Holiday Eating and Binging
With the holidays approaching, unless you want to look like a stuffed turkey when the new year comes, you need to stay away from the holiday eating and binging cycle. Instead, create a plan on how to navigate the family dinners, work parties, and office “food days”. Here are some basic tips to keep you on your plan.
1. Ask the host what is being served ahead of time. If it isn’t something that fits with your nutrition plan, then offer to bring an alternative – a dish that you can eat without regret. Often times by just explaining what you are doing, and your progress to date, your host will be more than happy to accommodate you.
2. Eat a healthy, small meal before you go to a party. Once you arrive, get a glass of water and sip it throughout the night. Steer clear of alcohol, and don’t linger near the food. Too many times “one bite” or “one drink” turns into a deluge of food and drink. Don’t make this mistake!
3. If you are eating at a party, do a quick walk through of what is available, determine what you should be eating, and put it on your plate just once. Fill up on freshly cut veggies instead of salty or sugary snacks. No return visits to the food tables.
4. Monitor your portion size. It’s easy to over eat so only take a small portion of each food you should be eating, and walk past the other foods, no matter how tempting. Keep your end goal in mind. A few minutes of good tasting food doesn’t last as long as the extra weight on your hips.
5. Take your time eating. It isn’t a race.
6. Decide that if you follow your plan each week, you’ll reward yourself with a gift. Not food – but a real gift. It can be a pair of pants in your new size, a CD or DVD, or anything that you wouldn’t normally buy for yourself.
7. Have an accountability partner. Tell her or him what you are going to do, and ask them to call or text you afterward. Better yet, you should contact them afterward to show you did it!
