Cultivating Body Gratitude & Respect: Holiday Tips from a Non-Diet Dietitian
Written by Sarah Firebaugh, RDN
Honoring the body you live in - one grounded, gentle step at a time.
As the season of gratitude arrives, many of us instinctively turn our attention outward to family, food, celebrations, traditions, and the swirl of holiday energy that comes with all of it. But this time of year can also invite us to look inward, offering a moment to pause and appreciate the vessel that carries us through every day: our bodies.
At As You Are Nutrition, we understand that “gratitude for the body” is not always a simple concept. Your relationship with your body may feel layered, tender, or ever-changing. You might be managing symptoms, healing from burnout, recovering from an eating disorder, adapting to new medical guidance, or trying to repair your relationship with food. You might also be carrying expectations from family, culture, or past experiences that shape how you see yourself.
Body gratitude is not about bypassing these realities. It’s about creating space to acknowledge what your body does for you… even in seasons where it’s struggling, healing, or adapting.
Body gratitude also doesn’t have to look like body positivity or even body acceptance - for many of our clients, those ideas can feel out of reach. It’s common to wonder, “What if I don’t love my body?”
This is where practices like body respect, body neutrality, and body gratitude become meaningful. These approaches can support wellbeing, reduce stress, and foster a more compassionate relationship with yourself - without requiring you to feel positively about your body all the time. We see body image healing not as a destination, but as ongoing practices. Like any practice, they can develop slowly, gently, and sustainably over time.
A Season for Reconnecting With the Body
The holidays can create pressure around food choices, traditions, social gatherings, clothing, and expectations. But this season also offers countless reminders of what our bodies help us experience: warmth, connection, belonging, tradition, laughter, rest, celebration, and comfort.
Body gratitude isn’t meant to overwrite hard feelings. It’s meant to hold space for both truths: You can struggle with body image and still appreciate what your body does for you. You can work toward recovery and honor that your body is doing its best with the resources it has. You can nourish yourself even when it’s difficult, because nourishment gives back in ways appearance never could.
Why Nourishment Matters: What a Fed Body Makes Possible
It’s easy to forget how much our bodies do for us when we’re stuck in cycles of criticism, restriction, or comparison. Nourishment isn’t just about calories or nutrients – and definitely not about a number on the scale. It’s about giving your body the support it needs so you can participate in your life fully.
A well-fed, well-supported body helps you have non-scale victories:
Think with clarity and focus
Regulate emotions more effectively
Sustain energy for the activities you care about
Maintain hormonal, metabolic, and muscle health
Experience pleasure, connection, and joy
Heal, repair, and adapt
So when our dietitians say, “let’s set some non-scale measures of success,” this is what we’re talking about. When your body is fed and cared for, you become more capable of living the life you want - not because of aesthetics, but because your biology finally has what it needs to support your whole self.
To us, nourishment is freedom. It’s energy, connection, and safety. It is one of the most meaningful expressions of body respect we can offer ourselves, and it’s at the heart of how we practice a non-diet approach.
Understanding Body Respect, Neutrality, and Gratitude
We often hear phrases like “love your body,” especially around the holidays when industries push both indulgence and “reset culture.” For many, especially those healing their relationship with food and body image, this expectation can actually create more guilt or frustration.
Instead, we teach three more grounded approaches:
Body Respect
Treating your body with dignity by giving it what it needs: food, rest, movement that feels good, medical care, and more… even if you don’t love how it looks. Respect is a behavior, not a feeling.
Body Neutrality
Taking the pressure off. You don’t have to adore your body—you just don’t have to fight it. Neutrality allows space for “My body is what it is today, and I can still care for it.”
Body Gratitude
Focusing less on appearance and more on function. Gratitude helps shift the narrative from “How does my body look?” to “What does my body allow me to do?” even if the list is small at first.
Your gratitude might sound like:
“I'm grateful my legs carry me where I need to go.”
“I'm grateful my stomach digests the food that nourishes me.”
“I'm grateful for my senses that help me experience the world.”
Small acknowledgments and simple reframes can be powerful.
What Team AYAN Is Grateful For
As a practice, we believe that sharing our own examples can help clients imagine their own version of body gratitude—personal, practical, and rooted in lived experiences rather than clichés. As a team, we took time this season to reflect on what our own bodies help us do. Read them here:
Sarah:
“I’m grateful for the strength to hold my niece and nephew.”
Kenlee:
“I’m grateful for my hands (and patience), which let me make fresh bread to nourish myself and others!”
Jessie:
“Grateful for a nourished body that lets me be here — present, playful and snuggled up with my cat”
Natalie:
“I’m grateful for my strong legs that let me backpack”
Briana:
“I’m grateful for a nourished body that gives me the strength and energy to travel and explore new places.”
Daniela:
“I’m grateful for my nourished body that allows me to travel to different places and try new cultural foods”
Marie:
“I’m grateful for my body which allows me to experience the beauty of nature!”
Ways You Can Practice Body Gratitude This Month
Here are a few gentle ideas to help you begin:
1. Notice one functional gratitude each day.
Maybe your legs carried you through the grocery store. Maybe your lungs allowed you to laugh. Maybe your eyes recognized someone you love across the room.
2. Offer your body nourishment without condition.
Sometimes the most radical act of body respect is simply feeding yourself consistently.
3. Wear clothes that honor your here-and-now body.
Comfort is a form of self care.
4. Take a moment of stillness.
Place a hand on your chest, stomach, or anywhere that feels grounding. Notice your breath. Your body works around the clock, quietly and faithfully.
5. Allow space for complicated feelings.
Gratitude doesn’t erase distress, but it can coexist with it.
6. Connect your gratitude to real life moments.
A body nourished enough to play with pets.
Eyes healthy enough to admire holiday lights.
A brain steady enough to participate in conversations.
Taste buds sensitive enough to enjoy favorite seasonal foods.
A Final Note From Us to You
Your body is not an enemy to manage or shrink. It is a partner that deserves care, nourishment, and compassion - especially during seasons that ask so much of us.
Wherever you are in your relationship with your body, we hope this season offers a moment of gentleness, a spark of gratitude, and a reminder that you are worthy of respect in every stage of healing.
And as always, the As You Are Nutrition team is here (whether you see us in Napa or connect with us virtually throughout Northern California) to meet you exactly where you are. With warmth, inclusivity, and a non-diet approach rooted in body respect, we’re here to support your wellbeing through the holidays and beyond.