“I can’t believe I ate the WHOLE THING!” Eating During the Holidays

by Nov 2, 2016

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eating holidays
“Food, food, glorious food.” This phrase comes to mind every time the holidays roll around.

Eating during the holidays brings some serious challenges! You’ve got turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, casseroles galore. And that’s not even the best part! Desserts: Pumpkin pie, apple pie, popcorn balls, fruit cake, sugar cookies, and more.

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It’s enough yummy goodness to make your head spin! No wonder our convictions to eat healthy fail. The temptations are tremendous!

So we have two options when eating during the holidays, right? Stay strict and deprive ourselves or give up before even trying.

What happens if we stand our ground? We either eventually give up and gorge until we’re sick; or we exist through a very depressing holiday season.

And what happens if we give up before we even start? We gorge anyway, because we’ve already given up, so why not enjoy ourselves while we can?

But these are not our only two options!

There are so many things we can do to still eat healthy and enjoy ourselves! Let us just put this out there. Eating any and/or all of the holiday foods we’ve mentioned isn’t going to kill us. Heck, most of us are not even going to get fat by eating these foods for a limited time.

But what can we do to handle all of these holiday temptations? Here are some tips on how eating during the holidays can be done without the Guilt:

When Eating During the Holidays, Control the Amount of Food You Eat

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What gets us every time is the amount we eat. We are unrealistic with our portion sizes and are guilty of lying to ourselves about how much we are really eating.

In general, humans don’t need as much food as we think in order to live. We really don’t. Obviously, those who are quite a bit more active than the “average Joe” need a little more, but we’re just going to make a wild assumption and assume we aren’t all Olympic athletes.

Listen to What Your Body is Telling You

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The key is learning how is to listen to our bodies. Learn what hunger feels like. Learn what full feels like.

Many times, we mistake hunger for thirst. So, when in doubt, drink some water first. When we are hungry, we need to eat slowly. Our bodies take at least twenty minutes to digest the food it’s ingesting. Chances are, the faster we eat, the more food we can eat before we’ve even realized we’ve made a huge mistake and “can’t believe we ate the WHOLE thing.”

So, slowing down helps a lot! A fun activity could be to eat your meals with chopsticks! This way, you will feel full before you eat a lot of food.

Don’t be Afraid to Waste

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Yes, you heard me right!

In our society, many grew up on the belief that we have to eat everything we’ve dished up. “Waste not, want not!” we were told. But guess what? We don’t! Refrigerators and Tupperware were invented for a reason. We don’t have to waste it, just save it for later- and actually eat it later. Sorry, but learning to like leftovers is good for us AND our wallet.

Honestly, even if you don’t eat it later: most holiday food is made of ingredients that have no nutritional value and are loaded with fat and sugar. The food itself is waste – and either it will waste on your waist or waste in the trashcan. I prefer the food to waste in the trashcan!

Eating During the Holidays: Practice Moderation

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“All things in moderation” is a nice little idea we can and should live by. When eating during the holiday season, don’t eat dessert every day (maybe just some on the weekends or only at holiday parties/gatherings).

We can also modify some of our traditional recipes for a more healthy alternative (swap out vegetable oil with coconut oil?) Or utilize the Internet for good and find healthier versions of our favorite recipes.

We can also be smart. Want the apple AND pumpkin pie? Instead of having TWO whole slices, opt for half of each, thus making ONE whole slice, with both options.

There are so many ways we can still be healthy this holiday season AND still enjoy ourselves. We’ve mentioned a few things we can do like watching portions sizes and eating our favorites in moderation, but there is so many more. If you have any other ideas, please comment below and SHARE!

And…don’t forget the gym and personal training! You won’t feel so guilty if you’re keeping up the exercise! Find out more here!

Happy Holidays!

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