Eat Out Eat Well

How Can I Get Through The Holidays Without Piling On Weight?

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The million dollar question is how can I get through the holidays without piling on weight?

There are many strategies, tips, and techniques and you need to find the ones that work for you, your body, and your lifestyle.  You need to create your own foodMAP – your own roadmap to happy, healthy, and delicious eating.

There are certain key things to remember:

  • Portion control is key.  You can eat anything you want if you keep the portions in control so that you don’t continuously exceed your calorie needs.  When you take in more calories than your body needs and uses, you’ll gain weight. Overeating on the day of a holiday happens – you and your body can easily compensate for a day of excess. Many days of excess becomes a problem, often a habit, and leads to weight gain and of the issues associated with being overweight.
  • Another important point is to stop worrying so much about every morsel that goes into your mouth and what all that food can do to your body.  When you focus (obsess) about something you are focusing on the problem, not the solution.  Your brain then starts defaulting to the “problem.”  You make yourself miserable and create a very stressful existence for yourself.
  • Give yourself permission to eat the holiday treats that you really want. If you don’t you’ll feel miserable and deprived and find yourself gorging in front of an open fridge or freezer door at midnight. Just ask yourself what you really want – not what you should eat because it’s the holiday or Mom’s specialty – but what you really, really want – not everything that crosses your path that looks delicious (and so many things do).
  • Feed yourself well.  If you skip meals to try to save up calories you’ll just end up (over)eating everything in sight because you’re starving, your blood sugar is in the basement, and your body is screaming “feed me.”  When that happens, you head straight for the carbs right off the bat – and it’s almost always all downhill from there.  Not a great tactic for your body or your mind – or your general mood.
  • Stay active.  Move around.  Activity burns some calories, keeps your metabolism a bit revved, and is a great stress reliever – and we all know the holidays can heap on their fair share of stress.
  • Relax and enjoy the holiday – the dictionary says a holiday is supposed to be a day of festivity and recreation.  All too often we forget that.

Why Is It So Easy To Gain Weight Over The Holidays?

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Doesn’t it feel like you gain at least seven pounds of weight, all of it blubber? A lot of us start indulging at Thanksgiving (some at Halloween) and don’t stop the free style calorie fest until those onerous New Year’s Resolutions.  Then, because we feel guilty about indulgences, we swear we won’t touch another cookie or piece of cake or candy until we lose massive amounts of weight.  And then comes Valentine’s Day.

Some Facts

A study of holiday related weight gain published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the average weight gain between Thanksgiving and New Year is slightly less than a pound.

The problem is that most of us don’t lose that extra pound that attaches itself in unwanted places and accumulates year after year. And, although the average holiday gain is only one pound, people who are already overweight tend to gain a lot more – one study found five or more pounds during the holidays.

Something To Think About

You need to eat 3,500 extra calories to gain a pound. According to the Calorie Control Council, Americans may eat more than 4,500 calories and – oh my gosh — 229 grams of fat from a combination of snacks and a traditional “turkey with all the trimmings” holiday dinner. And, that doesn’t include breakfast or leftovers!

All together, that’s more than twice times the average daily calorie intake and almost three and a half times the fat since 45 percent of the calories in the typical holiday dinner can come from fat. A scary fact: the average person may eat the equivalent of three sticks of butter during a holiday meal.

The average holiday dinner alone carries a load of 3,000 calories with many of us nibbling and noshing our way through another 1,500 calories of chips, dips and drinks and the like before and after the big meal. According to the chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), a person who weighs 160 pounds would have to run at a moderate pace for four hours, swim for five hours, or walk 30 miles to burn off a 3,000-calorie meal. That’s a whole lot of exercise!

Where Do Extra Holiday Calories Come From?

Most extra holiday calories don’t come from the “day of” holiday meal but from unrelenting nibbling during the holiday season. It’s way too easy to add on 500 extra calories a day — which translates into a pound in a week (7 x 500 = 3500 calories, or 1 pound).

Here are some common holiday indulgences that weigh in at around 500 calories:

  • 12 ounces of eggnog
  • 1 piece of pecan pie
  • 3 ounces of mixed nuts
  • 22.5 Hershey’s Kisses
  • Starbucks’ Venti Peppermint Mocha with whipped cream
  • 4 glasses (5oz.) of wine
  • 10 regular size candy canes
  • 2-3 large Christmas cookies
  • 2.5 potato latkes
  • 4 fun-sized Snickers and 20 pieces of candy corn

What To Ask Yourself Before A Holiday Indulgence

— or for that matter, before indulgences any time of the year:

  • Do I really, really want it or is it because it looks good, smells good, or just means Christmas (or Halloween, or thanksgiving, or Hanukkah, or Valentine’s Day?
  • Is it worth the calories?
  • Do I need all of it (or any of it) to be happy or satisfied?
  • How will I feel after I eat it – both physically and emotionally?
  • What is important to me: the food, how I feel while I’m eating it, how I feel after I eat it, what the scale might say to me tomorrow morning?

Once you’ve had the conversation with yourself eat whatever is yanking your chain and love it — or be pleased with yourself that you didn’t.  Either way, you’ve made a mindful decision.

 

For more holiday eating strategies check out my soon to be released ebook:  How Not To Get Fat Over The Holidays.  I’ll let you know when it’s available from Amazon, Sony Reader, Nook, and iBooks.

How Many Pounds Of Meat And Cheese Do You Eat In A Year?

