I don't know about you, but I enjoy baking sweets during the holiday. It is like you give yourself permission to indulge and eat as much as you want. Well, not this year for me. I am trying to lose weight and lower my blood sugar. So, regardless or the reason, what can you do to enjoy the holidays without gaining that extra 5 to 10 pounds? Here are some tips:
Plan ahead: Plan what you are going to eat. If you want a cookie or a piece of pie, you can have it. Plan to eat it and plan to stop after you eat one piece. You don't have to be miserable and feel like you are missing out. You can also eat a smaller piece if you want to save the calories for something else.
Remind yourself that it is just food. There is plenty and eating a huge amount won't make you any happier. In fact, you may feel pretty bad after doing that. Is the 200 calories worth it? It only takes a couple of minutes to eat something, so imagine that you didn't eat it. Plan exactly what you want to eat, after taking a look at what there is, and make sure that the calories are worth the 5 seconds to eat it. Sometimes just smelling something is enough. If not, try chewing a bite, and then go spit it out in the toilet so you don't have to worry about the calories. Think of your favorite exercise and figure out how long you would have to exercise to burn off the calories for that item.
Drink a glass of water before you start on the sweets or other high calorie foods. If you stomach is part way full, you have less room to add to it. Try to stay away from the sugary drinks, or set a limit on how much you will drink and enjoy it.
Share or freeze leftovers when you cook something. It is so fun to make Christmas treats and share with friends. You get to taste a little bit and you get to share the rest. This will help you to avoid eating too many.
Eat your veggies first. Be nice to your body and give it some good food before starting on the high calorie choices. Besides helping to fill your stomach so you can't eat too much of the rich foods, eating your veggies first will give you some good fiber and nutrients as well.
Pick and choose: don't feel like you have to try everything in the buffet. Try the things that will give you the most pleasure and skip the others.
Don't hang out by the food table. If you distance yourself, it will be harder to get seconds, thirds, and so on.
Don't skip meals. Treat the holidays like you would any other regular day. Don't fast all day and then totally indulge. If you skip meals, you are so hungry that you will eat more than you need to .
If you are invited to a potluck, take a healthy dish that you can eat. This way, there is always something available that you will like and is healthy for you. Be wise. Someone we know ate really healthy for a while and then totally splurged at the last holiday. They felt horrible and sick and wish they hadn't eaten so much.
Enjoy your food, just enjoy less of it. Food is to bring pleasure and joy. Try to have a good relationship with food and it will help you to navigate the holidays in a better way.
Happy Holidays!
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