During the holiday season, there’s a lot to celebrate other than food. You don’t have to over-do it with food to enjoy the holidays or the food itself! Julie Barto, MS, RD, LDN, clinical dietitian at UMass Memorial Medical Center, offers these tips to help you to enjoy the holidays while eating and drinking in moderation:
- The first bite of a food you enjoy is usually the best, and all subsequent bites are attempts to return to that enjoyment of the first bite. For this reason, sometimes small tastes of food can provide you with just as much enjoyment as large portions.
- Some people find that a good way to take the focus off food is to start new holiday traditions each year, such as taking a walk after your meal or playing a game.
- We all know that food is a big part of the holidays, and there’s no reason not to enjoy it! Try to enjoy it in moderation by keeping an eye on your portions. One way to do this is to make sure that half of your plate is filled with fruits and vegetables.
- If vegetables and fruits are generally not well represented at your holiday meal, try a new vegetable/fruit recipe yourself and bring something to dinner that you know is healthy and that you will enjoy.
- Another way to watch portions is to limit your intake of foods that are high in calories and fats, such as fried food, creamy sauces and rich/high-sugar desserts.
- You can also focus on lower-calorie appetizers, such as the vegetable tray or steamed shrimp, and limit your intake of creamy dips and cheese.
- Alcoholic beverages have a lot of calories. Since liquid calories don’t tend to satisfy our appetite, they often lead us to still consume the same number of food calories and subsequently, consume too many calories overall. Sticking with calorie-free beverages is one option, such as sparkling water or flavored seltzer.
- Try not to under-eat early in the day(s) prior to a large meal. In fact, under-eating early in the day will make your body think you are starving, and lower your metabolism, which is the number of calories your body will burn that day. In addition, it makes you more likely to over-eat at the holiday meal later in the day.
- Ditch the “all-or-nothing” attitude. Making small changes, such as substituting a glass of seltzer for a glass of wine, or having half a scoop of mashed potatoes instead of a whole scoop, will actually make a big difference by the end of the day.
- Enjoy every bite of food you eat over the holidays. Eat it slowly, savoring the taste, texture and smell of the food. This method of mindful eating can help you to enjoy small amounts of favorite foods even more than eating large amounts of the food very quickly.
- Finally, watch out for the food pushers – these are people who may try to get you to eat more than you are comfortable eating. A simple “no thanks, but it was great!” is really all you need to say.