Healthy Holiday-Eating Strategies

Fend off holiday weight gain with these easy eating tricks.

Bring Your Own Food

Contribute a healthy dish to a gathering to ensure there’s something you can indulge in.

*Helpful Tips*

• Eat the best-for-you offerings first: For example, hot soup as a first course―especially when it's broth-based, not cream-based―can help you avoid eating too much during the main course.

• Stand more than an arm's length away from munchies, like a bowl of nuts or chips, while you chat so you're not tempted to raise your hand to your mouth every few seconds.

Don't Go Hungry to the Mall

To cut down on the lure of the food court, never go to the mall on an empty stomach.

*Helpful Tips*

• Keep healthy snacks and bring water with you at all time. If you drink a big glass of water or snack on some healthy nuts or dry fruit before your enter the mall, you will fill full and less temped to grab something unhealthy.

• Choose a proper restaurant over the grab-and-go food court whenever you can. Restaurant today will have heathier choices that are clearly marked on the menu.  Request a table away from loud sounds and distractions, which can cause you to eat more. The bright lights and noisy hard surfaces can speed up the rate at which you eat and lead to overeating.

Keep Track of What You Eat

Maintain a food diary to help you stay committed to your goals during this risky eating period.

*Helpful Tips* 

• All about the App. We have some many ways to track our food intake these days. Apps like “MyFitnessPal”and “LoseIt” are great options for you.

• Zip yourself into your favorite pair of slim-fitting pants once a weekand note how they fit. Too tight? Adjust your eating and exercise habits. Just right? Keep up the good work. 

• Rate yourself  you can use a simple rating system each day on how your nutrition was for the day. 1-5 seems to work the best for me. I am honest with myself and make a note at the end of the day. If I average a 4.5 or above for the week, I know I am staying on track.

Snack Before a Party

Before going out, have a healthy snack to curb your appetite.

*Helpful Tips*

• Eat breakfast: This has been shown to prevent overeating later in the day.

• Choose foods wisely: Filling your plate with low-calorie items, such as leafy green salads, vegetable dishes, and lean proteins, and taking smaller portions of the richer ones. That way, you can eat a larger amount of food for fewer calories and not feel deprived.

• Water, Water Water: When you get to the Party and before you do anything drink a tall glass of water. Dehydration can often mask itself as hunger and you will also suppress your appetite for the Start.  

Manage Portion Size

Take sensible portions so you don’t end up eating too much.

*Helpful Tips*

• Use smaller plates and serving utensils. Try a salad or dessert plate for the main course and a teaspoon to serve yourself. What looks like a normal portion on a 12-inch plate or a trough like bowl can, in fact, be sinfully huge.

• Pour drinks into tall, skinny glasses, not the fat, wide kind. You are more likely to pour 30 percent more liquid into squatter vessels. 

Keep Up the Exercise

You’re determined to squeeze in at least 4 or 5 workouts a week, no matter how busy you get.

*Helpful Tips*

• Break it up. If you don’t have time for your daily four-mile walk, do a few 10- or 15-minute spurts of exercise throughout the day. 

• Do the unusual Park far away at all the stores you visit. Take the stairs and not the elevator or escalator. Do an extra 10-15 minutes of exercise while you watch your favorite program. After you shovel the snow in your driveway, help an older neighbor with their driveway. 

Choose Your Indulgences

You intend to stave off feelings of deprivation by allowing yourself a “cheat” day a week.

*Helpful Tips*

• Plan in advance to eat a little more and be a little more flexible at this time of year, when you face daily temptations. That way, you can savor the culinary joys of the holidays a little more often and you'll be less likely to binge. For instance, rather than inhaling four sugar cookies on your cheat day, allow yourself one as a dessert when the mood strikes. Then make one little switch during the day to account for those calories―maybe skipping that morning latte or cutting out an afternoon snack.

• Choose your indulgences wisely.Instead of wasting calories on foods that you can have at any time of the year, pick items that are truly special and unique to the season, like your grandmother's candied yams or your daughter's first batch of Christmas cookies.