and present, working to develop stability and emotional safety, reducing behaviors and expanding the treatment team as needed, developing practical coping skills to help you reconnect to yourself, and expanding your compassion and connection to integrate to your healed parts of self.
Conclusion from a Therapist in Erie, PA
Offering yourself compassion and support during food-centered holidays can help you feel hopeful when you're anxious about your eating habits or body image. These gatherings can bring people together, but they can also be emotionally challenging for you. As you prepare for a celebratory gathering, you may be under social pressure and face negative expectations. It is important for you to practice empathy and respect for yourself, especially since every culture, including your own, celebrates in its own way. At Metamorphosis Counseling, we are here to help with specialized anxiety therapy in Erie, PA.
Support for Body Image and Anxiety During Holiday Stress in Erie, PA
Food-centered holidays can feel overwhelming when body image and anxiety collide, especially if disordered eating patterns resurface around family gatherings and food-focused celebrations. At Metamorphosis Counseling, we offer compassionate support in Erie, PA, to help you understand why these struggles intensify and how to move through the season with greater clarity, grounding, and self-kindness. Together, we’ll explore the roots of holiday-triggered stress, body concerns, and eating fears while helping you rebuild a healthier, more trusting relationship with yourself.
Here’s how to begin your healing:
Call 814-273-6270 or fill out our contact form to connect with our team and learn how therapy can support you during this challenging time.
Schedule your first session with an anxiety therapist in Erie, PA who specializes in body image and anxiety, disordered eating triggers, and holiday-related stress.
Begin learning supportive tools to navigate meals, manage anxious thoughts, set boundaries, and approach holiday traditions with more ease and emotional balance.
You don’t have to face holiday overwhelm, body comments, or anxious eating patterns alone. With the right support from our team, you can move through this season feeling more grounded, confident, and connected to your own needs.
Helping You Heal Beyond Holiday Anxiety and Body Image Struggles
At Metamorphosis Counseling, we recognize how food-centered gatherings, body comments, and seasonal expectations can heighten body image anxiety, emotional overwhelm, and old patterns of disordered eating. Because these struggles rarely exist in isolation, our care extends beyond anxiety treatment to support the full emotional experience behind burnout, shame, and holiday-related stress. Through trauma-informed therapy and convenient online sessions in Erie, PA, we help you explore how earlier wounds, family dynamics, and long-held beliefs about food and body shape your reactions today—guiding you toward steadier self-trust and deeper healing.
We also offer therapy for children and teens, giving young clients tools to manage anxiety, cope with social and family pressures, and strengthen emotional resilience during high-stress seasons. Whether you’re working through your own relationship with food and body image or supporting a child struggling with holiday worry, our team provides a compassionate, judgment-free space where healing and reconnection can take root.