Did you know the average American eats only 3 meals during the entire Holiday Season? Usually just before the cervicals, the big day to set up shop for a new year. Usually, they don’t come home until New Year too. Why no time to celebrate? There’s multiple parties to go to, meals to go to, gifts to give, and Mother to be to visit. Here’s how you can beat the rush and enjoy the holiday with limited stress.
Firstly, eat before you leave. Set your alarm for 5 am and get to bed extra early so that you don’t wake up like a human overdosed on holiday goodies.
Pack up 2 or 3 meals that you can pack up for the next day easy. You already have the ingredients for these 2 meals somewhere in your house, so use them. If you have to cook a meal, use a crock pot and let it cook all day. Or, if you have a food processor, you can make easy pre-packaged meals that you can heat and eat.
Here are a few ideas to get you going; you can make jumpers, packs of mini pita bread or wraps, homemade healthy salsa, your own mmm natural gravies, and so much more.
Have at least one thing each day that is very easy to prepare and is also healthy. Like, in addition to putting spinach in your salad, add a healthy dipper with low sugar jelly for dipping, a couple of slices of lean turkey breast, a hard boiled egg and some green veggie, then tip it up with some ranch or bleu cheese dressing. Delicious!
Tip #2: Sit down and enjoy your holiday!
What is the holiday season without a buffet of mouth-watering culinary delights? A holiday buffet is the ultimate temptation but with a little discipline you can walk away from the buffet table with intact waistlines. To win the battle of the gluttonous glands and remain willpower-less, it is recommended to prepare 1/3 less calories dining out than usual.
To do this you need to eat a small dinner for your normal dinner size and then super size the next day’s portion. It may sound a bit funny but you can actually save some money if you do this.
For example, if you would have dinner for dinner at a restaurant amounting to 25-50 dollars per person, you could do the following:
Enjoy a quarter pounder with ketchup, a diet soda, an apple and a cup of skim milk- 25 calories total (plus parking charges)
Have two lobster spring rolls and a green salad with dressing, chips, and a pilaf- 60 calories per serving
Huge turkey dinner with dressing, potato salad and a dessert- 300 calories
These are not outlandish numbers but they realistic. Tips to remember are to simply eat smaller portions of the food on your plate instead of doing an impulsive second trip for seconds because you are afraid you might overeat.
Lastly, you can make a mental game plan to control the food and bowl sizes. Take a few minutes and plan out your meals for the week so that you have everything in your pantry, pantry and cupboard. This will help you fromivecognizing food allergies, controlling cravings for sweet and highly sugary foods, and prevent you from filling up on the food that you know is bad for you.
Mindful planning, game plan, and mindful eating are all the tools you need to develop the conscious habits to make healthy choices.
Take just a few minutes and plan out your meals for the coming week.
Structure the menu in your mind.
If it’s potent, make sure it will be present throughout the day and not require a trip to the kitchen to be served.
I like to keep the “soluble” fiber powder (fiber helps your body absorb the nutrients from the food) in my water bottle at the office. This water bottle is my “rag and bone”. I carry it with me most of the time, save for when I know I am going to go out for a meal, whether it’s business lunches or dinner with a client.
This is not a passport to a new age of eating, but a tool to help you through the process.
When planning your meals, make sure you have a list of the ingredients that you will be using.
Don’t go buy the latest superfood or other fancy food that you have never heard of. A lot of these new foods taste awful and are no good for you.
For example, I was recently made aware of a terribly overrated new “caveman-like” health food bar that has supposedly been tested by some ” Elevator%” (aka food headed gurus).
