Holiday Food: Enjoy More while Eating Less

Happy Holidays!

Here are 10 ways to maximize your joy at the holiday table while minimizing weight gain:

Be the best conversationalist (i.e., slowest eater) at the table.
Cut your food in smaller pieces.
Use all your senses: Savor the sights, sounds and smells of the season.
Prepare nice responses to food-pushers, so you don’t overeat just to please someone else.
Plan active fun, especially right before or after dinner, when it will help blunt a blood sugar spike. A short walk or game of Twister can make all the difference.
Prioritize. Remember that consuming alcohol and dessert at the same meal pretty much guarantees you’ll gain fat. If that’s not worth it to you, choose only one or the other.
If a big splurge IS worth it to you, then listen to your taste buds and appetite. If you’ve been eating cleaner recently, you’ll notice that you get satisfied much more quickly than you used to.
Have an attitude of gratitude. It’s good for your mental and physical health and has also been shown to make people eat healthier without even trying.
Expect that splurges may blitz your taste buds or stretch your stomach, making it harder to eat right for a few days afterwards, when clean eating tastes bland and under-satisfying. It’s part of the price you pay, but so long as you expect it, it’s not such a big deal.
Focus on the people more than the food. Try to get even more enjoyment out of connecting with others than you can out of the food. See if you can bond with your table-mates and make a memory that lasts longer than the taste of rich foods.

Happiest Holiday wishes to you!!

Jill, Amy, Catherine, Joyce, & Mike

Published by jillbbrook