The holidays are right around the corner and it’s time once again for family, friends, fun, and….yes, food!
Do you feel completely helpless during this time of year because of all the temptations around you? So many great foods, so many treats to choose, so many chocolaty drinks to have? What can you do to limit the damage? Should you worry about this—or should you indulge just for the holiday season?
Well, you might think that you’ll indulge at just one dinner—but then comes another and another and the day can quickly turn into a week of unhealthy eating! If this is the case, then you may have to watch the amount of food you eat to prevent added pounds and the stress on your body.
If you have a few events to attend this year, you may want to pace yourself. To do this, simply limit the serving sizes for each dish you try and only have one plate of food. Try eating more vegetables or salad and more white turkey meat as these are healthier choices if you need more food to satisfy you.
Or if you’re planning on having dinner with family and friends, why not suggest a healthy potluck? That way, if you eat too much, it won’t be such an issue.
Another good suggestion I can offer is to limit the consumption of alcohol over the holidays. Alcohol is just a method of consuming empty calories which are quickly metabolized and stored as fat. You can really pack on the calories from alcohol consumption if you consider beer and spirits contain at least 200-250 calories per serving. Instead, try a glass or two of red wine which contains an average of 175 calories and it’s actually good for you.
Certainly, it’s the desserts that really are the main factor in this discussion. Most people eat way too much of this type of food.
To limit your dessert intake during the holidays, try this.
During dinner fill up on turkey, vegetables, salad, sweet potatoes or turnip so when the desserts are brought out, you may only want to eat one serving. If you wish to try a few desserts, then share each serving with someone. This way you can try a few desserts although you are only really consuming one serving.
Here’s another trick: ask someone else to serve you dessert—they’re actually more likely to put you less than what you’d put for yourself (we have a tendency to over-serve ourselves). It’s also a great time to try healthy dessert recipes—it makes a great hostess gift too!
If you are thoughtful, you can have a rather guilt-free holiday season that you will greatly enjoy without too much compromising!
Happy holidays!
