Healthy Tips for This Holiday Season

Contributed by Joe Bocek, Fitness Director - SPORT FIT Severna Park

Halloween has passed already and before you can say “holiday party” the holiday season (or eating season) will be upon us yet again. Every year the average American experiences some level of weight gain between having a second helping on Thanksgiving and one more glass of wine at their New Year’s Eve party. What makes this even more problematic is that, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, this weight gain stays with many of us for years to come if not forever.

So what can we do to avoid being another statistic in an upcoming Journal entry? Lots! Everything successful usually begins with a good plan. Let’s keep it simple and practical though - if it’s too complicated we probably won’t find ourselves doing it. We will accomplish this objective by sticking to two approaches: eating better and being more active.

There are many things we can do this upcoming holiday season to eat better and still enjoy all that the holidays have to offer. I suggest three major nutritional focuses: smart substitutions, smaller portions, and balanced days. We can be clever with what we eat by substituting when we can: low fat dressing or dip here, a sugar substitute there, and even snacking on some fruits and vegetables instead of those high calorie desserts. You will be amazed at how easy it can be to eat and cook just a little healthier, and it doesn’t even have to taste bad! Combine this tactic with eating smaller portions - even Benjamin Franklin said we should leave the table feeling we could have eaten a little more. Lastly, we balance days when we know we will either attend a party or holiday dinner by wisely eating normal, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. This way, we will have consumed fewer calories throughout the day and be less hungry when we are near all the decadent holiday treats that we love, but that the buttons on our pants hate.

The second part to our plan involves more activity. Now, most people like to put off the exercise until after the holidays, but this year let’s try something different. Even if you feel like you cannot, for whatever reason, commit as well as you would like to your exercise regimen, you can still do something. Raking leaves, taking the stairs at work, a quick walk or jog in the morning, even 30 minutes at the gym will help you so much more than letting your fitness goals get lost in all the busyness of family visits, holiday shopping and entertaining. [A small amount of physical activity here and there goes a long way.] Plus, it’s a great holiday stress reliever!

So this year, amongst all the holiday rituals that we follow, let’s start a new tradition: think healthy.