*Guest post from The Diet Solution Program Author, Isabel Del Los Rios.
Eating Healthy To Lose Weight Will Stave Off Holiday Temptation
Thanksgiving and the winter holidays–Christmas, Hanukkah, and others–are coming up. This time of year is the hardest for eating healthy to lose weight.
The good news is that resisting the urge to eat everything in sight really is as easy as eating healthy to lose weight. The bad news is that you still have to rake the leaves.
Holidays Should Be Fun
There aren’t any really major food-related holidays in September, but that’s about when the Halloween candy starts appearing on the shelves. It’s insidious, because even if you’re just looking for a nice skeleton to hang from your leafless tree, you have to wind your way through cardboard displays of enough candy to make you sick for the next seven months.
And if you want to be a good celebrator you have to buy some candy to give out. And then you have to buy more because you ate the first several bags at 3 a.m. because you had a diet shake for breakfast, another for lunch and a pre-packaged something for dinner–and you just couldn’t take it anymore!
This is not only bad for weight loss, but also will negatively impact our metabolism, hurting out bodies’ ability to burn fact through efficient processing of food. Not to mention what it does to our mental health.
Eat Before A Party Is Good Advice
But it has to be the right thing. Stuffing yourself on crackers in order to avoid the canapés will lead to a sugar rush, a sugar crash, and a lot of unhealthy food to try and overcome those. Having a balanced meal of organic, single-ingredient, nutrient and fiber-packed foods will leave you feeling satiated and able to treat yourself to a few choice morsels without going overboard.
Because single ingredient foods like fruits, nuts, vegetables and whole, free-range eggs are processed more efficiently by your body, you will also have more physical and mental energy through the course of the evening. This will reduce your alcohol consumption–thus cutting down on another source of empty calories–and hopefully improve your overall experience.
**Note from Susan: This only works if you are doing it so that you eat less at the party. If your plan is to eat before you go to the party and then stuff yourself even more then skip the pre-party snack. You’ll be doing double damage.
The Best Part Is That You Can Share It
When we think of eating healthy to lose weight, we tend to think of restricted or restrictive diets, and while it’s true that a “diet” based around organic, mostly single ingredient foods has some restrictions, its not as bad as all that. For example, after a few days without added sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, simple carbohydrates and unpronounceable chemicals, you will find that you don’t really miss them.
Especially as most of these simply serve to add artificial substance and make the food less satisfying. Eating foods with nutrients like good fats and other nutrients that your body can use efficiently and effectively on the other hand, will burn fat and keep you going.
Furthermore, things like free-range turkeys, grass-fed beef and salmon are all on the list of things you can eat, along with all the other ingredients you could need to make a delicious and exciting holiday meal or treat to bring to a potluck.
That means that once you know what foods work best for your metabolism, not only will you be able to spend the holiday season alert and full, but you can also presents guests and fellow party-goers with delicious treats without them ever knowing that you’re sneaking in healthy foods under their noses.
Want to know more about eating healthy to lose weight during the holidays? Visit http://thedietsolutionprogram.com.
******************
Susan here. I always love Isabel’s articles.
Just to add to her brilliance, here is a quick list of things you can do this Thanksgiving to prevent weight gain:
This is my personal game plan to survive Thanksgiving.
- Do home workouts or get some activity every day this week and twice on Thursday.
- Only eat sweets and high carb foods AFTER you workout.
- Use Thanksgiving as a “cheat day” and try intermittent fasting the following day to get right back on track.
These are just a few tips that I am hoping are new to you that you can try this year. Also, try Isabel’s recommendation of acting like you are trying to lose weight this week. All of these suggestions should help get you through the week with little damage done.
It’s what I will be doing. Join me.
Your Coach,
Susan Campbell, MS, CSCS
P.S. Check out Isabel’s personal weight loss story and how she lost all her baby weight in this free fat loss presentation by clicking here.
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A great and insightful blog although I wonder who will keep to this clever way of thinking on such an occassion
Ash
Twitter: sweetsfoods
November 24, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Agree with you these next month is coming food galore! My advice if it’s possible, increase cardio exercises like running, bike, etc and moderation (not easy) in the meals!
Cheers,
Gera
Twitter: tristanhigbee
November 24, 2010 at 1:42 am
Well, I don’t really have anything to add to this post, but I liked (and retweeted) it.
While we’re on the subject of Thanksgiving… I was talking to a guy yesterday who said he wanted to shoot his own turkey this Thanksgiving. “You know, like how you cut your own Christmas tree.”
That’s one way of looking at it, I guess…
should help get you through the week with little damage done.
Hi Susan! Great advice, I tend to go nuts with all the festivities and endless supplies of food around the holidays. Upping the workouts is probably a good idea around this time of year for sure. Even though I had my good ol’ Canadian Thanksgiving in October, I’ll be sure to keep these great points in mind for Christmas. I guess my cheat day has passed! Darn. haha.
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