According to
Everyday Health - "The problem with the holidays isn’t usually the weight gain — the average American gains only one or two pounds in between Thanksgiving and New Year’s — it’s the fact that most people never lose the excess pounds. So in five years you may have gained 10 pounds and in 10 years, 20 pounds. The best course of action? Stop weight gain before it starts.
The key is eating healthy throughout the holiday season and remembering portion control when it comes to your it-wouldn’t-be-Thanksgiving-or-Christmas-without-them foods. For the rest of the courses, all you have to do is make the right choices that will allow you to indulge and enjoy, yet keep you from loading up on the fatty, high-calories dishes that can quickly lead to unwanted weight gain."
Check out some of these healthy holiday food swaps that Everyday Health recommends:
Skip: Full Fat Dips
Eat This Instead: Yogurt Dips
Why: Why waste all of your calories on an appetizer with full-fat sour cream when there is tons more food to come? An ounce of sour cream has about 60 calories, while an ounce of nonfat plain Greek yogurt has only 15-20 calories and the same amount of nonfat sour cream has about 25. The calories that you save quickly add up
Skip: Candied Yams
Eat This Instead: Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Why: A mere half-cup of candied yams is a whopping 215 calories! Try oven-roasted sweet potatoes brushed with canola or olive oil instead. At ¾ cup and 100 calories, you get more potatoes for fewer calories,
and you also get a healthy helping of vitamins and minerals!
Skip: Dark Meat Turkey
Eat This Instead: White Meat Turkey
Why: Did you know that the dark meat in your Turkey has about twice the amount of fat and 40% more calories? Your best bet is to stick to the light meat.
Skip: Traditional Gravy
Eat This Instead: Low-Fat Gravy
Why: Everyday Health recommends making turkey gravy—it’s healthy without losing taste! Melissa Joy Dobbins, MS, RD, LDN makes a healthy gravy with 1 cup of fat-free turkey broth, 2 tablespoons of flour and seasonings to taste. “If you still want to use the drippings from the roasting pan, remove the fat first,” she says. Just remember these two words: portion control—gravy calories add up fast.
Skip: Cranberry Sauce
Eat This Instead: Cranberry Relish
Why: Yes, even one little side dish can be packed with sugar, corn syrup and added sweeteners. Just a fourth of a cup can have more than 100 calories. If you make your own cranberry relish and cut back on the sugar content and/or use sugar substitutes, you’re guaranteed to have a healthier holiday side dish.
Skip: Green Bean Casserole
Eat This Instead: Fresh Green Beans
Why: Just because green beans are in the name, doesn’t necessarily make green bean casserole a healthy dish. Skip the full-fat cream of mushroom soup and French-fried onions this year—just cut and steam fresh green beans and sprinkle them with slivered almonds instead!
Skip: White Flour Rolls
Eat This Instead: Whole-Wheat Rolls
Why: Did you know that a single dinner roll has about 100 to 200 calories? If you have to have bread at the dinner table, replace white flour with whole wheat in your recipe.
Skip: Eggnog
Eat This Instead: Cider
Why: It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that a rich and creamy drink like eggnog has an upwards of 250 calories and more than half of your daily dose of saturated fat. Opt for a glass of hot apple cider instead—you instantly save 100 to 150 calories and all the fat!
Skip: Pecan Pie
Eat This Instead: Pumpkin Pie
Why: Nothing says the holidays like sweets! What would be a party without desserts anyway? Just be smart about it—a slice of pecan pie has about 500 calories. So save 200 calories and have a slice of pumpkin pie instead!
I hope this helps you make some good choices on your upcoming grocery store run! Yogurt dips are AMAZING -- they really do feel like the "Real Fat Thing!" I have to admit, I LOVE Pecan Pie, but to save 200 calories by swapping for Pumpkin Pie can be done!
I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Christmas and we can all fully get back on track together! Just don't fully fall off! Pinky Swear?
xoxox
Michelle Naomi
