With the Holiday season approaching quickly, the time is now to stop the weight-gain trend and not rely on “your New Year’s resolutions” to start!
With a few helpful tips you can keep the weight off and still enjoy the holiday cheer!
Tuesday and Wednesday I will be posting my top Thanksgiving recipes. Each year I have brought these recipes to my family and friends homes and they have been the hit of the dinners. You don’t have to feel like you are on a diet, you just have to preplan what you are going to make and eat that still tastes amazing but doesn’t give you that bloated tight pants feel!
Chris Kresser the author of the Healthy Skeptic and a doctor in integrative medicine and acupuncture has some wonderful step by step guide to keep that weight off this holiday season!
Some of these recommendations may surprise you if you believe that calories don’t matter and weight gain is not possible as long as you’re eating a nutrient-dense, low-carbohydrate diet. I used to think this was true myself, but after further research and more experience working with people in my clinic, I now know that it is not. If you’re confused about this, please listen to the podcast I linked to above (or read the transcript); it will clear things up.
Eat more simply
One of the biggest reasons people overeat during the holidays is because of the abundance of highly palatable and rewarding food. A food is palatable when it tastes good. A food is rewarding when it makes us want to eat more of it. Palatability and reward usually travel together, but there are exceptions. For example, most people think steak tastes good, but it doesn’t tend to encourage eating beyond satiety.
Choosing foods that are lower on the reward value scale during the holidays is one way of spontaneously reducing your calorie intake. But what makes a food rewarding? There are several factors, including:
- sugar, fat and salt content
- calorie density
- certain textures (fat that melts in mouth, crunchy, soft/easy to chew)
- free glutamate
- starch
- certain aromas
- variety of flavors, textures, foods
- many other flavors can become rewarding when associated with above nutrients
Looking at that list, it’s not hard to see why holiday meals would promote overeating!
With that in mind, here are some tips for eating more simply during the holidays:
- Don’t add additional fat to your food. Skip the gravy and don’t put butter on your mashed potatoes (if you’re making them yourself, use less butter or cream in the first place).
- Don’t add salt or seasonings to your food.
- Reduce the variety of flavors, textures and foods you eat. Choose a main dish and one or two sides and stick with that.
Eat less
This one is easier said than done, right? The best way to accomplish this for most people is to focus on reducing the energy density of the food they consume. Energy density is defined as the number of calories in a given weight of food. A Paleo diet contains foods that are typically low on the energy density scale: animal protein, fruits, vegetables and tubers. A holiday feast contains foods that are typically high on the energy density scale: stuffing, bread, pie, cream, butter, gravy, etc.
Here are a few tips for reducing energy density:
- Add extra vegetables and starchy tubers (without added fat).
- Add extra protein to your meal.
- Chew your food thoroughly. This increases satiety.
- Cook a Paleo holiday meal and minimize energy dense foods typically associated with the holidays.
Move more
Exercise may not be a great strategy for weight loss, but it’s likely that physical inactivity helps prevent an increase in the body fat set point, and studies have consistently shown that exercise prevents weight gain and maintains leptin sensitivity in animals. (3)
In the U.S., at least, holidays tend to be associated with a lot of TV watching, especially amongst sports fans. That means additional time sitting on your butt, which isn’t a particularly good way to burn calories.
So make sure to get plenty of exercise during the holidays. Take long walks after meals, add some extra workouts, stand whenever possible instead of sitting, and reduce your TV time.
In addition to these nutritional strategies, I’d like to mention a few other strategies I believe are important:
- Manage stress. Stress can contribute to weight gain in several different ways, and the holidays are an inherently stressful time for many people. Make sure to set some personal time aside for rest, relaxation and leisure.
- Get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation seems to be common over the holidays. This is problematic because studies have shown that poor sleep can increase appetite and caloric intake. Even a single night of poor sleep has been shown to increase appetite the following day.
- Stay present. Emotional eating is common over the holidays. People tend to spend holidays with their families, and depending on your relationship with your family that can be joyful, aggravating or some combination of both. For some, eating can be a way of numbing the discomfort that arises. If this happens to you, here’s a suggestion. Put your phone on silent/vibrate and set a countdown timer for 20 or 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, check in with yourself and notice how you’re feeling and what you’re doing. Are you eating? If so, are you actually hungry? No judgment; just observation. Then set the timer again.
Break the cycle and enter this New Year feeling the best that you have yet!
What’s your plan for keeping the weight off this holiday season?
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