Holiday Tips and Recipes Part I

A common theme of the holidays is food and feast! For many trying to
maintain a healthy lifestyle, holiday food and drinks actually pose a threat. To  enjoy the holidays without sacrificing your health, try one or more of these:

10 Survival Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating

1. Safeguard your home. There is nothing more important than making sure that your home environment encourages health. This means that you want to avoid temptations and encourage consumption of healthy foods during the holidays.

To achieve a healthy home environment, try these tips:

• Keep a minimal amount of baked goods on hand. (Only bake enough to give away or use for one festivity)
• Keep baked goods or junk food in closed containers out of site.
• Be sure to have plenty of healthy food available.
• Keep healthy snacks visible on the counter so you’re more likely to eat them.

2. Eat your Vegetables! Often during holiday times we forget about the basics of healthy eating. For some reason holiday fruits and vegetables are dressed up with lots of sugar and fat.There’s nothing wrong with including plain old veggies and fruits in your holiday menu!

It’s also important to remember to include vegetables and/or fruit with every meal. Make sure vegetables take up half the room on most of your plate even during the holidays!

3. Tune-up your menu. Look over the menu you traditionally serve. Maybe this is a year to try a new healthy holiday recipe. I wouldn’t do that with the whole meal, but one dish would provide an opportunity to test it out on your family. Also look at your traditional recipes and see if any healthy substitutions might be possible without sacrificing taste.

4. Focus on weight maintenance rather than weight loss. The average person gains between 5 and 10 pounds during the holiday season. NOT gaining extra weight during the season is something to celebrate!

5. Maintain perspective.  Overeating one day won’t make or break your eating plan. Our bodies are made to tolerate times of feast and times of famine. It takes days and days of overeating to gain weight.

If you over-indulge at a holiday meal, don’t worry about it. What you want to avoid is overeating leftovers for a week after the feast! Return to your usual eating plan the next day without guilt.

Holiday Recipe: Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
I get lots of compliments on this recipe, which was passed through the family from my Aunt Donna! They are great to make ahead, if needed.

Enjoy!
– Julie