Healthy Holiday Eating

How do you feel about Healthy Holiday Eating? What will you do during the next two weeks to survive with your health intact?  Well I know that healthy holiday eating is a challenge every year for me.

What is your experience?  My four most challenging days are Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years Day.

Then there are the numerous daily attacks on my discipline with baked goodies and edible gifts.  In fact, it seems like food is everywhere. So, it is just too easy to eat unconsciously.

Since, every mouthful averages 25 calories. Just four mindless mouthfuls a day will equal 100 calories. And if you just give up, at the end of the month you’ve gain a pound.

Put a post stick in your pocket and write down each mouthful you eat.

Watch out for adding calories and have a plan

What are your favorite holiday foods? You know you want them. So make a plan.  If you want sweet potatoes (or garlic mashed), just don’t overload them with every topper (or gravy).

And be mindful of serving sizes. Remember the size of a deck of cards or balled fist is enough for most foods.

Avoid empty calories – alcohol, candy. You add the calories, but your body doesn’t feel full or gain any nutrients.

Eat Before Socializing

I discovered this tip a few years ago by accident:

• Eating a healthy snack and drink water just before leaving for a social event.  I skipped lunch and was famished before a major social event.  I realized if I waited for party food, it would be another hour. So, I ate a serving of oatmeal. This kept me feeling full and I was able to snack and converse with people. Flitting from person to person instead of snack to snack. It was life changing.

• Make food an accessory to the event; focus on engaging your friends. Think about the quality of your interactions, not the quantity. Did you realize that you can easily consume a full day’s calories at a party or holiday meal? And that doesn’t include breakfast or lunch.

Don’t skip meals like I told you I did because that is unhealthy. Make healthy choices during the day and for the entire holiday season.

What are you going to do about your holiday eating? Please comment.

Recommended reading:

9 Ways to Avoid Winter Weight Gain

The Link between comfort food, eating disorder and emotional eating

Here are 9 ways to avoid winter weight gain. Preventing weight gained during the winter is important. Studies have shown that winter weight gain averages 2 lbs,  accumulates over time and is tougher to lose.  If this extra weight accumulates through the years it may be a major contributor to obesity later in life.

1. Increase your protein intake to curb carb cravings in winter. Head off cravings for simple carbs by stocking up on healthier foods. Be very mindful of cravings for comfort food.
2. Stock your refrigerator and cupboards with healthier foods that are high in complex carbs. Healthy eating choices include; fresh fruits and vegetables, dried fruits (without added sugar), whole-grain breads and cereals and healthful, low-sodium soups. Foods that are high fiber, are utilized by the body more slowly, feeling satisfied longer. Eat more broth or vegetable based soups to stay full longer. Foods that contain water, keep you feeling full longer than just drinking water.  So, stock up with healthy foods low in calories and high in water content, fill you up faster.
3. Have snacks in-between meals.  Snacking boosts your metabolism, maintains your energy between meals and keeps your blood sugar steady. Plan several protein, fiber-rich snacks a day; unsweetened applesauce, roasted unsalted nuts and seeds, dried fruits made without sugar, such as raisins or apricots; and whole-grain cereal.
4. Keep a food journal, honestly listing your entire food and beverage intake. Assume most mouthfuls are minimum 25 calories.  Some people keep a list every day; others keep a list for a week, once a month.  Whether you use a PDA, phone app, online tool or paper diary, journaling is effective.
5. Never, ever go to a party hungry. Remember to have fun, see and talk to people. Create a plan to resist excess holiday party and food temptations. Don’t expose yourself to temptation without planning. One successful trick I use is to eat a serving of oatmeal before leaving home.
6. Keep physically activity. Weather may prevent outdoor sports, so plan for indoor activity.  When your time is tight, don’t become obsessive, but do be consistent. Plan on being active daily.  At least 3X weekly spend planned exercise time. Buy a few DVDs for indoor activity, Plan 10-15 minute bursts of activities, Create new exercises patterns, Walk upstairs, mall walking.
7. Avoid empty calories on foods or beverages. Avoid or minimize alcohol.  Alcohol is loaded with empty calories.  Drink a full 8oz. glass of water often.
8. Consider taking Vitamin D supplements to compensate for less sunlight and outdoor time.  Check with your doctor.
9. It is okay to say no.  You do not have to accept every invitation or eat/drink every item offered. Practice if you must, but don’t feel guilty about protecting your health.

The key to avoiding winter weight gain is to be aware and mindful of both your eating and exercising.  Take the pressure off and think about what you eat and how you are active.

Please comment. Share how you prevent winter weight gain with other readers.

