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How to Eat During the Holiday Season: Tips for Enjoying Yourself Without Impacting your Waistline

By Robert L. Selders, Jr.

With the holiday season approaching, many of us are looking forward to briefly stepping out of the rat race and spending quality time at gatherings with our family and friends.

From the bountifulness of Thanksgiving to the generosity of Christmas to the festiveness of New Year's Eve, a barrage of oven-roasted turkey, honey glazed ham, your grandmother's special stuffing, candied pecan sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, not to mention all the cakes, pies, ice cream, and of course, alcohol, will greet us in never ending supply.

The mere thought of partaking in this endless food fest is enough to make most people put their diets on the shelf until after the New Year. While recent research suggests that the average weight gain is only one to two pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's, the problem is that those one to two pounds are typically not lost when the holidays end. Consequently, it results in a ten to twenty pound weigh gain in ten years.

I know what you're thinking, 'How can I enjoy the holiday season and satisfy my appetite for delectable dishes without the guilt and fear of weight gain'?

I'm glad you asked! Here are tips you can use, without depriving yourself or being terrified of the holiday-weight-gain blues:

  1. Keep your focus: It's important to remember that the holidays aren't about the food. Granted, it's a wonderful perk, but it is not, and should not be your main focal point. Social gatherings, celebrating with friends, and spending time with our families is where we need to concentrate our attentions.
  2. Drop the diet: When severely restricting calorie intake, you may find yourself in a psychological conundrum, one that you are bound to lose. Set your holiday goal as weight maintenance instead of weight loss.
  3. Plan, Plan, Plan: If 'Location, Location, Location' is the war cry of real estate agents, then 'Plan, Plan, Plan' should be your holiday season mantra. Planning meal frequency and content makes you less likely to over-indulge.
  4. Break the fast: Avoid running on the previous day's fumes by making sure to eat a solid breakfast. Kick start your day and then plan for 3 to 4 smaller meals, spaced 2 to 3 waking hours apart.
  5. Slow Down: Before you grab a plate and hit the buffet table or all the goodies in the break room, cruise the entire offering to see what you would truly like to sample instead of just diving in and scoring a little of everything. Also, eat slower. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to send the signal that you've had enough to eat. That could save you from that second helping of mash potatoes or pumpkin pie.
  6. Get the Right Stuff, Avoid the Fluff: Make sure each meal contains a lean protein and a complex carbohydrate food item; avoid processed foods like the plague. This will help you maintain consistent energy levels and keep your body properly fueled throughout the day.
  7. Eat more vegetables: They have low calorie-high fiber content and high consumption of raw, steamed, or stir-fried vegetables provides bulk to your meals and actually tricks your metabolism into staying elevated because your body has to process a large volume of food.
  8. Drink and Be Merry: If you're planning a night of high spirits, make sure to eat before you drink. Also add a little water to the mix to minimize hangovers, a good rule of thumb is one glass of water for every alcoholic beverage.
  9. Stay Fit: In our quest to do it all, we forget to exercise. If there is ever a time to continue our fitness routines, it's during the holidays. Exercising assists in reliving stress and tension and prevents weight gain.
  10. Strategize: if you do end up overeating, don't beat yourself up and don't give up all together. Develop a strategy for getting back on track and addressing potential weight gain. Besides, you needed a New Year's resolution anyway, right?

Healthy holiday eating should not make you feel deprived or detract from the time you spend with loved ones. By planning better and eating more of the right things, you'll have more energy and your metabolism will turn your body into a fat-burning machine. Who knows, you may actually lose weight in the process and end up looking more fit than when the holidays began. Party up!!

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