By Sharon Truelove
It’s important, to be able to suggest healthy lifestyle habits to our clients and co-workers. The old cliché, “You are what you eat” is true. Being able to share knowledge of healthy eating will add a more holistic approach to your life and practice. With the holidays and celebrating with family and friends usually includes lots of great food, which can lead to extra unwanted poundage. This doesn’t have to be true. Here are some tips for eating healthy during the holidays that we would love for you to share!!!
- Maintain your current weight rather than trying to lose weight during the holidays.
- Make time to exercise. Take a walk. It relieves stress, and helps burn extra calories.
- Don’t skip eating before attending a party. Eat a light snack to curb your appetite.
- Choose what you like best & skip the rest when filling your plate. Always include some healthy fruits and veggies on your plate.
- When you feel satisfied, stop eating. It’s ok to leave some food on your plate.
- Don’t eat too fast.
- Eat small portions.
- Sit while eating.
- Use caution with beverages. Alcohol lessens inhibitions which can contribute to overeating. Even non-alcoholic drinks can have lots of calories.
- Don’t beat yourself up if you overeat at a meal. Go light on the next meal.
- Bring your own healthy dish to a party.
- Learn to substitute healthy and leaner ingredients when cooking rather than fattening ingredients.
TELL US!
Please share your favorite healthy holiday recipe. Wouldn’t it be fun to put together a collection of Favorite Healthy Holiday Recipes!
Bon Appetit!!!!
It is true it is rare for my family to watch their weight during holidays since we make special foods that we do not make year long. For that we tent to over eat. Why not leave some for the next day enjoy it slowly and calmly. Go out for a good walk or play some active games. Maintain the same weight through holiday season is hard but possible. Sadly I do not have a recipe.
Man holidays are hard it is my favorite time to eat the good stuff I normally don’t git the rest of the year for good reason. I have decided to have fun on the actual day and cool it the rest of the time, don’t give up your exercise with all those extra calories floating around it really helps.
Excellent reminders for this time of year. It’s important to eat healthy to boost your immune system. There are a lot of cold and flu bugs going around right now.
This is helpful on how to eat healthy during the holidays but it should be an everyday thing that you eat small portions of food and work out. But i guess in todays society there really isnt anytime to work out much inless your profession requires that kind of thing and there is time to eat healthy but depends on your money and your budget but people do prefer to eat junk and huge portions instead of small.
I never thought about it like that so now I know I can eat what I want but maintain my weight also just have to eat vegetables and fruits good to know.
So hard to watch the caloric intake with such wonder creations like pumpkin pie, but I feel better now that you said I can go lighter on the next meal! Lol thanks Sharon
Holidays are usually a lot of fun, but tend to include way to much food.
Exercise is also very important since most people tend to stay indoors and inactive during the cold months.
I think the biggest key it sticking to a reasonable ammount of your favorite foods.
What often happens is that people get excited by food that is often only served once a year, and tend to overeat multiple dishes that they would not any other time of the year.
I know that I have to eat healthier and I have been working on that here lately but this does give me ideas on what more I can eat.
Great advice….I’ll definitely remember this for the holiday. The food might be great but just don’t go crazy with it
Wow, this is 16 weeks of Weight Watcher lessons wrapped up into one! Great homeostasis advice-ha! Love the following recipe:
HOLiDAY YAMS
6 med yams or sweet potatoes
1/3 C butter
1/3 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 C apple juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice/cinnamin
STREUSEL TOPPING
1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 TBSP butter
1/4 C flour
1/2 C chopped pecans
Mash yams after boiling -beating in other five ingredients. Spread in baking dish. Combine ingredients for streusel and sprinkle over yam mixture. Cover and refrigerate secretly hours or over night.
To bake:
Remove from refrigerator or bring to room temperature(about 2 hrs). Bake covered in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until heated through ( about 15 minutes longer). Serves 8-10.
My “healthy” recipe is zuchini lasagna. You replace the flat noodles with zuchini slices! Thats the only healthy food at the table, aside from salad. Everyone in my household prefers pie over fruit still.
These are great tips to stay healthy during the holiday. I don’t have a healthy recipe but I know how to make cranberry sauce!
1 bag of cranberries chopped
1 orange chopped
1 red delicious apple chopped
1 cup of chopped pecans
1 cup sugar
Mix all together and refrigerate for at least 12 hours
I refuse to NOT eat the foods I love during the holidays, though I can eat less.
you know id have to disagree with this post. i mean know the consequences of your actions, but at the same time do what you feels good. Watching weight to me is probably the most annoying thing a person can tell me. Beauty is what you make it, not what another person thinks. id rather be fat, happy and eat the things i want. oppose to being thin, miserable and eating things i hate or not enjoying enough of what i want. there are alternative recipies for things, but as far as im concerned diet anything is worse than a full flavor of whatever it is. if youre not happy with your body, then make adjustments. if youre happy with your body now, dont change it
This is really true, cause I know for myself during the holidays i eat a lot (Healthy and unhealthy! Thanks for the tips though, i will be using some of these during this holiday season!!
During the holidays I try not to think about my weight and just enjoy the fun and food. I always regret it it couple of weeks, but I just can’t help my self when I see all those goodies!!!
This the only day of the year I eat 3 meals in one day most of the time to busy to eat. This will be different since Walmart decided that everyone is working that day.
Very good advice!! I will be in the gym at least 3 times this weekend! I know it’s too hard to get rid of those bad decisions! I believe in the small plate theory. I always get a small plate and start off with veggies! Good luck everyone and have a Very Happy Thanksgiving!
Spiced Pretzels…1/2 cup of oil, 1 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp. lemon pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix. 1-15 oz bag of pretzels! Mix together all but the pretzels. Put pretzels in ziploc bag. Pour mixture over the pretzels. Toss pretzels back and forth every two hours. Let sit over night! Put in new Baggie! Enjoy! Can I give you a tip? Make sure the Baggie is zipped good!!! 🙂
Holidays are supposed to be happy fun and stress free. If we are worried about what we eat around the holidays then it’s not very happy and fun. The holidays only come around one time a year they are spread out a month to a few months of each other. Enjoy the good food family and friends you have the rest of the year to make healthy choices
A lot of great tips to remember during the holiday.
I have been wanting to really get into experimenting with healthier substitutes for ingredients in my baked good.
Thanks for sharing all the great recipes. Enjoy the holidays & family gatherings (& the good food)!
Well I don’t cook :-/ lol, but it’s good to know how and what to eat on this holiday because there are so many different choices of food and sweets that come your way. I will remember to eat smart.
my favorite holiday food has to be my sweet potato pie, but im to stingy to put my recipe on here cause i dont want nobody else pie to be as good as mine. 🙂 but know that i use french vanilla creamer in my pie…. Having a salad or a small fruit bowl before a big meal is always the best because it helps you digest your food better.
It’s not that hard to keep your weight under control during the holiday season. If you must sample everything then just eat smaller portions of everything.
My family always gives me grief for attempting to remain healthy during the holidays!!
This blog is great for this time of year but the principles can be applied to life and eating habits any time of the year! I grew up with the mind set that you have to clean your plate and you eat what you take. Im glad that it hits on that in this blog. That was a very hard habit to break after I grew up and became an adult.
I totally agree the best way to eat is fruits and veggies and small portions. You do these things along with sum exersize and drink water. You will fill so much better thanks for a great topic!