10 Holiday Eating Tips

1. Enjoy! The holidays are a great time to gather with family and friends and eat incredible foods. Don’t miss out!

2. Balance. Most people do eat more calories during the holiday stretch. Think about ways to increase your activity to balance out the excess calories. Walk more during your workday. Extend your walk or run by 5-10 minutes. Take the train or bus and get off a stop earlier.Take the stairs during your workday. Small increases in activity can make a big difference.

3. Think Mediterranean. Go for savory vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, whole grains, yogurt and olive oil whenever possible and use spices to help enhance flavor rather than an extra pat of butter or salt.

4. Focus on colorful vegetables. Most holiday meals are rich in vegetables such as squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, spinach, turnips and Brussels sprouts. These foods are an excellent way to include a good dose of protective antioxidants. Make your vegetable portions bigger than you normally do at holiday time. Fill your plate with color. (more…)

10 Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

1. Enjoy. The holidays are a great time to gather with family and friends and eat incredible foods. Don’t miss out!

2. Balance. Most people do eat more calories during the holiday stretch. Think about ways to increase your activity to balance out the excess calories. Walk more during your workday. Extend your walk or run by 5-10 minutes. Take the T or bus and get off a stop or two earlier. Small increases in activity can make a big difference.

3. Think Mediterranean. Go for savory vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, whole grains, yogurt and olive oil whenever possible and use spices to help enhance flavor rather than an extra pat of butter.

(more…)

Thoughts on The Heavy: A Mother, A Daughter, A Diet by Dara-Lynn Weiss

Dara-Lynn Weiss is a NYC mother who writes of her experience raising a young daughter with obesity. This intense memoir is a front seat personal navigation of the challenges that face anybody trying to lose weight. The added controversy of childhood obesity is perhaps captured best here:

I knew how universal this quagmire was, how uniquely helpless parents feel when they see themselves as having to choose between denying a child the joys of childhood or letting them barrel toward bad health.  

Read this book. At times you’ll be downright angry at what appears to be an uptight, overbearing control freak of a woman with a history of eating issues of her own. I was. But, perhaps she’s really on to something as she portrays a brutally honest view of the tenacity that must be consistently employed when making lifestyle changes necessary for ongoing weight loss and maintenance.

Losing weight is easy. Keeping it off is next to impossible unless you make defensive & mindful eating a priority. Actually, it has to be the #1 priority for many. In the end, I applaud Ms. Weiss. She did everything (sometimes too much) to protect her child from a statistically bleak health future. She put her foot down.

As with other tricky areas of parenting, there isn’t one right way for a parent to guide an overweight child. Support, knowledge, resources and education are all essential components but it seems to me that consistency is the key ingredient.

Childhood obesity is anything but cookie cutter.

Your thoughts?

By Tara

Everyone has a weakness.

Potato chips are mine. We all crave different foods for different reasons. Perhaps it is hardwired into our minds, the desire for salty or sweet foods, because in actuality our bodies require salt and sugar to maintain life. For some, junk food cravings stem from emotions or even boredom. Anyway you slice it; cravings often lead to mindless, overeating with accompanying guilt.

But you don’t have to beat yourself up over the occasional treat. Instead honor yourself and your appetite without depriving it from an enjoyable eating experience. So rather than restricting that joyful delicious food all together, treating yourself every so often may do the trick. But the key is being mindful and in control. Often times the foods we love are not the most nutritious. So when you do splurge on those foods there are a few tricks to keep calm and in charge.

Tips to avoid over-eating your favorite “occasional” foods:

1. Store the food in a place that makes it harder to get. For example, the back of the shelf or the highest shelf in the pantry, in the crisper, or any place where it will be out of sight.
2. Never eat from the package. Instead portion out a serving in a bowl or on a plate. Wait 15 minutes after eating and ask yourself: Having a hard time concentrating? Is your stomach growling? If not, then you are not truly hungry.
3. Eat slowly. Chewing your food slowly helps slows digestion, improves absorption of nutrients, and gives you time to realize you are full.
4. Appreciate the food. Remember why we must to eat; it is a fundamental need of life. Food should nourish us, taste good, and fulfill true hunger.

Be present in the moment, enjoy your food, just don’t overdo it. Bon appetite!

By Liz Schneider