Delicious Healthy Holiday Eating

Americans typically add three to five pounds of weight between Thanksgiving and the last New Year’s party. This year, give yourself a great holiday gift – good nutrition without weight gain.

Extra calories and rich foods are consumed partly due to advertising, social pressures, and habit. Here are three tips to help you maintain your good health through the holiday season.

#1 Eat!

A lowfat breakfast and large healthy lunch will help you avoid or eat in moderation those cookies and other holiday treats later in the day.

Snack on raw vegetables or fruit before heading out to parties to avoid eating too much of those fat-laden appetizers and desserts.

If going to a buffet dinner, look over the entire buffet and choose the one or two enticing dishes, typically something you don’t usually eat or a friend’s delicious recipe. Research says we get all the flavor and texture of a food in the first 3 bites, so enjoy small amounts of these delicious foods. Then fill up on lowfat vegetables, whole grains and fruits.

After you have eaten move away from the buffet table. This is a good time to visit with old friends or make new ones. If you are talking it is much more difficult to eat more than you need.

Challenge yourself to change family favorites to lower fat versions. Usually you can cut the amounts of oil, butter or cream in most recipes by about half without changing flavor or texture; sugar can also be reduced in many recipes by half, especially if there are dried or pureed fruits in the recipe.

#2 Treats

Choose your treats carefully and just take small bites, but not too many. People don’t realize that a lot of little bites add up. A bit of pasta here, a pinch of cheese there, a slice of bread, a spoonful of dessert –before you know it, you’ve eaten two dinners.

When hosting, do your friends a favor and offer only what you would eat yourself without hurting your healthy holiday life-style. Avoid buying high-fat or sugary holiday snacks “just to have around for company.”

At the end of your holiday meals, treat your guests by sending them home with doggie bags so you are not eating leftovers all by yourself.

#3 Move Your Feet!

Remember, exercise is not a walk around the buffet table. Keep your regular routine and find ways to accomplish something while you exercise, such as use a snow shovel instead of a snow blower, rake leaves, park further away and walk, or take the stairs.

Reward yourself with good health, not another holiday cookie.

Here are a couple of recipes that will be a healthy delicious addition to any holiday occasion.