How do you cope with Holiday Seasons? Whether it is a long weekend, or a few weeks’ holiday, breaks from your normal routine can spell disaster for your healthy eating and exercise regime. How do you resist the temptation of the sweet goodness, cocktails, and endless days of entertaining with friends? Well there are a few important things that you need to be considering so that you can have a
holiday and keep your body intact! Far too many people indulge just a little too hard at this time and end up suffering strong repercussions because of it.
This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the holiday, however. There are plenty of ways that you can satisfy your cravings for holiday food and maintain your diet.
Let’s go over a few things that you should consider.
Swap Your Mother’s Recipes For Healthier Ones
The very first quick tip to remember this holiday season is to consider swapping out your mother’s recipes for healthier alternatives.
For example, rather than preparing mashed potatoes with loads of butter, consider mashed sweet potatoes made with a little chicken broth. It’ll be far lower in calories and fats and actually support a healthy body.
Likewise, rather than making your stuffing inside the turkey where all the fat can be absorbed by the bread, prepare a quinoa stuffing with fresh vegetables separately. This will provide wholesome carbohydrates that will encourage a lean body composition.
Chocalates and alcohol can also have alternatives that can reduce unnecessary calorie intake.
Remember that little alterations to your recipes will add up in a major way over the course of the meal, so don’t overlook this.
Watch Your Portion Sizes
Second, also make sure that you are watching your portion sizes. Keep your serving size realistic, remembering that if anything, you should take less than you normally would because there are so many dishes being served.
It is the calories that you consume, at the end of the day that determines whether or not you gain body fat, so serving sizes play a key part in your weight maintenance.
Use a smaller than normal serving size if you know it is a higher calorie item that you’re eating.
Treat Yourself Once Per Week
The next quick tip to remember over the holidays is to allow yourself to indulge once per week. If you restrict yourself entirely, it’s going to come back to haunt you, likely in the form of an all-out binge.
Instead, eat healthy 90% of the time and allow for some ‘fun’ 10% of the time. Choose what it is you’re really craving and then give in and enjoy it. If you do this once per week, it really won’t have that large of an impact on your overall goals.
Limit Alcohol
Finally, make sure that you keep tabs on how much alcohol you’re drinking. Alcohol will provide empty calories to the body that will only increase your chances of fat gain, so for best results, keep alcohol to a minimum. You can’t have both alcohol and sweets at once and expect to maintain your weight, so if you are going to indulge in your diet, you should not be serving up alcoholic beverages at the same time. Also keep in mind that alcohol reduces your inhibitions, so when you are drinking, you tend to nibble on unhealthy snacks. It is easy to lose track of how much you are eating the more you drink. And over drinking often leads to the “munchies” where only unhealthy snacks are consumed – more unnecessary calories!
So keep these quick tips in mind when the holiday season hits and you can walk back to work with your great looking body in place.
What is your biggest temptation during the holidays?
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