Healthy Weight Eating Tips For All Occasions

Photo by Fidel Haji

It’s easy for people to get off track with their healthy weight goals when special occasions, celebrations, and holidays come around. The ritual of sharing food while celebrating special occasions is both a blessing and a challenge for those who are struggling with their weight and/or health. Not only are the temptations too plentiful, but the tailspin it can send a person’s morale into makes these times especially hard on some.

Keep Your Mindset On Wellness

• Adopting a wellness lifestyle means being mindful of the choices you make including how you feed your body even and especially during the holidays or at special occasions.

• With a mindset of wellness, you’re no longer seduced by the displays of food presented during festive occasions because you’re totally dedicated to your health and wellbeing. You know you won’t feel good if you deviate from the healthy foods your body is now (or in the process of) accustomed to have.

• Celebrate the opportunity to attend festive occasions with family, friends, and colleagues by consciously savoring healthy offerings with gratitude. 

Before

• Avoid stress by being well-prepared, and arrive on time to events you’re expected to attend.

• Don’t skip any of your meals in anticipation of overindulgence. This is setting yourself up for a let-down, and is not an excuse for starving yourself and causing unnecessary metabolic fluctuations.

• Keep your level of activity up despite the interruption in the routine. Don’t look for excuses like expecting to be out late or whatever other justifications you can find as reasons to laze about.

• Visualize and see yourself victorious, as having resisted the temptations and walking away from the event feeling good about the choices you made in your commitment to yourself.

• Keep your body moving. Exercising in the morning can help set you up for healthier behaviors all day long.  This is not only about burning calories before the big meal. It’s about staying on track and being well. Researchers have found through brain scans that when people exercised in the morning, they moved more the rest of the day and responded less to pictures of tempting food.

• Walking makes you feel better and can get you away from the food. So, see if any of the guests are interested in a walk around the neighborhood either before or after the meal.

• Distance yourself from the food. It’s a good idea to mentally prepare as to how you will put the odds in your favor, depending on what occasion and where the dinner party will take place. It’s always more tempting to put a second helping on your plate if the serving dish is right in front of you. If you’ll have your choice of seat, choose one that will be far away from the food.

 During

• Stay in control. If food is in a buffet setting, take a look around to see what healthy choices are available. Do not grab a plate and start filling it right away. Taking the time to consider what foods you’ll eat, will give your confidence a boost as it helps keep you in a healthy mindset.

• Skip foods that are fried, deep-fried, in a creamy sauce (including soups), have outer pastry shells, cheeses, deli meats, processed preparations, and any food obviously loaded with sugar or saturated in fat, grease, or oil.

• Do choose fresh salads with dressing on the side if possible, steamed or oven baked vegetables and meats (if you must), and fresh fruits over those cooked in dessert preparations.

• Eat generous portions of your healthy choices as these will in no way compromise your wellness, and will actually leave you feeling full and energized longer. Do not take more than you can eat though. Grab a second helping instead of piling it up all at once and feeling obliged to eat all you put on your plate.

• Eat the healthy offerings first.  If there’s a salad, roasted vegetables, or healthy soup, start there.  This will ensure you get in some filling, nutritious food and will leave less room for not so healthy options.

• Be discriminate. If you do choose to indulge in some less than healthy options, choose your indulgences wisely. Check out all the items before deciding what to put on your plate.  Then, simply pick the food(s) you really want, those that are truly worth it to you. If you’re not really going to enjoy it, why bother? When you pick items that are special to you, you’ll want to slow down and savor every bite.

• Avoid caffeine especially if feeling anxious.

• ·      DO NOT indulge in alcohol. Alcohol messes with the brain’s appetite signals. Choose water or herbal teas.

After

• When you finish your meal, if people are lingering and still eating, try to put some distance between you and the food. Excuse yourself if you have to and confidently remove yourself knowing you’re making the right choices for you.

• If you can’t remove your plate after you’re done eating, render it inappropriate for picking at by placing your napkin over any leftover food. It’s way too easy to keep picking at your plate when food is left on it if it’s still sitting there in front of you. This is how mindless eating takes place. Don’t eat mindlessly until you finally realize most of the food is gone.  When you’re full, get up and walk away from the table, or bring your plate to the dishwasher, and join a conversation away from the food.

• When everyone is done, offer to help clean up to get your body moving again.

• If there is more sitting than physical movement after the meal, suggest taking a walk to guests.

• Choose herbal teas over any further drinking options. Having something warm and comforting to drink can cleanse your palette, hit the spot for making you feel good and eliminate the need for other mindless indulgence.

• Do not accept or keep leftovers. Having a fantastic meal filled with indulgences is one thing, but having those leftovers for days and days afterward is where serious let-downs can happen.  If there are leftovers and the dinner party is at your house, send guests home with food-filled containers. If it’s at someone else’s house, politely decline any leftovers. If you have to take some with you, make sure to choose the healthier options, avoid any sugary treats or fat-laden preparations.

Last—but not least—

remind yourself how well you feel and look.