Every meeting, party, or social gathering I go to this time of year, and I mean EVERY ONE has a “Holiday Spread” of cakes, cookies, and assorted edible things – all designed to add inches to my waist.  How do you ever survive the Holidays and still lose weight?

Portion Control is the Key

The answer to that question is portion control, portion control, portion control.  Yes, I know that’s easy to say but hard to do.  Yes, I know.  I’ve gone through buffet lines and holiday lunches where even though I only took about a teaspoon-ful of several different dishes, there was simply SO MUCH FOOD that I still ended up with an overfilled plate.

You’ve got to fight that.  Here are two things that I do that seem to work for me:

1. Start with a smaller plate.  Grab a dessert plate or a salad plate instead of the over-sized dinner plate.  The smaller your plate, the less likely you’ll feel compelled to fill it to the brim.
2. Second, get a salad and make sure that it fills 1/3 to 1/2 of your plate.  The good part about a salad is that it’s bulky and will automatically fill a big portion of your plate.  Let your salad be your main course.
3. Next, focus on getting some veggies BUT try to say away from casseroles or veggies that are swimming in cream sauce or gravy.  Steamed vegetables are best but may be hard to find on a traditional holiday spread where everything seems to be drowning in some form of thick cheese or butter sauce.
4. Skip the bread.  Period.
5. Last, get a small sliver of meat or fish.  Let this be no more than 1/4 of your total meal AND only stick to one kind of meat.  Many Christmas dinners include several kinds of meats to choose from.  Choose only one kind.

The key to making through a Christmas or Holiday dinner with your waistline intact is to not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by all the choices that are available to you.  There will probably be 5 kinds of vegetables in all kinds of sauces, casseroles of all kinds, 3 kinds of meats, several kinds of breads, biscuits, or rolls, and 10 different kinds of cookies, cakes, and frosted desserts.  It’s so easy for your good judgement to get overwhelmed.

Remember that you DO NOT have to try everything.  If you do, even if you only take just a “little taste,” there’s simply so much food that you’re going to overeat.  Don’t fall victim to this.  Be very selective in your choices – and try to make those choices good ones.

Another thing to remember is not to be bullied.  Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is going to be shoving food in your face and saying something like, “You’ve just got to try this.”  You DO NOT have to put up with this!  Yes, I know it’s really hard (really, really hard) to turn down your Aunt Bertha’s chili-cheese-fri-casserole that she spent all day cooking but you’ve got to be strong.  It’s perfectly OK to say, “Thank you so much but I’m totally full.”  Take home a foil-wrapped serving that you can dispose of later if you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.  We’re talking about YOUR HEALTH here so don’t allow yourself be bullied.

Increased Activity

In order to balance the increased calories that the Holidays just naturally seem to bring, you’ve got to increase your activity levels.  Go to the gym, take a walk, go shopping, do ANYTHING that will keep you moving.  Increased activity is not something for a New Year’s Resolution.  It’s something that you should build into your Holiday plans and be doing as you enjoy the season.

Watch Your Stress Levels

Lastly, don’t stress.  Yes, I know you have no idea what kind of gift to get that special someone but believe me, anything you get them will be fine.  What’s important is that it’s from you.  So quit stressing about finding the “perfect” gift.

Remember that most stress is self-imposed.  You have control so turn down the dial.  One way to do this is to remember all those less fortunate than you and to try to do something for someone else.  Give to a charity, volunteer, visit, drop off a gift – there are numerous ways to help those who would otherwise not have any Christmas at all.  Keeping things in perspective is a great way to relieve holiday stress.

Keeping all of these thoughts in mind should help you “survive” the holidays with your diet, and your sanity, intact.

I hope you all have a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!  Remember the “Reason for the Season” and take the time to give thanks at the house of worship of your choosing.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach andPersonal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S.  Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.”  This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – no email, no cookies, no catch.  Download and enjoy!

Email Me:  Hiram Perez   

Technorati Tags: Christmas, weight loss, diet, nutrition, holidays, eating, dinner, stress, sanity, exercise, New Year

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This is an example of a subconscious “anchor,” an action or a piece of information that gets set by others, but that significantly influences the decisions we make.

Anchors are everywhere and can take a number of forms.  The food companies are experts at making their food products look (color), sound (sizzle), smell (aroma) and feel (texture) soooo good that your mouth instantly starts watering.  An anchor gets set that makes you suddenly stop in front of that specific food the next time you’’re in the grocery store.

Now, a study to be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that the eating habits of the people we eat with can have a significant influence on our own food intake.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  You’’re thinking, “”Of course.  Eating with big people who eat massive quantities of food will make me want to eat massive quantities of food as well.””  However, it turns out that it’’s not the “big people” you need to watch out for.  It’s the skinny ones with big appetites that you need to avoid.

