Eating Game Plan for the Holidays

Halloween starts our holiday season with the onset of sugar abundance wherever we are. There are the Halloween candy treats our children bring in the house added to the Thanksgiving cookies, cakes and wholesome dried fruit. How do we not become a part of the holiday statistic? The average weight gain for many of us is 7-8 pounds over the holiday season.

1. Chart your holiday month
   a) Determine which social gatherings you must go to and plan an exercise time for each gathering.
   b) Try to match it close to the party time so you to stay on track burning unplanned calories.
2. Log your food.
   • What are your portion sizes? Are they huge?
   • How many times do you eat a day, meals plus snacks? What time of day is it? Are you hungry? Do you know what appetite feels like?
   • How would you describe how you are feeling when you eat? Plan a one word description: tired, bored,stressed, happy, sad, hungry? Are you able to identify eating triggers tied to your emotions?
   • Tracking you food will enable you to be more aware of the food choices you make. To acknowledge the nutrition composition of food, keep track of it. You will become more aware of the body composition consequences of choices we make eating and drinking. Each time we make a food consumption choice; are we focused on our fitness goal?
3. Don't skip meals. Eat every two to four hours to give your body energy for daily activities. If your blood sugar level stays constant, your metabolism is more efficient as it burns more calories digesting your food. Also not allowing yourself to be really hungry as in starvation diet mode mentality, you burn more calories and can avoid overeating.
4. Get plenty of rest when time allows. Exhaustion can lead to an increase in cortosol which has been found to stimulate appetite.
5. Set a Game Plan before a party.
   • Ask yourself can you subsitute soda water for alcohol? Too much alcohol reduces appetite willpower. Are you willing to negate this past years fitness gains for extra calories which metabolize directly to fat?
   • If you must indulge, steer clear of eggnog and limit your intake of beer and wine. Avoid cocktails with their high sugar content.
   • Don't keep trigger foods around the house. Freeze excess high calorie holiday goodies or give them away.
   • Eat your healthy chosen food choices before the party. Feel energized, full and conscious of your fitness health goal as you arrive.
   • Socialize away from the buffet table.

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