If you’re not feeling “holiday happy” right now, rest assured, you’re not alone! The holidays are meant to be a joyous time of year, filled with meaningful moments of connection with family and friends. Still, the reality is that the pressures and expectations of the season can take a toll on even the most resilient people. This plant-based guide to thriving during the holidays is here to help you be your best during this often complicated season.
For plant-based eaters—especially those new to this healthy lifestyle—the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s can pose some additional challenges. The key to plant-based success during the holidays is not to let these unique holiday-season stressors take you by surprise!
Preparing for potential plant-based holiday season challenges is the key to coping and maintaining your balance. Having a plant-based road map for thriving during the holidays will help you make this time of year as fulfilling as possible and leave you feeling good about yourself and your plant-based lifestyle.
Plant-Based Eaters at Risk for Holiday Challenges
Sharing food with others, whether as a family or community, is one of the most pleasurable ways humans bond and create a sense of tangible connection. In today’s fast-paced world of microwaves and to-go containers, it can be easy to lose sight of the profound significance and deep emotional nourishment that come from shared food preparation, cooking, and dining.
Eating together has been a foundational and often ritualized aspect of human society since our earliest days, when we sat around the fire, sharing the harvest or the hunt. The importance of shared meals holds across regions and cultures. Part of the power of these moments is that we’re not just eating in the same space or at the same time as others, but that we’re eating the same food cooked by the same folks.
This is the essence of what distinguishes the magic of shared holiday meals from merely sitting around the lunch table, brown bags in hand, with others in the break room at work, each individual doing their own thing.
The problem is that for most plant-based eaters, there will inevitably be times – whether at our workplaces, homes, faith communities, or with our friends – when we have no choice but to politely abstain from what’s being served and what everyone around us is eating.
The truth is that simply saying “no” to food that’s graciously offered to us can be awkward. Maybe others are watching us quizzically, and we feel on the spot as we politely refuse. Or maybe we even feel forced into an on-the-spot explanation of why we’re declining, along with a defense of our plant-based diet.
It can be hard to refuse food while everyone around us enjoys what our host worked so hard to prepare. When Grandma has prided herself on her bacon green bean casserole for decades, not to mention holiday seasons, she might take offense when you suddenly refuse her delicacy.
Solutions for Those Awkward Holiday Moments
The best way to handle such potentially awkward situations is to avert them in the first place! If you can’t avert them entirely, there are ways to manage these types of moments with some grace. With a little bit of foresight and planning, you can help create a holiday season full of warmth and positive connections by following these tips:
Family and Friend Events
If you’ll be a guest at someone’s home or a private event, you’ll want to talk to your host when you accept their invitation. This will give them as much time as possible to prepare for your needs. Whether in person or over the phone, begin by expressing your appreciation for their invitation and letting them know how much you’re looking forward to their event.
Explain simply and briefly that you don’t eat animal products or processed foods and are wondering whether there will be enough for you to eat at the event. Offer to contribute a plant-based dish to the meal if that would be helpful. Be careful not to launch into a detailed explanation of your plant-based diet, and be mindful not to question or criticize your host’s eating habits directly or with even slight innuendo.
Approach the conversation in as matter-of-fact, easy-going manner as possible. You want to make the situation as harmonious as possible for your host and let them know you’re a team player. You’re looking for a win-win situation that’s comfortable for everyone.
Organizational Events
The solution is similar if you’re attending an event sponsored by your workplace, faith community, or a club or association to which you belong. Start by identifying who’s providing the food. (This may require contacting the event organizer, a simple email will do.) If the event will be held at a restaurant you’re unfamiliar with, look up their menu online.
If necessary, contact the restaurant to find out whether their soups and sauces contain hidden animal-based ingredients, such as chicken broth or anchovies. If the restaurant is vegan-friendly, you can relax and look forward to the event.
If the event is at a steakhouse or in some other less-than-plant-based-friendly environment, you’ll need to do some preparation. First, contact the event organizer to determine if vegan options will be available. If yes, you can heave a sigh of relief and are good to go. While these vegan options may not be the same high-quality whole foods you’d ideally like, you may want to compromise a little for the festivities.
If vegan options aren’t available, politely ask the host if it would be possible to create some! Simply follow the same guidance described above when approaching family members. You can also inform the organizer that plant-based foods are a growing trend and that other attendees would likely appreciate vegan options.
If the organizer can’t offer vegan options, you’ve got two choices. One option is to skip the event if it appears to be more stressful than enjoyable. For instance, foregoing an event at a steakhouse is an entirely valid and sensible option for a plant-based eater. No need to feel bad! It’s OK to decline an invitation. Take a moment to reflect on what you want to do. Remember, we’re going for an enjoyable holiday season!
If you decide to go to the event even though there’ll be little or nothing for you to eat, that’s also a valid choice. The best way to manage this is to eat a filling meal before you go and snack at the event itself. Don’t think of the event as a time to eat. Instead, think of the event in social terms, regardless of what others may do.
Since you’ve already done your homework, you’ll know in advance whether the tossed salad has bacon bits and whether the pasta has a dairy cream sauce. In this situation, you may be limited to crackers, bread, or vegetable sticks. The idea now is to focus on social interaction, which you’ll be able to do since you’ve already eaten and won’t even really be hungry. If people inquire, tell them the truth, which is that you have already eaten. It’s as simple as that.
Happy Plant-Based Holidays
So, there you have it! I hope this article helps you navigate the ups and downs of holiday gatherings successfully. Please feel free to email me at diane@plantbasedcooking.com to let me know how it goes or if you have any helpful tips to share.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- 7 Tips for Sticking with a Plant-Based Diet
- 5 Tips for Plant-Based Vegans on Turkey Day
- 5 Steps for Resisting Food Temptations
- Why You Can’t Resist Food Temptations and What to Do About It
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