How can you avoid holiday weight gain?

Celebrate! Parties, dinners, cookie exchanges, buffets, what a fun time of year.  We all want to indulge and enjoy ourselves over the holidays.  How can you be merry, eat and drink this holiday season and not pack on the pounds?  I told my husband that the CommonHealth offered 10 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain.  He responded, “What are they?  Stop eating?”   Well stop eating would work but that is not one of the tips.   Many others, like Brianna Elliott, RD, also offer some tips on avoiding weight gain during the holiday season.  What are some of their tips?   

1. Hydrate – did you know that if you are thirsty, you are becoming dehydrated?   We are so busy this time of year, with shopping, going to parties, going to chorales, plays, and other holiday events that we may forget to stay hydrated.  The goal of 8 glasses of water a day is still a good one.  Keep some water or hot tea in your car as your running errands.  Stop and buy some water or a cup of hot tea when you are out and about.

Hydrate with water

1. Be Realistic this time of year – the few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years are not the time to go on a diet.  Your goal may be to stay the same weight or if you do gain a pound or two, then you can focus on losing this weight in January.
2. Limit the Amount of Alcohol You Drink – so many alcoholic beverages are loaded with calories and these calories can add up.  Enjoy a 12-ounce beer and that is 140 calories.  Enjoy 5-ounces of wine and that is 100 calories.  And if you drink too much you are more likely to eat too much.  Try to limit your alcoholic intake to 1-2 drinks.
3. Watch the buffet – so easy to fill up your plate and then fill up your stomach as you don’t want to “waste any food”.  Check over the buffet before you fill up your plate.  Load up on salads, fruit, raw vegetables and take smaller portions of the other items.  You don’ t have to forgo any food but you don’t have to overindulge in any one item.
4. Get the Exercise in Early – Staying active is a recommendation but no one seems to recommend getting the exercise done early.  At a resort recently, my husband and I got up and headed to the fitness center before breakfast.  One morning he swam and I did weights.  The next morning, he rode a stationary bike and I went to the resort’s spinning class.  Just walking back and forth to the fitness center added a lot of steps to our day because the resort was so huge.  We both could then enjoy our dinner out later in the day as we had packed in the exercise.   So even if you are out of town over the holidays, plan some active time in your day.  When traveling, check out the hotel’s fitness center or what a nearby fitness center has to offer.

Add some exercise to your day

1. Don’t Starve Yourself – some people try to “fast” all day and then splurge on a holiday dinner.  But this can lead to overeating the minute you get to the party or event.  Enjoy a healthy snack before you leave home.  Have some fruit and yogurt, whole grain crackers and cheese.  This way you won’t be so ravenous when you get to the party.
2. It’s OK to “Treat Yourself” to some Holiday Food – you don’t have to put any food “off limits” over the holiday.  How often do you hear, “I ate a cookie and blew my diet?”  Eat the cookie and enjoy every bite.  But it doesn’t mean, eat a dozen cookies at one time.  People who deprive themselves of a treat, often end up overindulging as they have “gone off their diet”.  If there is a super-rich dessert, an item you know is loaded with calories – take some and enjoy it.  But eat a moderate amount.  And you can cut back on some other higher calorie food on the buffet or party table.  
3.  Don’t forget the protein – so many high calorie appetizers and desserts to choose from.  By including protein with each meal, you will fill fuller for longer.  Protein seems to reduce your hunger, reduce your appetite and stays with you longer than other foods.  Choose the turkey, chicken, fish, shrimp, deviled eggs on the buffet line.  (See recipe for deviled eggs at Country Cook.)

Remember the protein

1.  Choose Desserts Wisely and Savor Them  - who would think that is advice from a registered dietitian, but it is?  How can one enjoy the holidays without enjoying some of the great Christmas cookies or other treats?  My grandmother and aunts made Potica – a delightful mix of bread with a filling of walnuts, honey, butter, cream.  Enjoy the holiday treats you have been looking forward to all year.  But you don’t need to sample every one or overindulge in any one treat.
2.  Reduce Calories in Recipes – when baking in our house, we try to find ways to cut the calories but not the taste.  My husband makes a great tasting pumpkin pie.  He buys the crust – no calorie reduction there, but then using fat-free Carnation milk and cuts back on some of the sugar.  His pumpkin pie is delicious but some of the calories are reduced.  When he makes fresh cranberry sauce, he cuts back on the sugar the recipe calls for.  It actually tastes better as the tartness of the cranberries comes through. When I make my sweet potato dish, I use half sugar and a little Stevia.  No one notices the difference.  Experiment with some recipes.  Some of “cutting the calories” doesn’t work as we “cut the taste” too much.  So, we try again.  But you might be pleasantly surprised that you can cut back on some of the sugar or fat in a recipe and no one seems to notice. 

Enjoy the holiday food this season and use some of the above tips to “Treat Yourself” but not add on those unwanted pounds.

Sources:   10 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain, Brianna Elliott, RD, Choose Desserts Wisely and Savor Them ,   Potica, Reduce Calories in Recipes  Image sources:  Water, exercise, deviled eggs