Navigating for Good Health through the Holiday Season
Thanksgiving is a a wonderful opportunity to enjoy friends and family and a time to be thankful for our many blessings. Likewise, Christmas offers many opportunities to gather with people we love, enjoy festive parties, and above all else, celebrate the birth of Jesus.
But, as you are well aware, most of this celebrating is accompanied by wonderful, delicious foods and goodies, many of which have strong sentiment and emotional ingredients that seem to be baked right in!
Who doesn’t look forward to celebrating the holidays with Grandma’s amazing pecan tarts, or Aunt Betty’s moist and delicious chocolate dream cake? Even the ordinary foods seem extraordinary at holiday gatherings and we look forward to eating too much or too many of the traditional offerings like a brother’s deviled eggs, a son’s savory mashed potatoes or those delightful sweet potatoes that only mom can make!
It’s so easy to indulge in too much food and too many unhealthy treats this time of year! If we allow ourselves to overindulge during this time, there is a high risk that we will not only pack on 5, 10, or maybe even 15 pounds in just a few short weeks, but also continue unhealthy habits long after the holiday season has gone.
When it comes to holiday eating, remember that if you throw caution to the wind – you might end up “wind-burned!”
But this doesn’t mean we have to deprive ourselves during this most special time; we just need to have a plan to navigate through it. You’ve heard it before, but it still rings true: If you fail to plan – you plan to fail!
Here are 15 tips to help you enjoy the festivities without putting your health at risk!
- Focus on people – not food. Think about what you’re celebrating and concentrate on socializing and having fun talking with relatives, reminiscing with old friends, and meeting new people. Food is great, but people mean more.
- Don’t go to an event hungry. You might think you are “saving” calories by not eating earlier in the day, but it is much harder to resist the high-calorie party fare if you are famished and your blood sugar is low. Instead, eat healthfully throughout the day. Having a high-fiber snack with some lean protein before you go will help curb your appetite.
- Take a healthy dish to share when going to parties and events.
- Don’t station yourself right next to the buffet table. Use a plate each time you want to take food. This will discourage mindless munching and grazing. It’s amazing how many chips or crackers one can consume just mindlessly taking one after another from the serving bowl! Help yourself by putting a reasonable serving on a plate!
- If there are foods you really enjoy, go ahead and take them, but just take small amounts of each, and only take one serving. That way you won’t feel like you have missed out on your favorites, but you won’t overdo it. Look at the big picture of available options before making your selections. The bigger the “buffet” the smaller your serving of each item should be.
- Pass by the foods that you can have all the time and choose between similar favorites (for example, if the stuffing is from a box, but your sister made those amazing homemade rolls, enjoy the roll and skip the stuffing instead of eating both).
- Control your sugar intake. When you binge on sugar, you crave more and more and your body suffers for it. Try to limit yourself to one or two of your sugary favorites, and enjoy each bite.
- Eat mindfully – really taste the food you’re eating, and stop eating if it doesn’t measure up to “calorie worthy” standards. If you’re going to spend the calories on a piece of pie, make sure that it’s a really great piece of pie! Also, be aware of when you’re no longer hungry!
- Pay attention to what you drink. The calories and sugar in punches, juices and ciders can quickly add up. Drinking alcoholic drinks, which are high in calories and sugars, can also lead to less control over what you eat. Always drink plenty of water.
- Whether you follow a regular exercise plan or not, you can do simple things to keep your metabolism up and provide great holiday benefits for your body. Bundle up and take a walk after a big holiday meal, or use your lunch time at work for walking or stretching. If you’ve wanted to start exercising more, check with your doctor and start now…no need to wait for January 2.
- Keep healthy snacks with you while shopping for Christmas gifts and running errands to make it easier to avoid stops at the food court, convenience store or drive-thru. If you find yourself “driving thru”, try to find the healthiest choice on the menu!
- Continue healthy eating habits at all other meals, saving your indulgences for Christmas dinner, parties or special events. Your regular eating habits are more important than whether you overdo it on just a couple of occasions.
- Don’t keep holidays treats around the home or the office if they are too hard to resist. Remember – just because someone puts food in front of you it doesn’t mean you have to eat it! Just say “no thanks”, or “thank you…I’ll save this for later”, or take a bite or two and tactfully leave the rest.
- In the busy holiday season, it’s easy to lose track of taking important nutritional supplements and prescribed medicines. With your body under the effects of holiday and nutritional stress it’s important to be especially diligent in taking all regular medications and vitamins!
- When baking for the holidays, make small, healthful substitutions in your recipes. Try using just a little less sugar, or swap out one ingredient for a similar healthier ingredient. If you have internet access there are many lists available with healthy substitutions for you to try.
- Bonus Tip: Instead of dreading the challenges and stresses of the holiday season, make simple changes in your activities and attitudes that will help you experience more JOY!