It's here. The season of holiday parties at work, at friends' houses, with family... It's an intense time of year. And every year I talk to clients who are so worried about all the caloric holiday foods that they find it hard to enjoy the great things about the holiday season -- things like time with friends and family, community, and sharing. I want you to be able to enjoy every single thing about the parties you'll be attending between now and New Year's Day, very much including the food. But if you want to enjoy that food in moderation, and get through the holidays without getting off track, you don't need worry. You need a plan.
The key to staying on track with your eating through the holidays is to plan ahead. You don't want to wait to decide what you'll eat until you are at your office holiday party after a long day at work, staring down a plate of puff pastry appetizers and a giant tray of frosted cookies. Your path to those puff pastries and cookies started in the morning, when you got out of bed. By the time you're at the party, much of the damage to your ability to be rational about the tempting foods on offer is already done. So get a jump on facing the problem. Here are five simple strategies for staying in control:
- Start the day with a plentiful breakfast. That's not just carbs, but some protein, too, something like oatmeal with Greek yogurt and berries, scrambled eggs and fruit, or any leftovers from the night before. You need to have your blood-glucose levels stabilized before you go to the parties, so that you aren't in a blood sugar deficit that makes it impossible to resist food. Many people skip breakfast because they think they can then have those calories at the party, but you'll be so hungry you'll eat far more of the fatty party foods than you would have otherwise.
You'll read a lot at this time of year about how to avoid overeating at the holidays. There are many ideas that really work. Here's another one: You can look at your calendar of parties and figure out which ones you want to indulge at, whether because most of your friends will be there, or because the food is usually especially good. Then give yourself permission for those parties. That will make it easier at other parties to decline the fattier foods, because you only have to wrestle with that struggle part of the time. But what all the successful strategies have in common is that they give you a plan, and that plan is made up of healthy food alternatives, consistent eating during the day throughout the season, and a policy of honesty with yourself.
Manuel Villacorta is a nationally recognized, award-winning registered dietitian/nutritionist with more than 18 years of experience. He is a trusted voice in the health and wellness industry. He is the author of Eating Free: The Carb Friendly Way to Lose Inches, Embrace Your Hunger, and Keep Weight Off for Good (HCI, 2012) Peruvian Power Foods: 18 Superfoods, 101 Recipes, and Anti-Aging Secrets from the Amazon to the Andes (HCI, 2013) and his newest book Whole Body Reboot: The Peruvian Superfoods Diet to Detoxify, Energize, and Supercharge Fat Loss (HCI, 2015).