Tonight, I went over to a family friend's house, like I do every year, and knew I could expect some delicious food for Christmas Eve. But how do you eat right during the holidays? I came back with a few ideas to keep you eating healthy! On my 45 minute drive, I made a vow to myself that I would only TRY ONE snack that I really wanted. Okay so I ended up trying two snacks, but my favorite was cream cheese with warm chili sauce on top dipped with a wheat thin. I only allowed myself one bite. I like to eat a lot when I want to try everything, but I realize in order to taste something you really only need one bite of it to be satisfied (at least it's that way for me). This could be a really good and quick appetizer if you just take reduced fat or fat free cream cheese, chili sauce, and fat free wheat thin crackers. That way you could probably have more than just one bite, but still want to stay under control. Most of the time I eat so many appetizers and by the time it gets to the actual meal, I'm not even hungry anymore. I eat it anyway because it tastes good.
MY HINTS:
1. Cut back on the snacks beforehand! Choose one snack that you REALLY want and only take a couple bites. Remember, you want to save room for the main course. If there's a veggie plate or a fruit plate....go nuts! Have as much as you want.
2. Fill half your plate up with vegetables and eat the veggies first! If you eat the vegetables first, you are more likely to fill up on the healthy stuff. Tonight, for the main course I filled half my plate up with vegetables: asparagus, brussel sprouts, green beans, and raw bell peppers.
3. Portion your protein! I had about 4 oz of honey backed ham (Try not to overload on the ham because it is pretty salty).
4. Choose one starch! I had my choice of either a roll, potatoes, or enchiladas. I really wanted both the potatoes and the enchiladas, so I put about 2 regular spoonfuls of the potatoes and 1 spoonful of the enchiladas.
5. The dreaded dessert! Try and find a piece of fruit to eat with your dessert if available. I would eat the fruit first and only have a few bites of the ONE dessert you choose. Don't have cookies and cake...choose a few cookies OR a sliver of cake. There wasn't any fruit tonight, so I allowed myself a sliver of a lemon bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes (they have the best bundt cakes on this planet!) It was definitely hard only having a sliver, but since I really wanted it, my motto is to never deprive, but instead portion it out. I also had a cup of coffee during dessert so when everyone else was still eating their sweets, I was able to enjoy my coffee instead of just watching everyone eat.
Eating is a very social thing. It takes a lot of will power to realize that food is food. I have learned that I'd rather eat healthy than look back on my night and regret what I ate. Is it worth the few minutes of enjoying a fattening slice of cake or mounds of potatoes and ham? That moment comes and goes, but the time I spend kicking myself in the butt will last a lot longer than 3 minutes. The time to lose those extra few pounds could be completely prevented if I had eaten healthy during the holidays. Those are my words of wisdom. This is not something I can teach to anyone, but something you're going to have to self discover. It may take a lot of weight gains and losses to come to this conclusion. I've been on a diet since I was 13 years old, so I KNOW how hard this can be. It has taken me 8 years to have this Aha moment. We shall see if I can tackle the big, official Christmas feast tomorrow! I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!
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