1. Offer to bring your own healthier alternatives, or help in preparation to ensure that there are a few choices that you can indulge in. Try swapping eggs in dessert recipes with apple sauce, skim milk in mashed potatoes, and use fat free/ low sodium broths in other recipes! If you make a desert for a party, put aside one or two and take the rest to the event and leave it there. There is nothing more tempting than a dozen left over brownies sitting in your house. Here are a bunch of healthier recipe substitution!
http://greatist.com/health/83-healthy-recipe-substitutions
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2. Stand away from the snack table, don’t linger and stand over the snacks like a hawk. If you are going to enjoy appetizers, put them on a plate and sit down. It will allow you to focus on what you’re eating, instead of habitually snacking while standing near the buffet. If you are going to snack on food before the actual meal, try to make it vegetables or fresh shrimp. Filling up on heavy cheese platters, creamy dips and chips will simply add to the unhealthy calories.
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3. Eat normally the day of the feast. If you will be enjoying a festive dinner, still eat a nutritious breakfast and lunch beforehand. It will reduce the craving for overeating, because you will not go to the party already focused on your hunger and be willing to eat anything in sight.
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4. If you are going to drink, chose wine over spiked eggnogs, ciders, hot chocolates and Irish coffees. (Glass of wine: 120-150 calories, 0 grams of fat vs. a cup of spiked eggnog: 400 calories, 13 grams of fat!)
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5. Drink water throughout the holiday season to ensure that the sodium filled foods are not dehydrating you, nor are you eating out of boredom. Also, sometimes it is difficult to tell if you are full directly after eating a meal, try drinking water after you have your first plate and enjoying conversation while your food digests.
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5. Wear snug clothing; big sweaters and leggings mean eating as much as possible until you hit a turkey coma. Try wearing your skinny jeans or a tight blouse so that you stay aware of the impact holiday overeating can have on your body.
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6. Say it with us: MODERATION. Eat the foods you really love and look forward to at parties, but skip on the ones that are easily forgotten like little snack foods. Have that one piece of pie and enjoy it, it won’t kill you, just eat mindfully.
Remember: “It takes 500 calories per day (or 3,500 calories per week) above your normal/maintenance consumption to gain one pound. It is impossible to gain weight from one piece of pie!”
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7. Workout the morning of! We wake up early on holidays and do a workout with our families. We find that getting a good sweat in the morning of a holiday brings us closer together, wakes us up, gets our metabolism going, and keeps our goals in the front of our mind.
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8. In regards to the turkey, encourage it to be roasted and enjoy the white meat without the skin. This will save you 11 grams of saturated fat per 3 oz serving!
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9. Fill half of your plate with vegetables before you reach the other options, so you will be less likely to make your plate 50% turkey and 50% mashed potatoes…which we all love to do!
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10. Write down your goals for after the holidays, in regards to health, so that you stay aware of what you hope to accomplish in 2015! Also, make it a short term goal to simply maintain weight during the holidays, attempting to lose sufficient weight during this season will add stress and most likely lead to binge eating when unhealthy food is available.
In conclusion, you can enjoy yourself this holiday season while taking some simple steps towards making healthier choices. Be sure to have a heart filled with gratitude for the health you have and be truly thankful for it. Take time to taste your food, appreciate the conversations with your friends and family, and stay active, you will thank yourself later!
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Source: http://www.cpmc.org/about/e-health/11-05%20healthy-holidays.html