Your Calm Cuisine of Choice: Navigating the Holidays Without Losing Yourself
Let’s be honest—the holidays can feel less like a ‘season of joy’ and more like an emotional buffet of chaos, emotions, boundaries, relationships, shopping lists and sleep. So much joy, but so much pressure. Between social events, family expectations, end-of-year deadlines, and a calendar that’s bursting at the seams, it’s easy to slip into autopilot via a current of anxiety and haste.
Maybe you notice your jaw is constantly clenched, your capacity for grace is limited (eek) and at the end of the day you go to bed tired but wired (and thinking about all those deadlines you need to meet before 5pm on December 24th). These are all the usual stress signals that you’ve probably felt before, but have you also noticed the way that it impacts your digestion? It’s not always what you eat, but how you eat and drink. This is particularly important right now, considering we’re in full festive mode…everything revolves around food and drink for the next month!
Finding Calm at the Table
When you eat in a rushed or stressed state, your body doesn’t register safety and nourishment—quite the opposite. The sympathetic nervous system stays switched on, slowing digestion and keeping you wired.
You might notice your digestion feels off with a low-key (or strong) knot in the gut. You get to the end of the event and you realise you just ate your way through the cheese board but didn’t get to enjoy any of it. Or you find yourself throughout the day (any day, not just Christmas Day) reaching for quick comfort foods and wine instead of pausing to check-in with what your body actually needs (which, in reality—could just be a toilet break, big glass of hydration, and a moment to breathe).
These are all signs that your nervous system is running on overdrive. Just keeping up, staying afloat, remaining online long enough to ‘get things done’ and deal with the usual end-of-year family/work conversations.
How to Eat When You’re Overwhelmed
We live in a world that glorifies ‘doing more’, especially at this time of year (and hey mamas, I see you out there trying to be santa for everyone but yourself 😘 ). But our bodies—especially women’s bodies—were not designed for constant output (or doing everything without also receiving). Hormonal fluctuations, emotional attunement, and a deeply intuitive nervous system make women more sensitive to stress and overstimulation. That sensitivity isn’t a weakness—it’s wisdom. It’s your body saying, ‘Slow down. Come home. Arrive here, now’.
When you take a conscious breath, you remind your body that it’s safe. You soften the stress response. You shift from fight-or-flight into rest-and-digest, allowing your vagus nerve to gently re-engage—increasing parasympathetic activation, activating enzymes, improving nutrient absorption and overall digestion—allowing you to truly receive nourishment. It’s why slowing down and truly tasting your food leaves you feeling satisfied rather than stuffed. And when you soften, you begin to actually enjoy the meal, the moment, and yourself again.
It’s not about control or ‘perfect’ eating—it’s about presence. And presence is the calm beneath the chaos that we’re all seeking.
That’s exactly what the Mindful Eating practice inside the Busy Woman Breathwork pack is designed to help you do. In just 5 minutes, it guides you to reconnect with your body and your breath at mealtimes (or cup-of-tea moments)—inviting presence, pleasure, and calm into an act that’s often rushed or emotionally charged.
Before your next meal, place your feet flat on the floor. Take one slow breath in through your nose, and exhale out your mouth. Feel your body land. Then press play on the 5 minute ‘Mindful Eating’ tool and let your breath be your anchor into presence and wholesome nourishment (from nervous system, to belly, to whole-body).
This season, may calm be your cuisine of choice 😘
🍽️ Try the ‘Mindful Eating’ audio from the Breathe Her Busy Woman Breathwork Pack—a gentle, 5-minute breath practice to accompany your meals, helping you reconnect to calm and nourishment this season. Happy festive season, wonderful women ♥️