Eating Well During the Holidays

Ah the holidays, its that time of year again but this year lets not pig out to help us here are some healthy tips for eating during the holidays.

Eating Well During the Holidays
Ed Bauman, Ph.D.

It’s fun to look at where the image “visions of sugar plums danced in her head” came from. When the days turn dark, cold and damp as they do in the winter season, a traditional way of staying warm, happy and celebrating is to eat, drink and make merry. For many, this is an open invitation to eat cookies, cakes and pies, dips and chips, drink too much wine, beer, egg nog, and Irish coffee, eat often and to excess, late into the evening. While this is fun, it arouses latent addictions to sugar, caffeine, alcohol, bread, creamy cheese, chips and other standard party fare. The result can be a binge that lasts for days and weeks and adds unwanted pounds and depressing morning after discomfort. 

So what’s a party person to do, to gain energy, maintain or lose weight and celebrate the end of a challenging 2011 and the beginning of a remarkable 2012. Here’s some simple suggestions…

1. Find friends and family to be with during the holidays who are inspiring, active, and don’t need to over eat or drink to have a great time.
2. Shop up on organic, local, seasonal fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, poultry and pasture raised meats and dairy and plan to increase your time in the kitchen making savory soups, sensational salads and culturally satisfying main dishes. If you don’t cook, invite chefs over to your stocked kitchen to help with making the meal. Chefs love nothing better than cooking for a captive audience.
3. Plan to have healthy dinner parties wherein you and your friends get together at home to create amazing, colorful, flavorful, home cooked meals. This saves money and creates a joyful energy in home, hearth and heart.
4. Set a moderate limit on your consumption of alcohol, desserts, and trigger foods you tend to overeat. You know exactly what those are. One serving allows you to sample yummy foods but not mindlessly eat or drink without limits.
5. Invite a friend or family member to be your Holiday Health Partner to check in with on a frequent basis and get together with to cook, exercise, meditate, dance, play and have a blast.
6. Light candles, read meaningful books, increase your spiritual and creative activities. Know that the essence of who you are is wonderful and wants to shine forth.
7. Have a plan, share it with friends and family, spend more time with positive, healthy people who you love to be with and less with those who either bring you down or tempt you to engage in behaviors you don’t need or want to engage in.

Source: http://pdhcf.org/2011/12/14/eating-well-during-the-holidays-ed-bauman-ph-d/