Eating Healthy Through The Holidays

     The holiday season is a fantastic time of year to spend with family and friends. Undoubtedly, with the holidays come holiday parties, gatherings and lots of sugary, salty and fatty foods. It's important to maintain a healthy lifestyle year round but also enjoy yourself and indulge in your favorite treats from time to time. Here are 10 tips to stay healthy this holiday season. 

1.     Be Realistic – The holiday season is not the time to put extra pressure on yourself to lose weight. Instead of trying to lose weight over the holidays set a goal to maintain your current weight.

2.     Make Time For Exercise – one fantastic way to maintain your weight over the holidays is to exercise. If you’re traveling and can’t make it to the gym simply taking a brisk walk outside with family and friends is a great way to stay healthy over the holidays.

3.     Fill Up Before You Head Out – before leaving for a holiday party or gathering eat a light, healthy snack like vegetables and hummus or a large piece of fruit and a handful of nuts. This will help curb your cravings for sugary foods and you will be less tempted to over-indulge.

4.     Don’t Stuff Yourself – eat until you are satisfied but not until you are stuffed. The point of holiday meals is to enjoy time with family and friends. Sit down, relax, and enjoy your food slowly. Savor the meal and the good company without walking away miserably full.


5.     Beware Of Beverages – alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are typically packed with lots of calories and very little nutrients. Drink both in moderation.

6.     Remember, Mistakes Happen! – If you overeat at one meal then simply cut back on your portions at the next meal. But don’t make over-eating a habit.

7.     Scan The Buffet – Before digging into the holiday buffet scan the items available and pick out the healthiest options. Remember, fruits and vegetables should fill at least half your plate.

8.     Trim The Fat – every tablespoon of fat on your meat equals approximately 100 calories ⁽¹⁾

9.     Bring A Dish – want to ensure that there will be something at the holiday party you will enjoy? Bring your own dish to share! By bringing your own dish you can control exactly what you eat while being an excellent party guest.

10.   Have Fun! – Instead of sitting around in front of the television or being the couch potato at a holiday party get up, move around, mingle and talk with other party goers. If you’re at home look for a fun project to do like making wreaths or creating a gingerbread house. 

1. Nelson, Jennifer and Zeratsky, Katherine. Healthy Holiday Eating - Remakes of Favorite Recipes. Mayo Clinic. [Online] December 5, 2012. [Cited: November 29, 2012.] http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-holiday-eating/MY01046/METHOD=print.

 

Making Over the New Year You

With the New Year here, many of us are considering how to make lasting impacts on our waist lines in 2012. A few key changes can add up to noticeable improvements to our health as well as our moods. The determining factor in making those New Year’s resolutions into enduring behavior changes is starting small. Managing our expectations can lead to positive reinforcement when we meet our goals. This is true even when the goals are slight improvements.

Our tendency is to dream big but it is the little steps that make all the difference. Each little step can add up to persistent changes in our daily rituals.

Here are some common New Year’s resolutions according to usa.gov and ways to break them down into manageable little pieces for easier integration into everyday life:

1. Get Fit

- I will park in the farthest parking space and walk to the store from that space.

- I will walk into a restaurant rather than using the drive-thru window.

- I will walk 30 minutes every other day.

2. Lose Weight

- I will lose 1 pound per week for 15 weeks.

- I will replace one high calorie food item per day with a low calorie food item.

- I will replace one sugary beverage with water every day.

3. Eat Healthy Food

- I will eat one healthy food item per day.

- I will replace one unhealthy food item per day with a healthy food choice.

- I will eat one healthy meal one day a week.

Remember to celebrate the small successes you have made at meeting your goals- this will reinforce your new lifestyle. Celebration does not have to mean eating a whole cake by yourself, but perhaps having a small slice of your favorite pie to celebrate losing 5 pounds over 5 weeks or going to see that movie you’ve been wanting to see after running 30 minutes 3 times a week for the past week are a couple good examples.

Commemorating our achievements helps us build momentum to withstand obstacles toward the development of our new habits.

Wishing you health, wealth and success in the 2012!