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“I’m trying to get back to my original weight—eight
pounds, three ounces.”
- Comic, Cheril Vendetti
Here are ten sure-fire solutions to keeping weight off, halting
the aging clock and increasing your vitality—or, 10 ways to
keep yourself from feeling confined a black wardrobe, sucking in
your gut every time you pass a mirror, or from resembling Santa.
1. STAY ACTIVE! While it may
be difficult to keep a regular fitness schedule during the holiday,
believe me, this is a definite saving grace. House decorating, shopping
and house cleaning does not qualify. Two kinds of exercise are recommended:
1) 30 minutes a day, minimum (!) of aerobic exercise, as in biking,
brisk walking, hiking or and swimming to burn calories. 2) Strength
training with weights, 2 to 3 times weekly, to not only help you
hyper-burn calories, but give your metabolism a significant boost.
In her book Strong Women Stay Slim, Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University
researcher, showed that a group of women following a weight loss
diet and doing weight-training exercises lost 44% more fat than
those who only followed the diet. Most of all, regular exercise
increases your will power and physical sensitivity so that you end
up having more value for feeling, and remaining, trim and less prone
to indulging.
2. RESPECT YOUR BLOOD SUGAR! When
you’re not eating and going through your daily routine, your
body uses remaining sugar in your blood and muscle to fuel activity.
If no replenishing supply is entering the body, at some point, you
go into deficit. But this time, your need for sugar is exaggerated
and you’re likely to throw caution to the wind and succumb
to foods that are sugar-laden and not exactly health-supportive.
Forget will-power. At this point, if it’s extreme enough, you’ll
do sick-puppy things to score a sweet treat. This can be avoided,
and your self-respect remain in tact, if you simply eat more frequently.
Low blood sugar is typically another reason for overeating (we try
to compensate by volume for what we’re lacking) as well as
late-night eating. Eat something every 4 hours to avoid these blood
sugar lows. Low blood sugar can also be an instigator of depression.
3. NO EBB! Remember this acronym: Eating Before Bed!
Or, if you decide that this holiday season you’d like to: a)
Get the most unsatisfying, dream-filled and restless sleep imaginable;
b) Wake up feeling like you were run over by a large truck; and
c) Awaken puffy-faced and irritable … then by all means, eat
right before bed. It’s actually more effective if you eat in
bed. Otherwise, it may serve you better to avoid eating for three
hours before bed. The old adage of eating like Royalty for breakfast,
comfortable citizens for lunch and paupers for dinner, makes the
most sense. The less digestion you’ll be doing when sleeping
means the deeper, shorter and more immune-enhancing your sleep will
be.
Tip: A small amount of non-caffeinated tea after meals usually
goes a long way towards stopping post-meal appetites
4. REDUCE THE FAT IN HOLIDAY RECIPES! There are numerous
ways to reduce your fat content and still make food amazingly tasty.
No Fat will stimulate cravings for nuts, oils, overeating, meats,
etc. So, do have some fat. But, some, is the operative word. This
may mean 1 to 3 tsp. of fat at the maximum. When you figure that
most nuts are anywhere from 55% to 75% fat, and despite being so-called
“good” oils, it can still pack on pounds. In several nutritional
studies cited by the Nutrition Clinic at Yale-New Haven Hospital,
weight gain was not a problem when subjects were fed nuts within
the context of a balanced diet.
Some researchers think that since the nuts were more filling, people
automatically decreased their intake of other foods and that the
fiber content inhibited some of the fat absorption. It was also
suggested that the fat in nuts may be metabolized differently when
eaten as condiments with food. However, watch your overall fat content
and this alone, can make weight maintenance a much easier task.
Often, adding more “tastes” to your meals can increase
meal satisfaction.
The Five Tastes is a dietary concept that can be found in Chinese
and Ayruvedic medicine that suggests we include a balanced proportion
of sweet, salt, sour, bitter and pungent foods in our diets. For
example, some lemon juice and a 1/2 tsp. of natural soy sauce sprinkled
on steamed broccoli offers a taste combination of slightly salty,
sour and naturally sweet tastes. Add some fine chopped garlic or
onions for pungency. So many possibilities.
