Joy's Blog

Your Holiday Battle Plan

Hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is already right around the corner. Your schedule for the next six weeks is probably jam-packed with office parties, family get-togethers, gift exchanges, and other special events. Most of these events are focused around food, so you’ll be surrounded by rich seasonal dishes, sugary sweet cocktails, and tempting treats like cookies, cakes, and fudge. If visions of sugar plums are already dancing in your head, you know it’s time to draft your battle plan for the holiday season. With a little foresight, you can make smart food choices and stay on track while still being merry…and feel lighter and fitter on January 1.

First and foremost, it’s incredibly important to isolate “celebration days” from every other day for the next six weeks. That means avoiding the cookie platters, seasonal coffee drinks, and holiday baked items that pop up at grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee shops this time of year (unless you carefully monitor calories and count these items as your 150-calorie Extras).

On days that you do plan to indulge a bit, follow these tips to keep your splurges in check:

• Start the day with a protein-rich breakfast, such as an egg white omelet with veggies.
• Make your cardio workout mandatory on celebration days, and do at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise (60 minutes is best). Exercising will allow you a little wiggle room for extra calories and put you in the right mindset to stick with your holiday battle plan for the rest of the day.
• Enjoy a light, filling lunch like a giant tossed salad topped with lean protein and low-cal salad dressing. (If you’re going to a lunchtime event, enjoy this meal for dinner instead.)
• Just before you leave home for the event, have a filling snack so you don’t head into the party ravenous and primed to make unhealthy food choices. I recommend a one-ounce serving of reduced fat cheese and a generous serving of non-starchy veggies like cucumber slices, bell pepper sticks, celery, and baby carrots.
• Decide on ONE splurge to enjoy at the party or event. This might be a few high-cal hors d’oeruvres, one or two alcoholic beverages, or a dessert. Make the rest of your choices relatively healthy. Load up on slim appetizers like veggies, shrimp, sushi, grilled chicken or beef skewers, and fresh fruit at cocktail parties, or choose an entrée with lean protein and lots of vegetables at sit-down dinners.
• Don’t let one day of treating yourself spiral out of control. If you overdo it at the party and make a few food missteps, don’t convince you’ve ruined your diet and should give up trying altogether. Remember this: It’s very easy to work off the extra calories from a single meal, but incredibly hard to undo several days of overeating. Whatever happened the day before, start fresh the very next morning with a diet-friendly breakfast and a high-energy AM workout to refocus and recommit to your plan.

Your pal,
Joy

Published: Monday, November 16, 2009