In an environment focused on endless lists of tasks, repetitive chores and little personal downtime, food can quickly become one of the last islands of peace and pleasure.

Food can comfort us and relieve anxiety. For some, it is the familiar flavors, a little rush of sweet or salty, a small perk in a bleak landscape. For others, it is more like completing a ritual. Such persons may choose the same food item or group of food items repetitively. The food itself may be completely unimportant or it may play a vital part in the routine, but the process is equally about knowing the food is there--the expectation, the unwrapping and consumption.

The holiday season can be a particularly difficult time for overeating (consuming too many calories or too few healthy foods), stress eating and comfort eating.

Many emotional issues may arise as we add to our work and life's daily demands with travel, reunions with family and friends. There is pressure to be at our best, even though money worries, frustrations and disappointments have not disappeared. And every celebration seems to be based around not only food, but fatty, sweet and salty, savory choices. Passing may offend a host. Indulging may offend our waistlines. 

Others of us face time alone, which may trigger negative feelings that send us to the solace of familiar foods. The transitory warmth and fullness does not truly fill emotional cavities, but it is often better than nothing.   

We use food to help keep ourselves awake and alert. The urge to snack is particularly strong in the afternoon and late at night, when we're experiencing natural dips in awareness and body systems are lagging.

The extra movements of our mouths and the bursts of flavor from the food shake us momentarily out of a groggy state. Unfortunately, the composition of many snack foods only exacerbates the cycle of ups and downs in blood sugar and attentiveness. Eat too much, and your full stomach will undo the effort, making you sleepier than when you began.

Eating in front of the computer or television can be particularly insidious. You may sit down with a bag of treats, believing you will enjoy both the food and the entertainment in front of you, but it is difficult for the mind to focus fully on both tasks. One will inevitably take a back seat.

More often than not, the moving, changing, visual and auditory input of the images on screen win out and occupy our conscious attention, while we can easily revert to automatic hand to mouth movements without the need to monitor the action. In other words, you look down half an hour later to find the bag empty and little to no memory of any specific bite of food you enjoyed.

Mindfulness can help bring feelings hidden within food and routine to the surface. The practice can also help break bad habits and automatic behaviors.

Eating mindfully does not have to take a great deal of time or preparation. You do not have to give up your entire routine. In fact, taking changes in small steps helps you stick to them long enough for the changes to become your new routine. This makes it more likely you'll adopt the new habits over the long term.

Small tricks help, even if you know they are tricks (because you're playing them on yourself). Taking a moment to put your fork down between bites. Taking time to chew and savor each mouthful. Allowing food to rest on your tongue, to roll about in your mouth, so that flavors may waft into your sinuses. Taking the time to look at your plate before you begin to eat, then feeling the texture of each bite as it crosses your lips.

Sometimes what is missing from the way we eat is time. The meal passes quickly as we rush to move on to the next part of our day. When you eat hastily, most of your focus is on the movement of food. Get it in, get it chewed, get it out to make room for the next bite. There is no time for the body to savor the act of eating; in missing some of the subtle cues, it doesn't quite believe that you've eaten or eaten enough. It isn't looking for nourishment at that point. It is looking for a sort of fulfillment.

American cultural habits are quite bad in this respect. We adopt the diets of countries with better levels of general health, but not the eating habits that accompany them--even when those habits may be part of their success (and even as our own poor habits and manners spread out to cause other cultures the same problems we suffer).

Many groups and families practice social eating, where reuniting with family, sharing stories and unwinding from the day is as important as the food. Other cultures eat smaller portions from a shared dish or group of dishes. Members of the family eat slowly out of respect for one another and so that everyone may have a share.

Begin selecting smaller portions. Find a bowl that holds about one cup (individual rice bowls are a good size for this). When you feel like a snack, use the bowl. If you want chips, get your chips, but only as many as the bowl will hold.

Take them with you and eat what you want. If you want more, you can have more, but you have to only get as many as the bowl will hold. This can cut down on eating out of boredom if you find the repeated trips are not worth the reinforcement food gives you.

It can also help with portion control. You cannot look down to find the bag suddenly empty. You will have been aware of your food several times during the process and greater awareness is what you want.

Small breaks will also allow you to feel if your stomach is filling, becoming uncomfortable. Extra time can give your body the chance to signal your brain-- through the stomach contents or biochemical triggers--that you are sated. The small lags in time add up further if you wait for a commercial break. It gives your conscious self more time to hear what your body or your feelings are saying, too.

Gradually increase that wait time. Get a bowl now, but deny yourself another for five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes. This helps if you have issues with deprivation. You will know the food is still there and available to you, it will only be shortly delayed.

Once you start to achieve these small victories, you will begin to realize you do control your food. You make choices. You can make changes. You don't have to eat perfectly each time. It is enough if you aim to do a little better each day--make a good choice now and not worry beyond that point.

Stress Eating

As unpleasant as it may sound when you're ensconced in front of the glow of the screen, exercise is one of the best ways to wake yourself up and to relieve stress. It can do the job that food is doing and leave you a bit healthier for it.

Exercise does not have to be hard, sweaty or endless. Small steps are cumulative. Go for a little walk. Think of it as a pleasure walk. Try for a brisk pace, but also stop to window shop, look at the scenery or chat with a friend.

Next time, walk a little farther--if only a single step more. Find something to carry (a book, a bottle of water). It's weight and it counts. You may find yourself looking forward to these little breaks, getting away from the phone and the reminders of things undone.

If you work, you may be reluctant to take the time. That is a crucial mistake. These breaks are not unproductive. They allow you time to reboot your brain, build your circulation, clear your head. Walk aggressively to burn off anger. Wander in your own thoughts for inspiration. Come back to your desk fresh.

Everyone has to begin somewhere. With these approaches, you don't need to intensively journal and you don't necessarily have to have an overwhelming urge to change. Hopefully, when you see improvements, you will want to pursue other, larger goals.

Make it easy on yourself to change and hard to return to old ways. If you find yourself tracing a familiar path between the desk and the kitchen, move the food that most tempts you to an out of the way location. Another floor would be a great place, but a room in the direction opposite the kitchen, a high or low cupboard, would do as well.

All you need to do is make yourself work a little harder to get the snack. Force yourself to snap out of the reflex where you walk in here, you grab the box and start to eat. This small added effort can help trigger you to remember that you moved the item for a reason.

Assign yourself a little exercise before each snack. It doesn't have to be a marathon or an exercise you hate. Put a weight by the television. If you have the urge to get a snack, do ten lifts first. Then, if you still want the food, go get it!

It isn't about punishment, simply interrupting the process. You may find that your mind, momentarily distracted, has moved on to another want and forgotten the food altogether. You may realize you are really feeling something other than hungry. Then again, you may really want a snack. No matter what, at least you got a little exercise and you denied yourself instant gratification, even though it may have only been for that minute taken to complete your task.