Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Turkey Day Eating Survival Tips

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Do you dread the holidays because you fear sabotaging your diet?

Holidays are to enjoy and indulge [a little bit] without going overboard. Everything in moderation, right? If you've made a commitment to eat healthy... then it shouldn't be a big deal at all. Stick with what you know and what you've been practicing as part of your healthy lifestyle and you should cruise right on through the next 6 weeks without any problems at all.
Here are some of my tips and what I try to keep in mind when the holidays are here:

1. Plan ahead.....
     Whether that's eating out or going to a holiday party. You can always check restaurant menus online and some places even post the calorie content of their food online or better yet, you can Google it. Stick with six small meals a day instead of "saving yourself" until the holiday party {then you tend to overeat}.

2. Drink plenty of water
     I always forget to hydrate properly especially when the weather gets cold. Remember to drink water particularly if you're drinking plenty of caffeine and/or alcohol.



3. Choose healthy options
     Offer to bring a healthy dish to a potluck or choose "nutritionally dense" foods such as pumpkin,  turkey and sweet potatoes. They will keep you fuller, longer.

4. Portion control
     Self-explanatory. And slow down when you're eating. Strive for at least 20 minutes since it takes that long for the brain to signal our bodies that it's full. Turn it into a competition --- be the last to finish. Remember the law of diminishing returns --- a  lot of times, I just want to have a "taste" of something to satisfy the "pleasure" portion of my brain. At least I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of anything either.

5. Exercise
     Plan your workouts ahead of time. If you think you're going to indulge, ramp up your workouts to burn extra calories. You can also use "holiday food" as a post workout meal or snack especially when your body is still in that *post workout burn*.
Madonna apparently tried a Zumba class
My workout schedule this week looks like this:

Monday - Body STEP and Core X
Tuesday - Body PUMP and Zumba
Wednesday - Zumba and Body PUMP
Thursday - Rest (maybe an easy 3 mile run/walk)
Friday - RPM and Core X
Saturday - Body STEP 
Sunday - Rest

So true...

Something to read:

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