Tis the season to be jolly! It is truly wonderful to spend the holidays with family and friends, eating cakes, ice cream, chocolate and drinking eggnog or sorrel made by grandma. Not to mention the tasty, delicious ham and chicken, properly baked and juicy, decorated with pineapple slices and cherry.
How easy it is, to get lost in all these enticing invites and say “well whatever, I will eat everything now and then make it my new year’s resolution to lose the weight” but don’t, stay focused!
Perhaps it was even your new year’s resolution for this year to lose the weight but somewhere along the line work, school, household chores or family life interrupted it.
Get back on track, and what better time to prove yourself than this Christmas. You can eat all the foods prepared and savor every bite without adding to your weight or be off track with control of chronic illnesses such as Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension. This is how;
- Start out making healthy choices. Read the labels of the items on your shopping list for Christmas dinner. Minimize or avoid foods high in saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium. These encourage weight gain and can cause heart disease.
- Don’t overdo frosting, sprinkles or any other sugary topping on cakes and desserts. The more sugar you add the more calories will be eaten!
- Ham tends to be very salty, so you can boil it before baking in order to remove excess salt.
- No food is prohibited (unless advised by your physician), you just have to be careful with the proportion you consume, eat small portions at a time, example, a slice of cake or two scoops of ice cream or half a bar of chocolate, one glass of eggnog.
- Pace yourself; eat one to two sweet treat per day, example, a slice of cake between breakfast and lunch and perhaps a scoop or two of ice cream for dessert.
- If you are Diabetic or Hypertensive, check blood glucose levels and blood pressure daily, so deviations, if any, will be detected early and adequately managed.
- Check weight weekly, so weight gain will be detected early and adjustments to daily intake made.
- Ensure meds as ordered for control of chronic illnesses.
- Limit alcohol intake. It can cause weight gain as alcohol has notable amount of calories especially when added to fruit juices or sodas.
- Avoid alcoholic beverages if you are on medication. Try non-alcoholic wines when giving toasts or partying with friends.
- Eat lots of vegetables with meals. This will cause a full feeling therefore appetite for too much meat is lessened.
Your weight can be maintained this holiday, and you can still enjoy all of your favorite foods and festivities, just remember this one simple word “moderation”. Have a Happy Holiday!
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Hi,
Health is most important in our life. A healthy person has a healthy mind. So health does matter. Your tips is really helpful and useful to stay healthy. Thanks for sharing such a good post.
Omi Jindal