Your Guide to Healthy Holiday Eating

Halloween marks the official beginning of big splurge season. The next 12 weeks leading up to Superbowl Sunday are filled with holidays and celebrations that all involve lots of food as well as many added demands on your time that can cut into your exercise, sleep and regular meal routines --- a perfect trifecta for weight gain. If you don’t want to end this season two sizes larger than you start it, now is the time to equip yourself with some new text messages designed to spare you that one gift you can’t give back, added weight.

How do you celebrate the season? Let me count the ways. First, there’s the gag-gift gathering with your co-workers, followed by the end-of-term revelry with classmates, then the best buds bash before heading home for the family feast. And just when you think it’s over, the clock strikes twelve and the last toast of the year is hoisted in preparation for the food and drink orgy disguised as a football game.

There is no way to avoid these events unless you are going into solitary confinement, so you may as well plan to enjoy them, but with discretion. One’s degree of discretion is directly proportional to the number of alcoholic beverages consumed. Having the first drink on an empty stomach accelerates indiscretion. That, in turn, usually leads to the second drink. The impact of the excess alcohol consumed by that point will then be reflected in the indiscretion displayed at the buffet table.

Moral of story: Alcohol fuels indiscretion which fuels overeating.

Another sign of indiscretion is judging the foods you eat by their size. There are many who feel hors d'oeuvres are innocent little morsels of food, but when eaten without discretion, those tidbits nibbled off the end of toothpicks can make your clothes tighter by morning. To be sure, if you placed all those “morsels” on a plate, they’d fill it, so to help keep track, hold on to the toothpicks. They add up. You will certainly know you’ve lost your discretion when you can’t stop yourself from polishing off an entire bowl of candied pecans.

To defend yourself against the caloric overload delivered in those endless cocktails and canapés this holiday season, just program these codes into your phone and keep your hands busy texting instead of tasting.

BYO: Bring Your Own low-calorie goodies as a party favor so you’re sure to have something safe to munch on all night.

LWL: Little White Lies told to refuse food that is passed on trays, especially if it looks like it’s been deep fried. Try, “I’m allergic to bread crumbs” or “I never combine bread and oil.”

MIH: May I Help? is your way to avoid eating by helping the hostess. Now you can pass around some of those tasty tidbits and hear all the reasons people give for eating more than their share.

WYN: What’s Your Name? is a perfect conversation starter and an opportunity to become engrossed in a conversation so you won’t want to be caught with your mouth full, and you won’t be so bored you turn to the food for entertainment.

NTY: No Thank You is the way to respond to any offers for another drink, some homemade cookies or anything else you do not want to eat. Say it politely, but firmly, to get your point across and remain in control over your choices, especially at family gatherings where people don’t take readily no for an answer.

WTH: What’s Your Hurry? is a reminder to slow down at meals and savor each bite. You also can slow the pace by arriving 15-20 minutes late for the event so the first few rounds of hors d’oeurves will have been served and making a point to get on the end of the buffet line when many of the chafing dishes are depleted and what’s left looks much less appetizing.

ETG: Eat The Garnishes since party platters are always surrounded by edible vegetables, like radishes roses and carrot curls. It’s your one hope of finding something that’s actually low in calories and unadulterated by sauces, coatings and crumbs.

KIT: Keep It Tight, as in your belt buckle, or wear a fitted dress or slacks to help keep your appetite under control.

IBG: It’s Been Great, but it’s time to leave. The best way out of a dangerous eating /drinking situation is the same way you came in --- through the front door. Explain you have another commitment, then just walk away from the temptation and arrive home with your discretion intact for another night.

Robyn Flipse, MS, RD

Author, Fighting the Freshman Fifteen

Available at www.freshmanFifteenBook.com

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