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Tips for healthy eating through the holidays

It’s holiday party season again! How can we avoid putting on extra weight while having a great time? Here are some holiday eating tips so that you can still look good and be healthy in January without having to deprive yourself of all the holiday treats. 

• Don’t go to a holiday social event hungry.
  When you’re hungry, you tend to eat too much food too quickly. Therefore, eat a wholesome breakfast and lunch on the day of the event to avoid overeating at the party.
• Watch your portion sizes.
  Treat yourself to a nice drink, dessert, chocolate or sweets without guilt, but always watch the amounts you eat.  Go for smaller portions. This allows you to sample all the different foods. Remember, moderation is always the key.
• Make a conscious choice to limit high fat items.
  High-fat foods are found in fried foods, cream-based soups, cheese-filled casseroles, pies, processed meats (such as salami and sausages), some pastries and baked goods.
• Try low-fat versions of egg nog.
  Traditional eggnog is usually made with egg yolk and thick cream containing as much as 350 calories for an 8-oz. glass. Do a Google search for “low fat eggnog”, and you will find lots of low-fat eggnog recipes. If you buy commercial eggnog, you will be delighted to find low-fat or fat-free eggnog out there. You can even find soy nog at your local grocery store called “Holly Nog”!
• Get rid of leftovers.
  If you host a gathering and serve traditional but less than healthy food, get rid of the leftovers. If it’s not there, you can’t eat it, right? Pack it up and insist your guests take it home.
• Drink plenty of water.
  Sweet holiday beverages and coffee can dehydrate your body. Drink at least eight glasses of water daily.
• Physical activity.
  Take nice brisk walks with your loved ones and enjoy their company this
  holiday season.

The last tip stated about physical activity is the #1 factor in balancing your health. The more you move your feet, the more you’re allowed to eat. Don’t wait until January to start or re-start your fitness routine. Reduce holiday stress by working out now!

Healthy Holiday Eating Tips: Recipe substitutions

If you are the chef of the party, try the following lower-fat recipe substitutions:

• Eggs – Double up the whites & remove the yolks.
• Sour Cream – Use low-fat plain yogurt or low-fat sour cream.
• Milk – Skim or 1% milk.
• Ice Cream – Frozen yogurt
• Heavy Cream – 2 tbsp flour whisked into skim milk
• Whipped Cream – Other low-fat whipped products like Nutri-whip.
• Cheese – Low-fat cheese (Non-fat cheese doesn’t melt well when used in cooking or baking)

Background:
Back in March 2008, I had been in a weight-loss plateau for three months, weighing in at 193 pounds and having a body fat percentage of 15%. Despite my intense exercise routine, I was not able to lose the desired remaining weight consistently; however, my body fat percentage was also decreasing slowly.  I suspected that I had been eating too many calories for weight loss, and was simply maintaining my weight.  I knew that if I wanted to go below 10% body fat, I could lose about 20 more pounds.

Results Summary:
I started using MyFoodDiary.com (MFD) on March 31, 2008 and reached my goal of 175 pounds and under 10% body fat on August 6, 2008.

What is it?:
MyFoodDiary.com is a web-based calorie counter and exercise log designed to be used as part of a weight management program.  Most users of this online service use it to assist with weight loss.  The site tracks calorie intake (diet) and calorie expenditure (exercise).  Then based on the user’s physical statistics and goals, it calculates how many calories must be consumed and/or burned to either lose one to two pounds per week, maintain weight, or gain weight.  Users can monitor on a daily basis two factors involved in weight management: food intake vs exercise.  MyFoodDiary.com supports the basic weight loss premise that one must consume less calories than the calories expended.  For example, in order to lose one pound per week, one should create a calorie deficit of 500 calories/day.  Over the course of seven days, the deficit would be 3,500 calories, which is approximately equal to one pound of weight loss.

You can watch a video overview here.

