The Holiday season is here, and healthy eating is definitely under fire every time you go to a family gathering or stop in at a local restaurant. Every day of the holiday season, you’ll be confronted with sweets in the workplace, rich high-fat dinners at the relatives, and gifts containing every kind of imaginable indulgence. When you’re trying to stay healthy and keep the holiday 20 off, you have to maintain a constant state of vigilance. Thankfully denial isn’t the only way to avoid gaining weight or blowing your diet during the holidays.
It’s All About Choices
The most tantalizing thing about the holiday season is you have an absolute abundance of choice as to the kinds of foods you can indulge in. Obviously, this can also be something of a challenge as well! So how do you manage your healthy diet while being surrounded by so many tantalizingly bad options? The answer is to indulge. Don’t be picking up a whole pumpkin pie and a fork just yet, though (we understand the temptation). Indulgence doesn’t mean overdoing it. What indulgence means is “try small amounts of everything.” You have a positive parade of tastes and textures that will be passing by you. If you want to have some, do, but have a small portion.
Don’t Rush Through Your Meal
There’s a real risk of seriously overeating when you have all the world’s abundance in front of you. Remember that there’s always such a thing as seconds. Take advantage of this by serving yourself a small portion of that dinner, take time to enjoy it, and then spend 10 minutes after your plate’s clean. During those 10 minutes, you can drink water and wait for your brain to get the message that your stomach’s full. Still hungry and have room for more after 10 minutes? Take another small portion and wash-rinse-repeat. You might have a surprise and see that you don’t eat as much in two servings combined as you would have eaten in one heaping plate.
Hit That Veggie Plate
One thing that has a habit of making appearances at any holiday feast is the vegetable tray. On these delectable plates can be found a selection of crunchy, leafy, and otherwise satisfying vegetables that will aid you in taking the bite out of your hunger and ensure that you aren’t gorging on high-fat foods. Take it easy on the Ranch Dip that tends to come along with it, and you’ll be satisfying your hunger without overstuffing yourself.
Staying healthy during the feast season can be a serious struggle. We have an abundance of information for patients seeking a way to get through the holiday without wrecking their diets or their waistlines. Reach out to us at Capital Women’s Care Rockville today and schedule an appointment with Dr. Judith Gurdian or another member of our team. Through the holiday season and the rest of the year, we’re dedicated to providing a broad spectrum of women’s health care services for patients in and around the Rockville, MD area. Call today for an appointment!
