1) Know the facts: The average Thanksgiving meal contains more calories
than the average American needs in an entire day (for many, it’s almost double
the amount they need in a day), and can contain the amount of fat grams
required for an entire week (source: The American Council on Exercise: 229
grams of fat). The average American gains 7-10 pounds over the entire holiday
season (source: CNN). Don’t be a statistic! Think you are just going for a
family holiday? Nope!! You are going into battle. Be prepared. This is a
mental-emotional battle, so be on guard and remain proactive.
2) Focus on the reason for the season. This holiday, keep the primary
focus on thankfulness, rather than feasting. Think of the food as a periphery
item, a fringe benefit.
3) Enjoy the company. Are you getting together with family and/or
friends? Celebrate relationships, take pleasure in the conversations, play
games, start a new tradition…. just be together.
4) Recognize the food-love connection you have. Does your family have
the same connection? Does you mom show love by preparing tasty, yet high-fat
meals? Understand that food is a substance and love is an emotion- they are
not the same thing.
5) Practice your refusal skills. What will you say to turn Aunt Edna’s
gravy soaked butter biscuits down? What will you say when you are subject to
peer pressure to eat? How will you handle comments like “I worked so hard to
cook this!” and “Is that all you’re going to eat?!” Practice your responses.
If you don’t feel comfortable telling people that you are trying to trim up,
maybe a health-related excuse will be more comfortable. Someone may argue
with “I want to look better,” but who’s going to argue with “I want to reduce
my cholesterol so I don’t have a heart attack.”?
6) If you are helping to prepare the food, chew gum. This will help you
avoid nibbling enough calories to make a meal while you cook. If you are
worried about how something tastes, have someone else (preferably the thinnest
family member) sample it!
7) Remember, it takes the stomach about 15-20 minutes to signal the brain
that it is full. By then, we’ve usually overeaten- especially during the
holidays.
8) Yes, you can gorge yourself like a gluttonous pig, but you don’t want
to! You have the right to eat to your heart’s content- and then some. You
can pile your plate as high as your chin and dig in! You CAN eat until you
make yourself sick. BUT, you don’t WANT to. Remind yourself of this
continuously.
9) Want to taste it all? Then do just that- taste it. Just because you
want to enjoy all of the foods served during your family’s dinner, doesn’t
mean you need a full serving of each dish. Take enough to allow yourself one
or two bites of each item. Serve yourself slightly larger portions for low
fat items and for the turkey. Eat slowly, savoring every bite. Tell yourself
that if you are still hungry 15-20 minutes after you finish what is on your
plate, you can have more- again, in moderation.
10) Don’t skip dessert. If you deprive yourself, you may be setting yourself
up for greater temptation. Have dessert. But, have a small portion. Again,
savor every bite. When you are done, say “That was delicious!” instead of “I
wish I could have more.”
11) Don’t hang out by the food. If you park yourself in front of the hors
d'oeuvres, you just may graze yourself an extra 300- 1000 calories before you
even sit down to dinner. If you must eat before the meal, pick a few low-cal
items, put them on your plate, and move far, far away from the food.
12) Drink water. Make sure you always have a glass of water in your hand.
Your hands and mouth will be occupied and it will help to fill up your stomach
a bit so you don’t overeat.
13) Limit your alcohol consumption. Alcohol provides “empty calories.” They
offer no nutritional value. Think of it in these terms: every drink should
equal a serving of carbohydrates. If you must get drunk in order to handle
your family, make other holiday arrangements! If they must get drunk to
handle you, seek therapy- fast!
14) One day’s worth of indulgence – especially during the holidays- has the
potential to balance out one to two week’s worth of workouts. (Think about
it: 3,500 calories per pound.) Remember all of that sweat? Make sure it was
for a good reason. Think of all of your progress and hard work while you are
serving out your portion sizes onto your plate. What you put into your body
during Thanksgiving just may make the difference of what dress size you will
wear for that Christmas party.
15) Look for more tips online at http://www.SuccessfulFitness.com
Melinda Rice is a fitness consultant and writer based in Northern California.
She manages Successful Fitness (http://www.SuccessfulFitness.com), a personal
training program that incorporates concepts of psychology, nutrition,
wellbeing and fitness into a Lifestyle Transformation plan. You can reach her
at melindarice@comcast.net.
Submitted by:
- Name: Melinda Rice, CPT
- Date: 01/10/06 at 11:32
- Email: contact@successfulfitness.com
- Rem Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
- Rem IP: 24.10.43.216
|
