three simple strategies to have your cake & eat it during the holiday season

Making it through the holiday season without gaining any weight — sound too good to be true? Read on for three simple strategies that will help you through the pitfalls of the season.

Extra calories and rich foods are consumed partly due to extrenal cues, advertising, social pressures, habit, and partly in response to deep-rooted internal signal or cues.

#1 - Eat!

A substantial low-fat breakfast and large healthy lunch will help you detour around desks topped with chocolates, grocery aisles full of holiday cookies, and all of those treats in the malls.

Stay charged all day with healthy snacks to avoid the low-blood-sugar blues. When we get too hungry, we tend to make poor food choices or over eat.

snack on something before heading out to parties to avoid fat-laden appetizers, cheese, and nuts which take up precious calories you would rather spend elswhere.

Survey the entire buffet and choose one enticing selection, typically something you don’t usually eat or a friend’s delicious new recipe, then fill up on low-fat vegetables, grains, and fruits.

Shift the focus of your meals from meats to holiday side dishes and serve an extensive array of healthful dishes based on legumes, pasta, rice, vegetables, and fruits. Speciawl foods, such as wild rice, porcini mushrooms, passion fruits, and homemade pasta, make it holiday flare.

#2 treat!

An occaional eggnot or punch is fine but in small cups, not mugs. Alcoholic beverages have empty calories, usually stored as fat; dilute your drink with ice or seltzer.

Choose your treats carefully and just take a small bite, but not too many small bites! People don’t realize that a lot of little bites add up. A bit of pasta here, a pinch of cheese, a slice of bread, a spponful of dessert - before you know it, you ‘ve eaten two dinners’ worth of calories at a party.

Avoid buying high-fat or sugary holiday snacks “just to have around for company”. Don’t worry - your guests will find plenty of bonbons elsewhere - you can offer them a new change.

#3 move your feet!

Remember, exercise is NOT a walk at the mall. Keep your regular routine and find functional exercise, e.g., using a snow shovel instead of a snow blower, raking leaves, parking further away from the store, taking the stairs, etc.

Reward yourself with vibrant health, not another Christams cookie. Once you internalize the basics of an enjoyable holiday eating plan and get in tune with food cues, devise your own tips and tricks - share them with everyone you love.

This article is shared from a foodandhealth.com free handout. It was written by Susan Asanovic, RD.