Holiday Eating Do’s and Don’ts

With Thanksgiving just 4 days away and the holiday season around the corner I know how hard it is to resist all the celebrative eating and drinking (and the weight gain that comes with it) so I put together an awesome guide to eating during the holidays.

 

 

You DON’T have to totally deprive yourself during the holidays but you DO have to have some willpower to say no!

 

DON’T try to convince yourself that you’re going to eat less after the holiday event therefore it’s ok to eat what you want during the event. You will not have as much motivation to diet once the event has passed.

 

DO eat less for the 3-5 days leading up to the event. When the event takes place, you’ll look and feel better than you originally expected and you will feel less guilty when you enjoy yourself at the celebration.

 

DO dress sexy. Wear something tight, do your hair up, put on your highest heels etc. This way you will feel less likely to indulge in a huge dinner.

 

DON”T drink wine or beer. Go for hard alcohol if you must have something. Why? Because you can nurse a hard drink all night, but with wine and beer there’s a higher chance you will want another.

 

DO position yourself as far away from the appetizer table as possible.

 

DON’T sit in front of the TV. What’s on TV this thanksgiving? An awesome football game. What’s in front of the TV? Most likely a table with snacks. If you really want to watch the game then do it standing up.

 

DO bring your own dish to the occasion. Nobody has to know that it’s healthy or low calorie but at least you’ll know how many calories it has and you will have something to snack on.

 

DO send people home with food if you are hosting a party.

 

DO sit at the table as far from the unhealthy food options as possible. If you have to keep standing up, putting your drink down and reaching across Aunt Margaret to grab a piece of bread you’re not going to have as many pieces as if it was right in front of you.

 

Stick to these guidelines and I promise you will keep the weight off while everyone around you gains another 4-8 pounds!

 

And if you want to actually LOSE weight during the holidays, like many of my personal bootcamp clients are, then stay tuned for a special offer from Indiana Pit!

 

 

Committed to your health and fitness,

Terry & Carrie

Calories and Healthy Eating

There's not a day that goes by where someone doesn't come to me asking for diet advice confused as to why they're NOT losing weight even though they don't eat "a lot"...and even if they're eating "healthy". The truth is that while "quanity" does matter, it's possible to still overconsume calories if choosing the wrong foods.

Some foods, even though they're considered very healthy, carry loads of calories in a very small amount of food. We call these calorically dense foods and if your diet is comprised of a bunch of them, you can easily gain weight even without eating "a lot" of food.

Here are some "healthy" examples of calorically dense foods:

1. Granola - granola, especially the varieties mixed with nuts can pack as many as 500 cals per cup!
2. Pasta - a moderate 1 and 1/2 cups of most pastas yield more than 60 grams of carbs and almost 350 calories
3. Avocado - avocado is awesome and a great source of monounsaturated fat, but one single avocado is over 300 calories and 30 grams of fat
4. Nuts and Nut Butters - nuts are super healthy, but one of the most calorically dense foods around. A few ounces could mean 400+ calories
5. Fruit Juice and Smoothies - all fruit juices are loaded with sugar and so are most "smoothie" shop smoothies (make your own with whole fruit)
6. Dried Fruit - dried fruits remove the water content which dramatically decreases volume...what's left is high in sugar and very calorically dense
7. "Whole Wheat" Breads - even the 100% whole wheat variety can pack a mean calorie punch if you're eating a lot of grains as part of your diet
8. Whole Grain Bagels - a large "deli" bagel is loaded with carbs and calories, many times over 400 cals in a single bagel

While some of the foods above are only "thought" to be healthy (fruit juice, whole grain bagels, etc), stuff like nuts, nut butters, and avocado are foods that I'd recommend in just about everyone's diet and they are indeed great choices.

That said, these calorically dense foods require that you monitor your intake of them closely. A few ounces of nuts, a couple tablespoons of nut butter, and an avocado is NOT a lot of food, but if you ate all of these every day, you'd be getting close to 1000 calories just right there.