Many people find it hard to lose weight. Often, the culprit is a slow metabolism. Metabolism is the process through which your body converts the fuel from your food into energy. This it does by burning calories. There are three components of metabolism: your resting metabolism (BMR), your physical activities, and the digestion of food. A high metabolism means that your body is burning more calories. This is why most experts recommend increasing your metabolism to lose weight. Here are a few things that can help you increase your metabolism.

Improve your diet and eating habits to increase your metabolism

We have all heard about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is especially true if you are trying to raise your metabolism. This is because you have already gone for about 8 to 10 hours without a meal and when you skip breakfast, your body goes into starvation mode and it begins to store excess energy as fat. In fact, this is the reason why you should not skip any meals.

The best way to boost your metabolism is actually to eat about 5-6 small meals throughout the day. This keeps your blood sugar level stable and a consistent supply of energy helps boost your metabolism.

You can also include foods that boost metabolism in your daily diet. Foods rich in protein, essential fatty acids, fibers, and complex carbohydrates increase your resting metabolic rate by as much as 2-3 times. Your body burns more calories in digesting and breaking down these foods than foods containing simple carbohydrates. This is what is known as the thermic effect on metabolism.

Also, make sure to include enough antioxidant vitamins such vitamins B and C as they are necessary for the smooth running of many functions of your body. Finally, the importance of water cannot be emphasized enough. At least 64 ounces of water each day are necessary for the efficiency of your metabolism. Or else, your body gets dehydrated, the temperature of your body drops, and to raise the temperature your body begins to store fat.

Increase your physical activity to increase your metabolism

Aerobics exercise increases your heart rate which in turn boosts your metabolism. As much as you can and, if possible, early in the morning is the best way to include a regular aerobics program into your schedule since it can help in raising your metabolism all throughout the day.

You also need to do weight training or resistance exercises at least 2-3 times a week to boost your metabolism. These exercises help in building muscles. And it is a known fact that muscles burn more calories than fat. So, a regular muscle-building program will raise your basal metabolism and help you burn more calories.

Also simple physical activities such as taking the stairs rather than the lift, taking a walk in the park, or simple stretching exercises can also increase your metabolism. The idea is to become as physically active as possible.

So, if you are having difficulties in losing weight, it’s possible that you are not doing enough to increase your metabolism. So, build muscles to raise your basal metabolism, increase your physical activities to increase the number of calories expended on them, and improve your diet and eating habits to increase the calories expended on the digestion of food. And believe me, you will surely see the difference.

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Health is a balanced result between exercise and proper nutrition from healthy eating. Nutrition refers to the food you take in order to nourish your body and to enable it to function properly.

Eating too much or too little of something will manifest corresponding results in the body and its functions just as eating with a balanced diet will. This is exactly why healthy eating is important. By having healthy eating practices, you choose better food options and regulate your intake amount according to what your body needs.

These seven rules can guide you into starting your healthy eating practices.

Rule 1:  Know thyself Know the state you’re in. Write down everything you ate during the day, how much of it you took and what time you took it. After 2-3 days of journaling, you’ll be able to see the foods that aren’t good for you, which ones you need to cut down on and when your hunger pangs usually come.

• Rule 2: Balancing your plate A balanced diet includes grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, and other protein foods. To be in optimum health, you need to eat more grains, fruits and vegetables. Meats and protein foods have to be taken in moderation because they also contain fats. Fats are not altogether bad but they must be the smallest part of your daily intake. To help you achieve a balance, read the nutrition labels and nutrition facts on your grocery items.
• Rule 3: Moderation is Key Healthy eating requires eating with the right portion sizes. One serving of foods rich in carbohydrates such as rice or pasta is the size of half a baseball. Veggies or fruits are the size of a whole baseball to make one serving. A meat serving should appear like a deck of cards.
• Rule 4:  Understanding calories Considering the calorie content of foods is a challenge. Calories refer to the amount of energy found in what we eat. It’s easy to obsess with the calorie content of foods but difficult to follow the right amount. But to make it do-able, remember to consume the amount of calories that you can burn through your daily activities.
• Rule 5: Avoid Skipping Many dieters fail miserably because they skip meals. Skipping meals make the body and mind weak. It creates cravings that can defy the most sensible diet plans. Eat 5-6 small meals a day than two large ones.
• Rule 6: Hydrate Water adds to the feeling of fullness. At the same time, you can sustain yourself in exercise and other activities by staying hydrated.
• Rule 7: Remember to Enjoy Eating Most people eat for pleasure as well as nutrition. The key is to moderate how much you eat and how often you eat them. You can enjoy your favorite foods in moderation, as long as they are an occasional part of your overall healthy diet.

Healthy eating is all about following strict nutrition philosophy, staying awkwardly thin, or depriving yourself of foods that you love. Healthy eating is about absorbing the right foods into your body and having the energy you need and feeling great about yourself.  For more information on healthy eating, here is the link to a great article at helpguide.org. Click Here to take survey

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