Susan Gazerro Fitness Tips

Is It Okay to Indulge in the Array of Different Foods During the Holidays?

By Susan Gazerro

By Susan Gazerro

Allowing yourself to indulge or cheat over the holidays really shouldn’t impact your weight at all. Giving up on your healthy habits for just one day isn’t going to cause weight gain, although you’ll probably feel bloated and tired. In the days leading up to the holidays, especially Thanksgiving, social media, television, newspaper, and magazines are flooded with advice on how to not overeat. They reiterate how to stay healthy when you’re tempted by carbs, salty and sugary foods like stu ng, sweet potato casserole, and pie. Let’s be realistic, the holidays are centered around sharing food with family and friends.

You eat delicious foods you don’t otherwise eat on a daily basis. You should be able to enjoy the holiday without the guilt, but keep it to just that one day. You must wake up the next day and say “yes, I feel bloated so I’m getting back on track today.” You shouldn’t feel defeated. If you do, those leftover Christmas cookies will be calling you, putting you on a downward slide. I don’t like diets, but this is almost like the “fasting diet.” Fasting diets are those where people choose six hours in the day in which they can eat anything and everything they want, then fast for the other eighteen hours. Think of the holiday as having whatever you want, but you must get back on track the next day.

Now contradictory to what I just wrote, my suggestion and what I prefer, is choosing one indulgence and filling the rest of your plate with veggies and other healthy foods. You can truly eat all you want if you are not eating carbs and sugar. Pick one indulgence and the rest of the plate should be healthy foods. However, if you are disciplined and eat healthy on a regular basis the rest of the year and can stay disciplined after the holiday, there’s no reason to “say no” to the di erent types of carbs or desserts being passed around the table. In fact, allowing yourself to indulge over the holiday really

shouldn’t impact your weight or health at all. This is going to sound crazy, but your body may actually burn more fat when you get back on track because now it really has something to burn. This is why you can’t slide down that slope. You must get back on track and your body will thank you for it.

One unhealthy meal is not going to cause you to gain weight, just as one healthy meal doesn’t cause you to lose weight. The routine and habits you have most days are what matters. If you are healthy most of the year, it’s absolutely okay to enjoy the holiday food spreads without guilt.

Where the holidays become a problem is when people look at November and December as a time to let loose before getting “back on track” in January. You can and will gain weight if you throw your habits out the window for two straight months. The holidays likely mean more than just one or two unhealthy meals, and going o your healthy or normal way of eating for a few weeks or a couple of months at a time, can and will add up. It’s the multiple holiday parties each week, more desserts, Christmas cookies, pies, more alcohol than normal, extra treats and snacks in the o ce, etc. This usually starts around Halloween or Thanksgiving and continues for at least one to two months which causes many people to gain weight. I will say again, holiday is one day not multiple days, and yes, you may have parties to go to, but you can bring a healthy dish to pick on. You can choose to fill your plate with the best options available. You can skip the dessert. You can have something healthy and filling to eat before you go so you are not hungry and eating everything that is o ered. It really all comes down to how much you control food or how much you allow food to control you. Ask yourself these questions when you are tempted to eat something:

• Am I really hungry?

• Do I know what this already tastes like? If yes, do I really need it?

• How am I going to feel after I eat this?

• Can I take one bite to satisfy the craving, and then be done?

“Overeating regularly eventually leads to under living.”

“Our eyes are meant to show us food when we are hungry, not to make us hungry when we see food.”

“People who died of starvation are not nearly as pitiful as those who died of overeating.”