Target audience (Who is it for?):
MyFoodDiary.com is best suited for the disciplined person.  Ideal users are those who are willing to record what they eat on a daily basis (using the site’s online database of over 50,000 food items), record nutritional information for the foods not in the database, and record calories burned through activity and exercise. Users should be goal-oriented, motivated, determined, and persistent.  The service is best applied by those who want to change to a healthy, active lifestyle.  I would not recommend this service to people looking for a quick fix to their weight problems or those who just want to change their diet without exercise because losing weight in a healthy way is not just about food or “starving yourself”.  Additionally, I believe the service works best in conjunction with the use of a heart rate monitor during exercise to monitor the exact number of calories burned.

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Reaching 179 lbs by Greek food is definitely not the way to gain weight.  But that’s what happened after Saturday night’s dinner party.  We had some neighbors over to thank them for their generosity in letting us borrow stuff while we had lots of family staying in our home for our son’s recent wedding.  It was no holds barred on the Greek food:  pastitsio, Greek chicken, spanakopita, and Greek salad.  Maria even made carrot cake.  That morning I weighed in at 177, so the next day’s 179.6 was not a pleasant sight for me on the scale.

To offset the planned Greek food, I went on a 5-mile run Saturday morning down to the gym and back.  It was an easy run, but strangely, I felt a little lethargic.  In any case, the 700 calories I burned were not enough to offset my overeating later than night.

To compensate for the unwanted weight gain, I burned over 1700 calories in the gym Sunday:  spin class, abs workout, and a short upper body workout at LA|FITNESS, and then my leg workout at 24Hour Fitness later in the evening.  I sure did sweat a lot on Sunday, but I think the two protein shakes I drank gave me some constipation this morning.  Even so, I was able to drop down to 178.8 lbs.  Surely, if I had had a BM (as my trainer likes to say… stands for “bowel movement”), I would have been at my previous 177 lbs on the scale this morning.

Last night I used my new 24Hour Fitness membership for the first time.  LA|FITNESS closes at 8:00 PM on weekends.  I have to say that the 24Hour in Escondido looks good on the outside, but compared to the new LA|FITNESS, it was definitely an eyesore inside with old equipment.  But there could far worse things.  I am fortunate to be a member at both clubs.

My Lower Body workout routine was good.  I think my least favorite part is the squats, especially the split stance squats where you put one leg in front of the other.  I do them on the Smith machine, and it’s just not comfortable for me right now.  I feel a little hesitant, like I might drop the bar and hurt my back.  The split stance is more difficult that the regular front squats because on the front ones, I can support the weight with both of my legs directly under the weight.  In any case, I sure did sweat a lot … to the tune of about 400 calories.

I continued my new running program this morning before work.  Again, I did about 3 miles.  I felt strong in the legs, probably from the strength training from last night.  But strangely, my pace was a little slower than last week’s.  It’s hard to say why.  The whole run felt good.  I was motivated.  Maybe I got lulled into a slow pace by how easy the run felt.  I will be sure to push myself harder when I feel that strong in my legs.

I’ll find out the answer to that question this evening during my training session because I’ve asked my trainer to take me through my Upper Body routine so I can experience what the pace, intensity, and weight levels are supposed to be like. I don’t think my workouts are intense enough. Let me rephrase that: I’m not intense enough during my workouts. Especially during this Power phase.

I suspect that my “breaks” in between sets and exercises are a tad too long. The pace of exercise is probably too “fast” when it should be a little slower and gritty.

Sure. Some of this uneasiness could be learning these three new routines. I’ve only finished one full rotation of all three, and it could very well be that after one or two more full rotations, my confidence in performing the exercises correctly will increase to the point where I can get more intense.

That’s the way I felt during the other two phases in the past four months.

My intensity does need to decrease when it comes to my weight… on the scale that is. This morning I weighed in at 177 lbs, which caused me to freak out … for just a little bit.  I’m curious to see what body fat % my skinfold measurements yield tonight. If they are the same or lower than last week’s, then I’m okay with the quantity of food I’ve been eating, which ranges from 2500 - 3000 kcal/day while burning anywhere from 400 - 800 kcal/day.