7 Tips to Eat Clean & Healthy During the Holidays

The holiday season is filled with temptation after temptation when it comes to food and drinks! Everywhere you turn there is another box of fresh baked goodies or a candy bowl filled with your favorite treats! Not to mention the many social gatherings you look forward to this time of year that often revolve around rich foods and make it super easy for us all to overindulge a bit. 

Many of us say to ourselves, myself included, "I'm so good all year long! I deserve this!" But it turns out that while giving yourself "time off" from your healthy diet for "good behavior" seems like an easy justification in the moment, its more difficult to justify the 5 extra pounds staring back at you from the scale on January 1st! UGH! Not a great way to start a new year, right?!

You've worked hard to eat healthy all year long, end the year strong and full of pride! Don't worry about losing weight during the holiday season, just focus on maintaining it. In this week's What's That?! Wednesday post we want to help you stay on track with your diet this holiday season and avoid the "holiday bulge" with these simple tips:

7 Tips to Eat Healthy During the Holidays:

1. Plan ahead. Make sure to stick with your normal healthy eating routine, plan your meals, shop on your day off, and get some food cooked and prepped in your fridge. The holidays are a busy time, so make the most of your time in the kitchen by choosing easy, quick meals or even crockpot meals that can be easily doubled or tripled. Foods like soups, stews, chilis, sauces, and casseroles can all easily be doubled or tripled - either freeze the extra for a quick meal down the line or use leftovers for healthy packed lunches. Or freeze raw burgers and patties, and used leftover cooked meats on your salad for lunch! Try our Curried Sweet Potato Soup or Italian Shrimp & Sausage Cioppino or our Apple-Sage Turkey Burgers or Salmon Burgers.
   
   
2. Bring your own healthy dish or snack. If you've been invited to a social gathering, ask the host or hostess what you can bring and volunteer an idea or two from a list of dishes you know are on your eating plan. This way, you will always have at least one dish at every party you know you can eat that isn't going to sabotage your diet. I also pack healthy snacks in my purse year round to help me avoid "candy bowl" temptations. This time of year I pack my Slow Roasted, Holiday Spiced Nuts. Also, check out our Anti-Inflammatory Diet Holiday eCookbook for 24 more clean and delicious holiday meals, sides, and desserts!
   
   
3. Don't skip meals. Skipping meals can throw off your metabolism and tell your body to store fat instead of burn it as fuel. While you may think that skipping lunch because you know you may overindulge at an evening party can help you, it can only hurt you. It can make you feel sluggish all day long and worse it can lead you to overeat on the rich foods, adding extra calories to your day when meal time does arrive! 
   
   
4. Avoid "snack stations" and "candy bowls". In short, this is the same as "avoid your poisons." If your co-worker has a bowl of your favorite holiday candy sitting on her desk, it may be a good idea to avoid her desk the like the plague! During parties and gatherings, avoid congregating next to the snack stations and buffet lines - with temptations within reach, its easy to munch, munch, munch, and take LOTS of little bites that add up to LOTS of calories. Make a small plate with a few of your favorite items and then go sit or stand away from the food while you socialize. 
   
   
5. Enjoy an extra helping of the good stuff. Load up your plates and bowls with salads and leafy green vegetables - make this 50% of your plate! Or start your meal with a broth based soup that will help fill you up. Both of these tricks will help you feel fuller and eat less or the richer, high calorie foods. Try our Marinated Cranberry Kale Salad for a festive and healthy way to start a meal.
   
   
6. Don't drink your calories! I'm not just talking alcohol here, folks.  I'm also mean those seasonal, sweet, hot, delicious coffee beverages like pumpkin spice lattes, gingerbread lattes, double caramel chocolate mochas, etc... Even the "skinny" versions of these drinks contain loads of cane sugar and "fake sugars" that can tank your metabolism and signal your body to store fat. Stick with herbal teas and treat yourself to a special homemade coffee drink 1-2 times a week so you can control the ingredients. Try our Pumpkin-Spice Latte and our Chai Tea Latte. If you like to drink alcohol, keep it to a two-drink maximum when attending social gatherings; alcohol is an appetite stimulant and it reduces inhibitions, making is really easy for you to overindulge on food.
   
   
7. Think creatively about getting your exercise & movement in. The holidays are such a busy time, many of us can find it difficult to get the gym or yoga studio for our regular scheduled work out. To make up for this, try to get more exercise and movement into your regular daily activities! Bypass the elevators and use the stairs in every building you are in. Park at the back of the mall or grocery store parking lot to get more steps in or take a few walking laps around your building during your break or lunch hour. Or try switching your p.m. workout to an a.m. workout since evenings are usually full with social and family events. 

Now we want to hear from you...what tips to you use to stay fit and health during the holidays?! Help spread the word by sharing this post with your friends and your tips and thoughts in the comments below!

Happy Holidays Friends!
~Billie & Jen

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