Holiday Nutrition Tips

The holidays are a wonderful time of celebrating with family, friends, co-workers and community members, often around a table full of food. If you are new to your nutrition journey and being a better you, the sweet and savory treats the holidays promise to bring can seem impossible to resist and a sure way to derail your goals. However, this doesn’t have to be the case! You have control over your nutrition choices both now and through the holiday season.

Our friends and experts at Harvard University offer some great tips to keep you from feeling deprived and discouraged during the holidays and can help you focus on what is important!

1. Budget wisely. Don’t eat everything at feasts and parties. Be choosy and spend calories judiciously on the foods you love.
2. Take 10 before taking seconds. It takes a few minutes for your stomach’s "I’m getting full" signal to get to your brain. After finishing your first helping, take a 10-minute break. Make conversation. Drink some water. Then recheck your appetite. You might realize you are full or want only a small portion of seconds.
3. Distance helps the heart stay healthy. At a party, don’t stand next to the food table. That makes it harder to mindlessly reach for food as you talk. If you know you are prone to recreational eating, pop a mint or a stick of gum so you won’t keep reaching for the chips.
4. Don’t go out with an empty tank. Before setting out for a party, eat something so you don’t arrive famished. Excellent pre-party snacks combine complex carbohydrates with protein and unsaturated fat, like apple slices with peanut butter or a slice of turkey and cheese on whole-wheat pita bread.
5. Make room for veggies. At meals and parties, don’t ignore fruits and vegetables. They make great snacks and even better side or main dishes — unless they’re slathered with creamy sauces or butter.
6. Be buffet savvy. At a buffet, wander ’round the food table before putting anything on your plate. By checking out all of your options, you might be less inclined to pile on items one after another.
7. Don’t shop hungry. Eat before you go shopping so the scent of Cinnabon or caramel corn doesn’t tempt you to gobble treats you don’t need.
8. Pay attention to what really matters. Although food is an integral part of the holidays, put the focus on family and friends, laughter and cheer. If balance and moderation are your usual guides, it’s okay to indulge or overeat once in a while.

You are in control of how you nourish your body. Keep your goals in mind and try to make choices that support them!

Written by co-host Ashleigh Geurin