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It starts on Halloween and doesn’t stop until New Years…the demise of our healthy diet and lifestyle. Every year we go into the holidays with good intentions and come out with an extra 5-10 pounds and some serious doubts to whether or not we will ever get the weight off and keep it off.

You should start with this question…are you willing to give a little here and there and show a bit of self-restraint this holiday season in order to keep from ending up with belly that resembles Santa? If your attitude is to go hog wild and just “diet” come the New Year, well, good luck with that. However, if you want to get through this season with as little damage as possible, while still enjoying the holidays, then start with these 5 easy strategies:

1) PLAN! Get a calendar and write in all parties and events immediately as you are informed of them. Also write in planned shopping days or family functions…down to your kids sport or music practices and programs. Now, pencil in 5 times each week where you can do some form of exercise. Yes, I said 5 (3 at the least). So if you know you have a party on a certain evening, plan to exercise that morning before work or walk at lunch instead. When you don’t plan your workouts the busy season will get the best of you and exercise will be the first thing you cut out. Remember, all this exercise is THE KEY to burning off the excess fat and calories you will most certainly be taking in. Just think about how many extra candy dishes, baked goods, food gifts, etc. that float around this time of year.

2) Clean House! If you have a party get ride of the non-healthy foods ASAP! Throw out ALL the seasonal treats, chips, cheese balls, sweets or other high calorie and high fat foods right after the party (or simply send EVERYTHING home with your guests). That’s right, throw them out! If the “bad” food is not sitting in your kitchen you won’t be tempted to eat it!
3) Don’t go to that party hungry! Have a half of a turkey sandwich, spoon full of natural peanut butter, handful of nuts or a piece of fruit before that party, especially the parties that start late in the evening. If you go to a party starving you will most certainly overindulge on food and drink, not so good for the ol’waistline.

4) Don’t stuff yourself! If you are at a holiday dinner and don’t want to overindulge I have a fool proof way of keeping yourself from overeating. (oh, and by the way, there is NO rule that says you have to eat everything on your plate.) Discretely shake lots of salt all over your food when you find yourself starting to feel the slightest bit full. It will appear you are still joining in on the fun, socializing with plate in hand, but that little trick will keep you from continuing to eat when you are already full and satisfied.

5) Choose Wisely. Look, I’m not about to tell you to skip all of your favorite holiday foods. What I will say is portion control! Have a little of your favorites but NOT a lot. Fill up on the turkey (breast only, no skin), watch those casseroles and lean heavier on vegetables that are au natural, watch the high fat sauces and gravies, limit alcohol and drink lots of water!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 4:01 pm and is filed under health, health food, Exercise, healthy, healthy food, Blogroll, healthy eating, healthy solutions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.