Hunger is a sensation that exists only in our minds. Yup, it’s just a feeling. Just like you feel happy or tired or stress or pain, no one else can exactly identify with your feeling or fully appreciate it. What you experience as hunger is likely different than what your best friend experiences. Who really knows, right? But, like any of your feelings, it’s important to identify why you are experiencing it. If you’re touching a hot stove and feeling pain, it’s your body’s signal to you that you should probably move your hand. If you’re in a dark alley and feeling stressed, your feeling is a way that your body signals to you that you might want to turn down another street. If it’s your wedding day and you’re feeling excited, that feeling is probably your body’s way of saying hey, this is a good thing for you. Okay, in the same way, you’ve got to identify why you’re feeling hungry.

I was scrolling through my Facebook News Feed the other morning, and I noticed that a friend of mine was in a relationship; but this isn’t just any relationship, it’s a “Complicated Relationship.” So, I scoped it out and sure enough, one of the options in the relationship status drop-down is (and I quote) “It’s Complicated.” I thought to myself how most of our relationships are complicated; we need them to survive and thrive, but sometimes they suck the life out of us. Then, I started thinking about our relationship with food; hey now, it’s complicated.

I heard the greatest word this morning, FoMO. It stands for fear of missing out. And while it’s being tossed around as the reason people are addicted to social media and why they can’t stand to miss so much as a text message, I think its application to the way we approach food is wildly appropriate. There’s something really crazy about the social and emotional power of food. If everyone else is eating cake and you’re not, you feel deprived. If everyone’s got a drink in hand, you feel like a tool if you don’t. If everyone else is ordering the extra large popcorn at the movies, grabbing a hot dog at the ball game, or out for ice cream on a hot summer’s night, well you feel like you totally should be too. You feel like if you don’t, you are missing out on something (FoMO), and to make matters worse, the food pushers will insist that you are missing out on something when you aren’t an active food participant.

‘Tis the season to be eating…and packing on the pounds! Ahh!! Hear me out. I know it’s tempting with all those cookies, hot chocolate, cakes, pies, gravies, gingerbread, stuffing, candied yams, candy canes, and buche de noel lurking around every corner, but let’s be serious. The holidays are not a license to eat and yes, those calories still count! Why in the season of peace, are you going to war with your body? Come on now, war no more!!

So what I want to share with you today is a great method for managing stress. We all go through storms, it’s how we weather the storm that counts. Simple breathing exercises are a great way to sail through storms with less tension. 

Here’s the deal–Facebook and other social networks may be making you fat. While it’s great to keep in touch with those you love, spending too much time checking-in on your “friends” may lead to emotional overload. Knowing that Sally and Bill are driving their perfect car to the perfect destination for their perfect vacation with their perfect family may leave you feeling perfectly inadequate…