04 Dec Staying Healthy During the Holidays

The holiday season has officially started! Here’s a Mom’s guide to making it through the holidays:
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Staying Healthy During the Holidays
By Laura Cipullo, RD, CDE, CEDRD, CDN

1. Be the Tupperware Lady– bring Tupperware to family events to pack leftovers or “seconds” and  bring home to eat another time.
   • Rather than overeat on delicious food, plan to use hunger fullness cues. Pack the remainders up for a mini holiday dinner part II.
2. Healthy Cook Book Exchange (rather than cookie exchange)
   • Holidays typically revolve around gifts and food, so why not give a gift about being healthy and moderate? Healthy cookbook ideas are the Mayo Clinic Williams – Sonoma Cookbook and Martha Stewart’s Healthy Quick Cook
3. Favor family over food– make festivities about seeing family and not about eating food.
   • Serve a simple meal and focus on entertainment like music and or trivial pursuit.
4. Stretch your dollar, save your waist – Use Intuitive Eating to portion your restaurant meal.
   • Be economical and bring leftovers home to eat at the next day’s snack or meal.
5. Eat your favorite food– skip the appetizers and save room for dinner.
   • If dessert is your favorite, don’t fill up on apps and entrees. Make sure you are still hungry for your chocolate cake!!
6. Secure a snack– before leaving make sure you are not starving, eat a snack to prevent overeating at the party.
   • Restriction cause binging, don’t restrict the day of a special event. You are likely to overeat or even binge later that night.
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7. Wine, beer and liquor on a full belly. If you drink on an empty stomach you are more likely to make poor decisions and overeat.
   • Take your sip of wine with your entrée. If you drink on an empty stomach you will not be mindful of your internal or external cues.
   • Most importantly, don’t drink and drive.