Why You Feel Inflamed After the Holidays (It’s Not Just the Food)

Carrie Landing
5 days ago
3 min read

by Carrie Landing, Soaring with Nutrition

The holidays are a beautiful swirl of family, memories, and celebration… but if you live with autoimmune issues, chronic inflammation, or even just a sensitive system, you may notice something else creeping in too:

The flare.The swelling.The fatigue.The pain.The anxiety.The “why don’t I feel like myself anymore?”

Every year, I hear the same things:

“I always feel puffy after Thanksgiving.”“My joints act up every December.”“I’m exhausted and foggy for days.”“I thought I ate pretty well — why do I feel awful?”

Let’s clear something up right away:

You are not imagining it, and you’re not doing anything wrong. Your body is responding — and there are real, explainable reasons.

The Holidays Disrupt Your Body More Than You Realize

We tend to blame a single meal or a slice of pie, but inflammation is almost never caused by “one thing.”It’s usually the stacking of several small stressors all at once.

During the holidays, most women experience changes in:

• Food patterns

Not just what you eat — but when, how often, and how much.

• Sleep rhythms

Later nights, earlier mornings, or restless sleep all impact immune balance.

• Stress load

Even good stress is still stress, and your body processes it the same way.

• Blood sugar stability

The hidden culprit behind fatigue, swelling, and mood dips.

• Emotional triggers + old patterns

Family dynamics, memories, and expectations activate your nervous system.

• Gut disruption

Travel, different food oils, and holiday snacks can shift your gut environment quickly.

Each of these alone is manageable. But Thanksgiving weekend brings all of them at the exact same time.

Your body isn’t rebelling — it’s overwhelmed. Sadly the holidays can even bring more symptoms on then I listed above because each person has their own root causes and their own lifestyles so the immune system responds in the only way it knows how: with inflammation.

Why Most Advice Online Doesn’t Help

You’ve probably seen the usual tips: “Drink more water!” “Cut sugar!” “Detox your body!”

But if it were that simple, you wouldn’t still be dealing with swelling, fatigue, or a flare days later.

The truth is: Holiday inflammation has deeper roots that generic health advice doesn’t touch.

There are very real physiological reasons your body feels “off,” and when you understand them. The pathway back to stability becomes much easier, calmer, and kinder once you discover the roots for your personal body.

So What Can You Actually Do?

This is where the real answers live — and the part that I don’t want to water down in a blog post, because the order, timing, and specificity to your Body matter.

That’s why I’m teaching a full, live class where I break down: