The holiday season is a time of family gatherings, cool weather and of course, delicious food! Being surrounded by dishes that only come around once a year can make it pretty hard to stick to normal eating habits. Gaining weight is often the consequence. But, holiday party-goers don't need to stress! Here are some easy tips that will let hosts and guests enjoy holiday food while still staying on a healthy track, and gaining weight is often the consequence. However, some simple changes will let hosts and guests enjoy their holidays while still staying on a healthy track.
Eat Before a Holiday Dinner
Some people think that it is better to fast before a big holiday dinner so that they can eat more of the good stuff. This is not a good idea. If a person hasn't eaten all day, his body starts to think that it is in "starvation mode" and when it does start getting fuel (food) it will want to get as much of it as possible. This often causes him to overeat. To avoid overeating, dinner-goers should eat a small snack beforehand. Protein is a very good choice. A bit of chicken or cheese will often prevent guests from overindulging.
Watch What You Drink
Sugary sodas and alcoholic drinks are often packed with calories, so it's important not to go crazy. One 5-oz glass of white or red wine has about 100 calories. Add those calories to the calories from the appetizers, dinner and desserts and one person could be consuming well over 3,000 calories in one meal. The average person should only consume 2,000 per day.
Healthy Substitutions
A great idea for the cooks and hosts of the party is to try to find some healthy substitutes for the unhealthy ingredients in most holiday recipes. Some of the easiest and best replacements are using skim milk instead of whole to cut back on fat and using a sugar-substitute like Splenda instead of real sugar. The taste will hardly differ at all from the original and the holiday dinner guests will never know!
Be a Healthy Host
In addition to using healthy substitutions for recipes, a healthy host should provide some healthy alternatives for their guests. One trick is to serve some raw vegetables or a fruit platter before bringing out things like chips, cookies and cakes so that guests will be able to fill up on the healthier choices and eat fewer of the sugary and fattening options.
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