Brittney Nicole’s Tips for Mindful Eating During the Holidays

Plus, try the 2024 SI Swimsuit rookie’s Sweetgreen-inspired healthy harvest bowl recipe.

Brittney Nicole.Alberto Tamargo/Getty Images

Day 10 of SI Swimsuit’s 12 Days of Swimsuit. Embark on a daily journey with us over this time, as we present exclusive features with your beloved SI Swimsuit models. Delve into a festive blend of holiday style, beauty insights, and invigorating workouts adaptable to any locale. Our SI Swimsuit models graciously share their top-notch advice tailored for the season. Stay tuned and celebrate the holidays in style with SI Swimsuit.

The holidays are a time to gather with family and friends, and often those festive celebrations center around food. Whether you’re attending Christmas dinner at a relative’s house or gathering for a seasonal brunch with your girlfriends, ’tis the season of indulgence.

Model and fitness enthusiast Brittney Nicole is a huge proponent of mindful eating practices, and not just during the holidays. We caught up with the 2024 SI Swimsuit rookie to learn how to practice intuitive eating as to not overwhelm ourselves while still enjoying the flavors of the season.

Brittney Nicole.

Courtesy of Brittney Nicole

What is intuitive eating? 

While the 2023 Swim Search co-winner doesn’t limit herself during the holidays (she loves a good charcuterie board!), Nicole says that she simply listens to her body’s hunger cues before she indulges.

“Mindful eating for me is just basically intuitive eating,” Nicole explains. “It’s eating until you feel like you’re full, not necessarily because there’s food on your plate and you feel like you need to eat all of it.”

She notes that eating intuitively is a particularly healthy practice during the holiday season, when there are so many food-centric events on our social calendars.

“Just really trying to be intuitive with yourself and your body and listening to what it needs, I think is really important, especially during the holiday seasons when you’re introduced to a variety of foods and we’re getting invited to all these holiday parties and everything,” Nicole says. “It’s just really important to listen to yourself during those times.”

And she is here to remind us that, at the end of the day, we should never restrict ourselves too much, holiday season or not.

“I’m a very big proponent of eating what you want, just do it and just be mindful of how much you’re eating of that particular thing,” Nicole suggests.

Her go-to harvest bowl recipe

Inspired by Sweetgreen, Nicole developed a go-to harvest bowl recipe that she describes as both hearty and satisfying. It’s a customizable and nourishing dish that fuels her, whether her calendar is full of festive gatherings or work commitments.

“I like to eat foods that are filling and don’t leave me hungry afterwards,” Nicole says. “I feel like people have this misconception, like when you eat healthier, you have to cut back on your portion sizes or your calories, and that’s not always true. It’s just the kinds of foods that you’re eating [that matters]. You can eat a lot of really good things and still feel full and and nourished, too.”

While the exact harvest bowl combination depends on what she’s feeling on any given day, below is her basic formula for a healthy and balanced meal. And if you don’t have the exact ingredients on hand, feel free to get innovative in the kitchen.

“It is one of those recipes where you can be very creative with the ingredients, and you don’t have to stick to one thing,” she says.

Brittney Nicole’s Harvest Bowl

Ingredients

• Vinaigrette dressing of your choice (Nicole’s favorite is Briannas blush wine vinaigrette)
• Kale, arugula or spring mix
• Sweet potato or butternut squash
• Chicken breast
• Quinoa or wild rice
• Pomegranate
• Pumpkin seeds
• Goat cheese or feta cheese
• Pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
• Honeycrisp apple, finely chopped
• Red onion, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Wash and cut the sweet potato or butternut squash into cubes.
3. Add the sweet potatoes or squash to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spray with a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes.
4. Cook your wild rice or quinoa according to the package instructions.
5. Season the chicken breast to your liking and roast at 450 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, depending on the thickness.
6. Assemble all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Make sure to follow SI Swimsuit on YouTube!