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DANSVILLE, NY — Most everyone is familiar with those (hopefully) few pounds that find their way onto our frames between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. The good news is that it is not inevitable, and is actually avoidable.
The following tips offered by registered dieticians Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, and Julie Redfern, manager of the Nutrition Consult Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, can help you navigate the holiday smorgasbord without incurring too much damage.
First, have a plan.
Before you leave the house, take some time to decide what you will eat and how much.
You may want to fill your plate once from the buffet, including half veggies, one fourth protein and one fourth carbs. Resolve to not go back for seconds.
Eat before you go.
This may seem counterintuitive, but it works. Have a small snack of a high-protein food one half hour before the party. Then you don’t arrive starving and ready to eat the entire buffet by yourself. An ounce of cheese or small container of yogurt is all you need to buffer your appetite.
Think “pick and choose,” not “sample.”
If there is one dessert at this function that you cannot live without, go ahead and have it. But before you do, decide that this is your one choice, rather than trying several different offerings throughout the party.
Remember, alcohol is loaded with calories.
Start off your evening with sparkling water with lemon. Then have a wine spritzer you make yourself with 1/3 wine and 2/3 seltzer. Alcohol can lessen your resolve to watch what you’re eating, so try not to fall into that trap.
Or, to make the evening a no-brainer, you could offer to be the designated driver for you group.
Enlist the waiter’s help.
If the party is in a restaurant, order a salad or vegetable (not deep-fried, please) as an appetizer. Ask the wait staff to delay your entrée until you have finished. At that point, you may be full enough that half your entrée will satisfy you, and you can take the rest home for another meal.
Take control as hostess.
If you are hosting a function, you get to choose the menu. Do yourself and your party-goers a huge favor by offering lighter fare. Start with a broth-based soup that is full of veggies.
Serve the meal at the table rather than a buffet, where it is too tempting to return time after time. Consider several vegetable dishes so your guests have a variety to choose from, and will be more likely to eat them.
Keep moving.
This seems to be the hardest time of year to keep up with a workout routine. But it may be the most important time to do exactly that.
Exercise helps relieve stress, and every bit of that helps. If you can’t fit in your full workout, at least squeeze a ten minute walk in. If you’re at the mall, walk at a brisk pace for ten minutes before you start your shopping. Make several trips back to your car to dump packages, even if you think you don’t need to.
Defend your resolve.
There are always those well-meaning people who try to push food onto others. “It’s my signature dish! You have to try it!” or “Just one bite won’t matter!” The best strategy in dealing with this is something like this: “It looks delicious, but I am just too full. I would love to take some home with me, though.”
You may need to repeat this a few times, but eventually it will work. And once you’re home, it’s up to you whether you eat it or not.
Hopefully, you can use some of these pointers to keep you at the same weight after January 1 that you were pre-Thanksgiving. Good luck!