All of us tend to mirror the actions of those around us, especially of the people we want to be like or who exhibit some characteristic (like being thin) that we want to have as well.  If you see a thin person grab a double helping of mashed potatoes in a buffet line, you’’re subconsciously going to think, “hey, that person is thin, I want to be thin, they’’re eating mashed potatoes, so I’’ll have some too.”  It’s called the “I’’ll-have-what-she’’s-having” syndrome and it’s a perfect example of the power of anchoring.  Unfortunately, the next thing you know your jeans are fitting a little too tight.

Of course, there are plenty of positive examples of anchoring as well.  In my Cardio Class for example, there’s a 17 year old guy that’’s in fantastic shape.  Whenever, we run sprints together, I can’’t help but try to out run the guy.  In fact, according to my heart rate monitor, I frequently push my heart rate well above my theoretical maximum just trying to keep up with him.  Of course he always beats me, but considering that there’’s a 40 year difference between our ages, I don’t feel too bad about my performance!  Although I know I’’m getting sucked into a competition I can’’t win, I still get some positive benefits from it.

So how do you prevent the way your own mind works from totally destroying your diet?  Here are some tips:

1.  Be aware of the anchors that are constantly trying to influence your behavior. In everything from shoes to toothpaste, “Madison Avenue” is constantly trying to get you to associate their product or service with a “gotta-have-it-now” state of mind.  See it for the sales pitch it is and then you choose how you will respond.

2.  Keep food in its proper place. The main purpose of food is to fuel your body, period.  Food is not for pleasure, or a form of escape, or something to help you cope with an unpleasant experience.  Work on any false beliefs or misconceptions you might have about food, or that involves food, because until you do, overeating will always be a part of your life.  Yes, this will be hard, especially if you belong to a culture where food is an integral part of every social event.

3.  Don’t let the group dictate your diet. Realize that your mother was right: – be careful who you associate with because your friends will shape you, including your eating habits and portion sizes.  Decide on what a normal meal is for you and then stick to it, no matter who you’’re with or where you go.  If you don’’t normally eat dessert, don’’t order one just because everybody else is getting one.

Finally, keep a close watch on your skinny friends -– especially the ones with bad eating habits!

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach andPersonal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S.  Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.”  This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – no email, no cookies, no catch.  Download and enjoy!

[tags]fitness, health, diet, eating, skinny, fat, food, anchor, behavior, overeating, weight[tags]

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2. Why Do We Overeat?

I just finished reading a great book that finally makes sense of all of the conflicting nutrition info that’s out there.  It’s called “In Defense of Food – An Eater’s Manifesto” by Michael Pollan.  You need to read this.  No seriously – you need to read this.  Period.  It’s that good.

This book is written for the layperson so there’s no technical jargon or scientific mumbo-jumbo.  In plain and simple English, Michael Pollan explains how we have gone from talking about about “food” to being overly concerned about “nutrition.”  He shows how science has attempted to divide whole foods into their separate nutritional parts in an attempt to make them “more nutritious” and as a result, have ended up making them less healthy.

So forget about dieting and read this book instead.  You’ll learn how to eat, and the weight will come off naturally.  Here’s some of what’s included in the book…

In the first section, “The Age of Nutritionism,” the author traces the early history of “food science” and explains how we’ve come to where we are today.  You’ll learn that once the powerful special interest groups like the American Dairy Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, to name a few, flexed their political and financial muscle, it became political suicide for any Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official to recommend eating less red meat or drinking less dairy.
However, if you broke the foods down into their nutritional components, you could get away with saying “eat less saturated fats.”  After all, there is no “Saturated Fat Association” in Washington.  Unfortunately, once you started speaking in terms of nutritional components, no one really knew what kinds of foods you were talking about – one of the main reasons we Americans like to think we’re eating right, yet somehow we keep getting fatter.

The second section deals with “The Western Diet and the Diseases of Civilization.”  You’ll read about how most of the health issues that Americans deal with are directly related to the foods we eat – and the foods we eat, of course, have become big business with hundreds of millions of dollars spend on marketing campaigns and advertising.

Some of the topics in the “Industrialization of Eating” chapter include:

• How we’ve gone from whole foods to refined foods;
• From complex foods to simple ones;
• How we’ve given up quality for quantity;
• How our diet has gone from mostly plants and leaves to mostly seeds;
• And how our society has changed from Food Culture to Food Science.

The last section is the real “meat” of the book (sorry).  Here, the author sums up everything you need to know about health and nutrition in 7 short words:  Eat Food.  Mostly Plants.  Not Too Much.

Isn’t that elegant?  Follow these short instructions and you’ll never go wrong.  Eat Food.  Mostly Plants.  Not Too Much.

