How to Eat Healthy During the Holidays

The holidays are wonderful for many reasons: family, music, friends and most importantly… FOOD! There’s nothing quite like that Christmas morning Kringle or your aunt’s seven-layer dip that could leave you in a food induced coma for days. As fun as it is to see how much food you can stuff yourself with during the holidays, it’s important to monitor what you’re putting in your body and how it will affect you in the long run.

A popular phrase spoken during the holidays is, “Holiday calories don’t count,” and how I wish it was true, sadly, that phrase is far from reality. We often use celebrations or family gathering as an excuse to eat whatever we want. Now there’s no saying you can’t taste every delicious dish your extended family provides, just do so in moderation! Instead of two pieces of pumpkin pie AND Grandma’s cookies AND eggnog (with a splash of Bailey’s of course), try having a sliver of pie and saving Grandma’s cookies for the next night. Moderation, moderation, moderation!

Now, if you’re anything like my family, when dinner is announced there’s a mad-dash for the holiday delicacies — mashed potatoes, mac ‘n cheese and those soft buttery dinner rolls. This makes it tempting to grab as much as you can, as quickly as possible, before your male relatives practically put an entire ham on their plates. In a perfect world, we’d be able to try every dish provided and still have room for dessert. However, what we all forget to do in the midst of the dinner excitement, is listen to your stomach! While you may want to eat more, most times, you’ll be full before it’s time for seconds. Listening to satiety cues will save you from overeating and packing in way more calories than you really need. 

What most people call appetizers, I like to call dinner number one, due to the obscene amount of cheese, crackers, nuts and a charcuterie board piled higher than a Christmas tree. This is a tricky point in any holiday party, because even if you’re not hungry, the sheer proximity of these appetizers make it scarily easy to eat ten mini meatballs in a matter of minutes. It is almost impossible to avoid appetizers at any holiday event, but what you can do to make sure you don’t stuff yourself before you stuff yourself, is limiting yourself to one plate, napkin, etc. It is completely normal (and encouraged) to enjoy appetizers before a big meal, just put what you want to eat on your plate and keep those wandering fingers away from the cheese board!

Let’s make this clear — holidays are not a time for dieting, weight watching or stressing about calories instead of spending time with your loved ones. It’s not impossible, and actually quite easy to enjoy your holiday favs (cheesy potatoes I’m coming for you), without gaining those dreaded winter lbs. The main star of your holiday festivities is you and all the people you love, not the endless plates of food. All you should focus on is being surrounded by love, laughter and joy! Let’s leave having a round belly and face-stuffing to Santa.

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