5. CHOOSE YOUR BEVERAGES WISELY! Alcohol is high in calories.
Liquors, sweet wines and sweet mixed drinks contain anywhere from
150-450 calories per glass. By contrast, water, sparkling water
and light fruit spritzers are calorie-free or lower by contrast.
If you choose to drink, limit yourself to one drink and select light
wine or beer. Egg nog has to be the weirdest holiday drink, but
if that’s your thing, enjoy a small celebratory amount. One
of my favorite fake drinks to have is what I call a homemade lemon
spritzer. Simple take some sparkling water, squeeze a bunch of lemon
into it and mix. If you’re trying to avoid a drink when everyone
around you is carrying a glass, it works. If you want to jazz it
up a bit, add one tsp. of maple syrup. Yum!
6. ADD STAPLE FOODS TO YOUR DIET! Add 1 to 1-1/2 cups
of whole grain to your daily diet. This does not mean bread, breadsticks,
pasta or rice cakes. Whole grain! Brown Rice, Oats (rolled oats
are permissible here), quinoa (great in salads), barley (great in
soups or cooked with lentils), etc. Whole grains will bond to toxins
in your gut and help keep your blood clean, as well as insure bowel
regularity.
More vegetables, and vegetable styles of cooking (raw, steamed,
light-oil saute’, grilled, soups, etc.) create a more appealing
sense of variety and are essential for meal plans that will nourish
and satisfy. Beans, in the form of bean products (some tofu, or
tempeh) or even canned or cooked beans, can make a huge difference.
They can be used in soups (lentil or quick red-lentil soup), as
a dip/spread on crackers, as a side dish, or tossed into a salad
(think: garbanzo’s (chickpeas)with greens). Worried about gas?
In my book (“Nature’s
cancer-Fighting Foods”), I have a section called, “Avoiding
Windy Days,” and one of the most important gas avoiding strategies
is to not combine sweet foods (anything of simple sugar nature)
with beans—that is, unless you want to get gas. Or maybe you
want to just get rid of uninvited company , and quickly…so,
you have a choice. But, the combination of fruit and bean can be,
for some, immediately, room-clearing. Adding these whole food sources
will help ‘fill you up, but not out.’
7. EAT A LIGHT SNACK BEFORE GOING TO HOLIDAY
PARTIES. It’s a bad play to arrive at a party famished.
Not only are you more likely to overeat, but you are also less likely
to resist the temptation of eating the higher fat and higher calorie
foods that seem to be flying about the room. Try eating a small
amount of healthy food before leaving the house to reduce your inner-indulgent.
8. PORTIONIZE! In the last 30
years our portions have literally doubled, including the size of
plates, bowls and cups. We’re super-sizing everything, because
we’re either eating emotionally, or eating more to compensate
for what we are not getting in the way of meal satisfaction, nutrition
or balanced food groups. Your stomach is slightly larger than your
fist. Think about this next time you pile food on your plate. You
can always eat again, later.
9. WATCH EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS!
Don't ignore the stresses that push your buttons and make you seek
solace in food. Once you recognize and accept these triggers, discover
non-food ways to sooth your emotions. Family time during holidays
can often bring up unresolved conflicts that make you just want
to get severely numb. Of course, an occasion of family celebration
is not the time to engage in heavy emotional processing, but do
note of what you’re feeling and make a promise to sort it out,
devalue it and clearly express it at another time to get some kind
of resolve.
10. ENJOY THE COMPANY OF GOOD FRIENDS, NEW FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
Although food is usually a big and ritual part of the season, it
doesn’t have to be the sole focus. Holidays are the time to
reunite with good friends and family, to share laughter and cheer,
to celebrate and to offer thanks. Ultimately, these are the real
holiday qualities that we celebrate. The important thing to remember
is balance and moderation. Now, with all this somewhere in the recess
of your mind, enjoy the holidays!
“I just gave up dairy, caffeine, and sugar because I was feeling
sluggish, tired and anxious.
Now I have a lot more energy to feel angry and deprived. —
Jennifer Siegal
Varona Varona - www.vernevarona.com
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