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american-average-food-consumption

According to Visual Economics:

  • The average American is 36.6 years old and eats 1,996.3 lbs. of food per year.
  • The average man is 5 feet 9 inches and weighs 190 lbs.
  • The average woman is 5 feet 4 inches and weighs 164 lbs.

Each year Americans eat:

  • 85.5 lbs. of fats and oils
  • 110 lbs. of red meat, including 62.4 lbs. of beef and 46.5 lbs. of pork
  • 73.6 lbs. of poultry, including 60.4 lbs. of chicken
  • 16.1 lbs. of fish and shellfish and 32.7 lbs. of eggs
  • 31.4 lbs. of cheese each year
  • 600.5 lbs. of non-cheese dairy products
  • 181 lbs. of beverage milks
  • 192.3 lbs. of flour and cereal products, including 134.1 lbs. of wheat flour
  • 141.6 lbs. of caloric sweeteners, including 42 lbs. of corn syrup
  • 56 lbs. of corn each year and eat 415.4 lbs. of vegetables
  • 24 lbs. of coffee, cocoa and nuts
  • 273.2 lbs. of fruit

These foods include:

  • 29 lbs. of French fries
  • 23 lbs. of pizza
  • 24 lbs. of ice cream
  • 53 gallons of soda, averaging about one gallon each week
  • 24 lbs. of artificial sweeteners
  • 2.736 lbs. of sodium, which is 47 percent more than recommended
  • 0.2 lbs. of caffeine each year, about 90,700 mg

In total, Americans eat an average of 2,700 calories each day.

Graphic and statistics courtesy of Visual Economics

How About A Parade Before The Feast?

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On Thanksgiving morning, right before the feast of the day (and before football), there’s another long-standing tradition.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, originally the Macy’s Christmas parade which served as the kick-off for the shopping season, began in 1924 when animals from the Central Park Zoo were recruited by Macy’s employees to march on Thanksgiving Day.

The parade’s helium-filled balloons made their debut in 1927 and early on were released into the city’s skyline holding rewards for their finders.

The parade, first nationally televised in 1947, now has around 44 million viewers with 3 million people lining its 2.5-mile Manhattan route for a first hand glimpse.

Around noontime, Santa on his sleigh accompanied by his elves make their way into Herald Square after their trip along the parade route.  What a wonderful way to set the stage for a great meal with family and friends.

How Long Can Your Turkey Safely Stay On The Table — And In The Fridge?

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How Do Turkeys Cross The Road?

Where I live, I often have to stop my car and wait for the wild turkeys to cross the road.  I’m not kidding.  They start climbing over a stone wall from a wooded area one after another.  Gorgeous, they’re not.   And they don’t cross in a timely fashion, either.  They’re sort of in a line but sometimes one shows an independent streak and turns around to look for the others.  Quite a sight – and, quite annoying when I’m in a hurry having seen this parade many times before – although it makes me smile every time!

These are not the turkeys that most of us will find on our dining room tables – but certainly are distant relatives of those eaten by the early New England settlers.

Turkey Is A Very Good Source Of Lean Protein

Turkey is low in fat and high in protein. A 3 1/2-ounce serving is about the size and thickness of a new deck of cards. The fat and calorie content varies because white meat has less fat and fewer calories than dark meat and skin.

Meat Type (from a whole roasted turkey)

Calories

Total Fat

Protein

Breast with skin

194

8 grams

29 grams

Breast w/o skin

161

4 grams

30 grams

Wing w/skin

238

13 grams

27 grams

Leg w/skin

213

11 grams

28 grams

Dark meat w/skin

232

13 grams

27 grams

Dark meat w/o skin

192

8 grams

28 grams

Skin only

482

44 grams

19 grams

Once Your Turkey Is Cooked, Does It Matter How Long You Leave It Out?

Absolutely! According to the Centers for Disease Control the number of reported cases of food borne illness (food poisoning) increases during the holiday season. You shouldn’t leave food out for more than two hours. To save turkey leftovers, remove the stuffing from the cavity, cut the turkey off the bone, and refrigerate or freeze all leftovers.

The Basic Rules For Leftovers

According to the March 2010 edition of the Nutrition Action Healthletter (Center for Science in the Public Interest):

The mantra is:  2 Hours–2 Inches–4 Days

  • 2 Hours from oven to refrigerator: Refrigerate or freeze your leftovers within 2 hours of cooking. Throw them away if they are out longer than that.
  • 2 Inches thick to cool it quick: Store your food at a shallow depth–about 2 inches–to speed chilling.
  • 4 Days in the refrigerator–otherwise freeze it: Use your leftovers that are stored in the fridge within 4 days. The exceptions are stuffing and gravy  which should be used within 2 days. Reheat solid leftovers to 165 degrees F and liquid leftovers to a rolling boil. Toss what you don’t finish.

How Long Can I Keep Leftover Turkey In The Freezer?

Frozen leftover turkey, stuffing, and gravy should be used within one month. To successfully freeze leftovers package them properly using freezer wrap or freezer containers. Use heavy duty aluminum foil, freezer paper, or freezer bags for best results and don’t leave air space. Squeeze the excess air from freezer bags and fill rigid freezer containers to the top with dry food. Without proper packaging, circulating air in the freezer can create freezer burn – those white dried-out patches on the surface of food that make it tough and tasteless. Leave a one inch head space in containers with liquid and half inch in containers filled with semi-solids.

Happy Thanksgiving