How To Survive (And Enjoy) The Holiday Season (Part 2)

November 28, 2013

Strategies for the Holidays

In the last blog we talked about how to enjoy indulgences on the season without being hard on yourself and while still keeping on your healthy lifestyle track. But as we talked about, you can’t indulge at every meal. So on those meals where we keep our health goals at the forefront of our mind, other than relying on sheer willpower (which we know isn’t a foolproof plan), what can we do? Check out these simple strategies that you can employ at your next holiday event that leave willpower out of it.

• If you’re headed to someone else's house offer to bring your own appetizer or a dessert! Make it something that you know you can eat without worrying about it, and bring lots! My personal choice is usually a veggie tray with a tzatziki or hummus dip, or a deli tray with slices of good quality meats, and pickled vegetables.
• When you get to wherever you’re going, position yourself in front of the dishes that aren't calorie bombs waiting to explode.  Whatever is within arm's reach is what you'll eat the most of, so opt to sit in front of the fruit tray instead of the sausage rolls!
• If you're having dinner at your place, you have the ultimate sense of control so only serve healthy fare. At my place this year although we'll have one dish with tortilla chips and salsa, most of everything that we're serving will be healthy and : shrimp with cocktail sauce, veggies and dip, hard cheeses (you eat less of hard cheese than soft cheese due to the more pronounced flavour) and nuts
• When opting for nuts, choose pistachios! In 1oz of nuts, usually you can have approximately 20-25 nuts, but when you are eating pistachios, you can have 49 nuts for 1 oz - plus because they are in the shell they take longer to eat 🙂
• Hold on to a glass of water throughout the party. I keep my water glass full for the whole evening and sip it throughout. Because hors d’eourves are often something people mindlessly eat just because they are in front of them, keep your hands full so you are less able to grab snacks without thinking.
• Limit your options. Studies have shown that the less variety of choices you have, the less quantity you'll eat. Think about it, if you have m&m's, chips and crackers and cheese in front of you, likely you'll grab a little bit of one. Then to mix up the flavours you will have a little bit of the others. This may repeat several times. If you only had a tray of crackers and cheese in front of you, you will eventually desensitize to the taste and not eat as much.
• Play the ‘first bite’ game. Quite often (especially in the case of desserts), it’s the first couple of bites that we’re really looking for. Once we experience the flavour, the rest of the dessert isn’t really nearly as tantalizing, but we finish it because it’s in front of us. Instead of ordering your own, split with 2 or 3 other people. Likely, that will be plenty to satisfy your sweet tooth.
• CHOOSE CAREFULLY! As mentioned in the last blog  I think the odd indulgence is important, but pick items that you truly enjoy. It drives me crazy when I see people wolf down giant pieces of cake without breathing and tasting every bite - or when people eat a pile of mashed potatoes just because they are sitting in a bowl in front of them and they feel like they should even though really, they don't think potatoes are all that great. Look at your options and if there is something that you truly enjoy and love - have it - enjoy it - savour every little bite. If you are going to indulge - make it worth it and pick one or two items that you truly love instead of just piling every little thing onto your plate without thinking.

Happy snacking and even happier holidays!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rachel Girardi, MsC graduated with a Masters in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario in 2007. Her philosophy is that fitness, nutrition and lifestyle cannot be looked at in isolation. She combines her love of fitness and good food to help her clients improve their health and the quality of their lives. Her main goal is to figure out how to fit “healthy” into your life while still letting you live it. Read more articles by Rachel!

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