Enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers without gaining extra pounds

The hol­i­day sea­son is a time for fam­ily get-togethers, par­ties and food. Baked goods, candy, large meals and cock­tails are plen­ti­ful this time of year, mak­ing it even more impor­tant for peo­ple to stay on track with their health­ful eat­ing goals.

Con­trary to the pop­u­lar notion that Amer­i­cans gain five to 10 pounds dur­ing Thanks­giv­ing and Christ­mas, recent stud­ies have pegged the actual hol­i­day weight gain at one to two pounds. But that tends to be weight that is hard to lose and accu­mu­lates over the years.

Fol­low­ing a few sim­ple strate­gies makes it pos­si­ble to enjoy all those hol­i­day good­ies with­out putting on those extra pounds. Here are a few hol­i­day weight man­age­ment tips from the Amer­i­can Dietetic Association:

• Don’t skip. Miss­ing meals often results in overeat­ing. It is espe­cially impor­tant to eat break­fast. Research indi­cates that peo­ple who eat break­fast con­sume fewer calo­ries through­out the day.

• Fiber up. Include lots of fiber in your diet from fruits, veg­eta­bles and whole grains. These high-fiber choices are rel­a­tively low-calorie foods that make us feel full.

• Go easy at the buf­fet. Por­tion con­trol is one of the best ways to main­tain a healthy weight. It lim­its calo­rie intake, while allow­ing us to sam­ple a wide vari­ety of foods — even dessert.

• Use a smaller plate. “Small plate” serv­ings are all the rage in some restau­rants, and a won­der­ful way to eat rea­son­ably at home. Using a smaller plate, of course, allows you to load up with less food and helps main­tain por­tion control.

• Eat ahead. Eat­ing a health­ful snack or small meal before attend­ing an event or party helps pre­vent over-indulgence later on. If you are invited to a hol­i­day gath­er­ing, bring a reduced-calorie food option that you and oth­ers can enjoy guilt-free.

• Veg­gies first. A good food-serving strat­egy is to fill your plate first with salad and veg­eta­bles, leav­ing less room for entrees and desserts. Research has shown that peo­ple who begin their meals with a salad con­sume fewer calo­ries overall.

• Take your time. Eat­ing slowly, chew­ing your food and savor­ing every morsel makes for a more sat­is­fy­ing expe­ri­ence that tends to reduce the desire to overeat. Also, wait 10 min­utes before going back for sec­onds. Your hunger might just go away.

• Get some exer­cise. Don’t for­get to make room for reg­u­lar phys­i­cal activ­ity in your hol­i­day sched­ule. You don’t nec­es­sar­ily have to beat your­self up in the gym. The hol­i­days are a great time to take a walk with fam­ily mem­bers or play with the kids.

Remem­ber, there are no bad foods. “Every­thing in mod­er­a­tion” is a good rule to fol­low dur­ing this fes­tive time. Try­ing to deprive our­selves of all the treats that sur­round us tends to make us crave them even more.

Mandy John­son, RD, LD, is a dietit­ian at Ohio­Health Grady Memo­r­ial Hospital.

Posted by Grady Memorial Hospital on Nov 21 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.