The holidays are right around the corner, and that means LOTS and LOTS of food! You can still indulge and not get off track from your healthy eating journey. I like to tell my clients that you don’t have to give up your favorite foods, it is just better in moderation. I am a very big on portion control and anyone I have worked with will tell you I do not want you to starve yourself or give up any of your favorite food, weight loss and getting healthy shouldn’t be an uncomfortable tedious task. You should enjoy your journey that way you will stick with the lifestyle. So go ahead and have that sliver of pie, or that half of an extra roll. But don’t over eat just because it’s there, or have a midnight snack because you can’t sleep. Below I have listed five points to help you through these holidays to stay on track.
- Cook your favorite dishes a little differently: Bake your food instead of fried, don’t use as much sugar in those sweet potatoes. Find a healthier alternative for that fatty butter, and don’t use so much salt.
- Fill your plate but with more low calorie foods: Instead of that mountain of mashed potatoes or stuffing fill your plate with more vegetables and salad. Fill the rest of your plate with SMALL portions of the fattier carbs.
- Don’t wait until the big awaited dinner to eat: So many people don’t eat anything all day on thanksgiving in anticipation of a big dinner of all of your favorite food. But small portions through the day will keep you from over eating at dinner and won’t expand your stomach so much that you are starving a couple hours later.
- Work out before eating that big meal: Working out can help curb your appetite a bit. Make sure it is a high cardio activity to help burn off some extra fat and you won’t feel too guilty if you do eat seconds.
- Stay away from the dessert at dinner, eat it for breakfast: I know I know it sounds crazy but if you eat that piece of pie or cake for breakfast you have the whole rest of the day to burn it off.
I want to wish everyone safe and happy holidays and stay tuned for our upcoming events such as my personal training sessions coming to a location near you.