12 Hints to Help You During the Holidays

Okay, so we all know it is going to happen this time of year – those holiday parties! This is where you can eat so much delicious food that it can show up on the scale if you indulge too much and too often.

How can you avoid gaining a lot of weight during the holidays? Here is a list that you may find helpful:

1. Fit in some exercise the day of the party. It can be a walk or a high interval training session or anything in between. Just get up and move!
2. Before arriving at your host’s house, eat a small meal or a snack that is high in protein. You want to avoid being so hungry that all you want to do is inhale the entire food table!
3. Fill up your plate with protein and healthy foods first.
4. Survey the food table and decide what you really want to eat. Try to choose the item(s) that you can only get during this season and take a small portion.
5. If you feel like you need to eat everything on your plate, use a smaller plate.
6. Eat slowly and enjoy each bite.
7. Wait 20 minutes before going back for more food. Doing this will give you a chance to determine if you’re really hungry.
8. Step away from the food table! In the past I’ve told a friend that if she didn’t get me away from the table I was going to eat everything in sight!
9. Which brings me to the next hint – enlist the help of a friend to prevent you from mindless eating.
10. Drink water throughout the party. It will help you feel fuller and keep you hydrated.
11. Keep in mind that those lovely holiday specialty drinks can be packed full of calories and sugar so you may want to limit these. Alcohol can also cause food cravings.
12. If you overdo it, remember that one party won’t derail your progress. Be sure it doesn’t evolve into days of eating poorly though. It is more important what you do in days around the event. Get back to healthy eating and exercise.

So enjoy the parties and be with the people you care about. It’s a special time of year so celebrate! As always, let me know if I can help you with your health journey.