The rest of the book simply fills out the details on how to do this:

1. Eat Food. Real food – not the artificial, fake stuff that masquerades as food in the supermarket.  Things that will help you identify real food include:
   • Don’t eat anything your Great Grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
   • Don’t eat anything that won’t rot or spoil.  If it’s got that much chemical preservative in it, you don’t want it in your body.
   • Avoid food products containing ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than 5 in number, or that include high-fructose corn syrup.
   • Avoid food products that make health claims.
   • Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle where most of the refined and artificial foods are.
   • Get out of the supermarket whenever possible and visit your local Farmer’s Market.
2. Mostly Plants. Ways to help you do this include:
   • Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.  The leaves tend to have a lot more vitamins and minerals than the other parts of the plant.
   • The quality of the plants is directly correlated to the quality of the soil it grows in.
   • Eat wild foods when you can.  Expand the variety of what you eat as much as possible.
3. Not Too Much.
   • Pay more, eat less.  Focus more on good, high quality foods instead of mass quantities of the cheap stuff.
   • Eat full meals instead of snacking all day long, and do all your eating at the table, not in your car or at your desk.
   • Eat slowly, and try not to eat alone.  Make a eating a social event where food is a secondary consideration, not the main event.

If you really want to improve your overall health and lose weight (or stop gaining) at the same time, all without having to worry about carbs, fats, and proteins, then get this book.  Buy from Amazon using the link at the right (I think I get a whole 50 cents if you use my affiliate link), buy it from your local Barnes and Noble, or go check it out at your local library.  However you get it, get it.  It’s that important.

Hiram
The Balanced Health Guy
Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach (NESTA)

Technorati Tags: Michael Pollan, nutrition, diet, whole food, carbs, fats, protein, nutritionism, plants, eating, health, weight, weight loss

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The food was great and there was plenty of it.  Like everybody else, I stuffed myself.  So now I’m sitting at my desk trying to make it through the rest of the afternoon feeling sleepy and miserable from overeating.

So why did I do it?  What is it that makes us stuff food into our bodies until we literally feel sick — and then push in a little more when the dessert tray comes around?  If we knew that, then maybe we’d know what to be on guard against.  We could then figure out a way to prevent ourselves from going too far.

When I was a kid, my mom used to say it’s because my eyes were bigger than my stomach.  That may still be true, but here are a couple more ideas I came up with:

1.  Food is Sensual – and We’re Sensual People.

Think about walking into a room where a feast has been laid out.  Your senses immediately get overwhelmed by all the smells and aromas of the foods.  Your eyes try to take in all the colors and textures.  You can still hear some of the dishes sizzle.  And when you take your first bite, you’re in heaven.  It’s not only a feast for the stomach, it’s a feast for the senses.

Face it.  Eating is a sensual experience, and because it is, we always want more.  We tend to overindulge – and overeat.  For some people, this essentially becomes an addiction.

2.  We Eat Way Too Fast.

I don’t know why it is but in the “land of abundance,” most of us believe that all the good stuff is going to be taken if we don’t hurry.  We rush to the dinner table, we rush to get our food, and we rush to eat it – I guess so we can go back and get some more.  We usually eat so fast that by the time the stomach signals that it’s full and can’t take any more, we still have another serving of mashed potatoes on the way down.

3.  Food is Always Readily Available

No matter where you are, food is always readily available.  Either there’s a snack machine on your office floor or someone has brought in donuts.  No matter what time of the day or night, there’s a restaurant, diner, or fast-food drive through open. Food is everywhere and it’s become commonplace to be constantly eating, munching, or snacking.

I know that there are probably more but these are the only ones I could come up with after eating so much turkey. So how do you protect yourself from these and prevent yourself from overeating?

First, like the drug addict, admit that you have a problem.  Then, get someone to help you beat it.  To prevent the sensual aspects of food from clouding your judgment, have someone else prepare a plate for you.  Why ask someone else to prepare a plat for you?  Because you don’t have the will power – at least not yet.

Second, slow down when you eat.  My mom used to tell us kids to chew our food 20 times before we swollowed it.  Why 20 times?  No reason.  There’s nothing magic about this number.  The point is to take the time to chew each mouthfull thoroughly and completely before swollowing it.  Really taste the food.  Feel its texture.  You’ll not only enjoy the food more, it will be more completely digested – and you’ll eat less of it.

Third, eat only when you’re hungry.  Yes, I know it’s dinner time but if you had a big lunch and aren’t hungry, don’t force yourself to have another meal.  Don’t eat between meals either (no snacking).  In order to eat only when you’re hungry, you obviously need to allow yourself to get hungry – something that won’t happen if you’re constantly snacking.

If All Else Fails

If you still end up overeating, don’t beat yourself up over it.  Hey, I teach this stuff and I STILL overeat at times.  Just resolve to take the tools I’ve given you and do better the next time.

As for me, I’m headed to kickboxing class.  I’ve got a lot of turkey and pecan pie to work off!

Hiram
The Balanced Health Guy

Technorati Tags: eating, diet, nutrition, dinner, overeating, thanksgiving, holidays

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