Christmas Eats: Survival 101

Merry Christmas, everyone!  It’s that time of the year!  Time to remember and celebrate Jesus’ birth, see friends and loved ones, gift giving, travel, and food, food, food.

Have you ever noticed that people associate food with just about every holiday, especially Christmas?  We have had so many cookies, treats, candies, cakes, and other yummy delicacies this past week at work.  My husband and I have come home laden with chocolate treats and caramel corn.  It’s crazy.  You know, we don’t get treats like this for Fourth of July or even Thanksgiving.  It’s just at Christmas.  Not to mention the many family gatherings everyone goes to where there is – you guessed it – food.

So what’s a healthy girl to do?  I don’t try to pretend like I have all the answers, but I can at least tell you what I plan to do.  Maybe you can take some of these tips and apply them to your own eating and celebration habits this Holiday Weekend.

1.  I plan on keeping my plate 3/4 vegetables and 1/4 meat.  Period.  I heard about this tip in a parenting magazine, and I tried it out the other week at a wedding reception.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked.  I have thought in the past that meat = what makes me full.  Meat isn’t unhealthy, but it does pack a lot of protein and contains zero fiber.  While you need protein, you also need the nutrients of vegetables to make sure your body stays in working order.  If your plate contains 3/4 vegetables, you will be consuming the vitamins, minerals, and fiber needed to promote healthy digestion, while still getting the protein you need from the meat.  I came away from my “trial plate” as full as can be, thanks to the fiber.

2.  Try to cut back on the sweets.  I know you hear this a lot, and no one wants to hear it, but it’s necessary, I think.  A huge platefull of dessert most likely contains enough calories to substitute a meal, and after the calories you’ve just consumed at your holiday dinner, you don’t need to continue piling on the calories, not to mention the sugar.  Small portions of sweets are enough to satisfy your sweet tooth without adding too many unnecessary foodstuffs.

3.  Drink lots of water.  80 oz. a day is recommended.  Keeping water in your body will keep things moving through your digestive system, giving it less time to sit and have more calories absorbed into your body.  Water also helps you feel full, so if you don’t mind skipping to your loo later, you can drink a good bit before dinnertime to ensure you don’t overeat.

These are the three tips I’m going to keep in mind as I celebrate the holidays with my family in the coming week.  I think, with these tips, you too may have a less guilty Christmas (if you’re prone to that like I have been) knowing that you have done well to try and stay healthy.  I think you’ll feel better, too!

 

Merry Christmas!!!

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What’s Been Going On?

Lots of stuff, truthfully.  I know I haven’t been on in a few weeks, and for that I am sorry.  I have been busy, busy, busy!  It is that time of year, you know…

That time of year when you actually get to see family you haven’t seen the rest of the year.  You know, I think we should all try harder to see our families and friends at times other than Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Sometimes it seems like we say “Oh, behold!  It’s the Holidays!  I get to see my family!”  I am blessed that I get to see my parents fairly regularly.  It’s the other relatives I don’t see too often.  My sister, for instance, has been in Spain studying since September.  I have missed her tremendously since she has been gone.  We got her back on Saturday, though!  SF Hubby and I went with my parents, her fiancee and friends, and my aunt and uncle to pick her up in Atlanta.  It was a big day for all of us, and we’re very glad she’s home.

It’s also that time of year that you have more on your calendar than you can realistically “make happen.”  I think that’s what has happened to us.  We have been very busy – sometimes with planned activities, and, well, you know, the unplanned stuff that comes up – so I have had less time home with my two boys than we are used to.  For that reason, the blog took a passenger seat for a time.

Surprisingly, thinks have slowed down enough that I can pick back up on my blogging.  I have not been blogging, but I also have not given up on living healthy.  I still get my fiber, and I try my hardest to make my “cheat meals” few and far between.  I am trying to make a game plan for the upcoming two weeks as far as my eating goes.  I plan on consuming most of my fiber at home and at work, and I am prepared to eat a few challenging meals (as in it will be a challenge to make the meal healthy).  With family in town, and it being Christmas, often I don’t know what’s on the menu until I sit down at the table.

I have a few strategies that I am hoping *fingers crossed* work for my holiday eating.  Maybe these tips will help you out, too.  I have heard that if your plate is 3/4 vegetables, you will already be eating healthier than the average American this Christmas.  Let 1/4 of the plate be meat with no gravy, and the rest be vegetables.  For heavy hors d’oeuvres, I will try to make my plate mostly vegetables and crackers, with one or two savory treats.  Restaurants really aren’t too much of a challenge for me.  I have learned how to look for healthy items on the menu, so this doesn’t present a problem for me.  Hopefully, with these tips in mind, I will survive this year’s Christmas eating unscathed.

I also would like to let you know that I am going to be blogging book reviews again.  I had a blast when I did this last year, and I am looking forward to starting back up.  The address for my new book review blog is http://southernfiberreads.wordpress.com.  I hope you will check it out!  I am networked with several authors and book reviewers, so I am in the process of obtaining new books for me to read and review.  In the meantime, I am transferring my old reviews onto the new blog, so check back often for updates!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas this year, and keep in mind that because Christ Jesus was born and gave us the greatest gift ever given, we are able to join with those we love and give of ourselves to them.

With much love this Christmas season,

Southern Fiber

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