Eat Right During the Holiday
Holiday’s come with more than we can chew sometimes, with multiple dinner parties, drinks, and desserts with loved ones. It seems that we enjoy an abundance of food from Thanksgiving all the way through the New Year where many of us make the Resolution to eat right, get fit and lose weight. It is funny how we go through the same motions year after year and can never seem to avoid weight gain and “shame” every holiday season. However, the key to being healthy during the holiday isn’t necessarily starving ourselves at holiday meals; it is about controlling temptations of over-eating and regretting it in the days to come or under-eating and not enjoying the time with our family and friends because we are fearful of the fat that may come with the holiday. According to an article by California Pacific Medical Center some ways to enjoy the holiday meals without having any regrets is:
1. Be realistic and maintain your current weight
2. Plan time for exercise, it can help relieve the stress and pressures that come along with the holiday
3. Don’t skip meals; eat a light snack to curb your appetite so you don’t overindulge
4. Survey the buffet before you fill your plate; add plenty of veggies and your favorite foods
5. Eat until you are satisfied not stuffed
6. Be careful with beverages, alcohol lowers inhibitions and induce over-eating yet non-alcoholic beverages are filled with calories and sugar
7. If you overeat at one meal go light on the next. It takes 500 calories per day (or 3,500 calories per week) above your normal/maintenance consumption to gain one pound. (It is impossible to gain weight from one piece of pie!)
8. Take the focus off food. Turn candy and cookie-making time into non-edible projects like making wreaths, dough art decorations, or a gingerbread house. Plan group activities with family and friends that aren’t all about food
9. Bring your own healthy dish to a holiday gathering
10. Practice Healthy Holiday Cooking by preparing favorite dishes lower in fat and calories will help promote healthy holiday eating.
If you follow simple steps like the ones listed above, you will have fewer regrets and more fun times with family and friends. Eating right this holiday season doesn’t mean giving up on or giving in to the food temptations that surround you. Be smart and be healthy and you will feel ten times better before, during, and after the meal and the holiday. Happy Holidays!
Warm Wishes,
Dr. Rosenberg