For many of us, our day-to-day behaviors revolve around striking a balance between enjoying life and making healthy choices. During the holidays, momentum can shift toward the “living-it-up” side.
Tradition and indulging a little extra are ingrained parts of the holidays. Maybe you can never pass up those rich mashed potatoes or the opportunity to grab a second cookie. However, with intentionality and planning, it’s possible to enjoy parties and favorite foods without tipping the balance toward unhealthy choices.
For tips on navigating the temptations of the holidays, we chatted with Carey Grieves, a Health Coach with ThedaCare. She offers some tips for making balanced choices at parties and gatherings.
Gathering Day Game Plan
- Fuel up with healthy foods. If you’re famished when you arrive at a party or dinner, you may be more likely to overindulge. Start your day with a healthy breakfast that includes protein and fiber.
- Bring a dish to pass. Sharing your own dish can help ensure you’ll have a healthy option available to you. Bonus: Your friends and loved ones might discover a new favorite fare, and they’ll have you to thank for it!
- Have a plan. Determine ahead of time your goals for staying on track. Give an honest assessment to factors such as what’s reasonable in terms of the overall amount you plan to eat and portion sizes.
- Avoid temptation. It’s often natural to gather in the kitchen or around food spreads, but doing so can make it hard to resist nibbling. Try to move your socializing to a space away from the food.
- Select strategically. Once you arrive, survey the scene. Ask yourself what you really want to eat. Choose one or two must-haves, and try to balance out the rest of your plate with healthier choices. Maybe that means yes to a scoop of mashed potatoes, but no to that store-bought dinner roll.
- Eat mindfully. After you’ve filled your plate, savor your meal and the time with loved ones. When you take your time, you’ll enjoy your meal more, and your brain will more easily recognize when your body is full.
- Make time for exercise. Adding physical activity to your day is always an excellent idea, but especially during the holidays. Instead of camping out on the couch for another holiday movie, get outside and create your own festive adventure. Try a nature hike, sledding, or snowshoeing — weather allowing!
Healthy Hacks
Whether you’re cooking or baking, it’s good to have some smart substitutions at the ready. Here’s a handful of strategies to try.
Clever Cooking
- Opt for low-fat or no-fat dairy products to save calories and saturated fat.
- Skip the butter, and choose a heart-healthy oil instead.
- Substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream in cooking or baking.
- Use brown rice or riced cauliflower instead of white rice.
- Choose a healthier mash. Check out our recipes for mashed cauliflower and mashed potatoes with olive oil.
- Select a whole wheat pasta instead of white. Not ready to go all in? Start with a 50/50 mix.
- Try roasted vegetables. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of veggies. This can turn vegetables skeptics into believers. Fall and winter vegetables lend themselves especially well here.
Better Baking
- Use applesauce as a replacement for some of the butter or oil in cake or sweet bread recipes.
- Reduce the amount of sugar in dessert recipes. You can often cut out around 1/3 of the sugar a recipe calls for, and you likely won’t even notice a difference.
- Instead of refined sugar, try a natural sweetener such as pure maple syrup, honey, or dates. It’s important to understand that sugar is sugar, but these other options have some health benefits, including antioxidants.
- Swap out half of the white flour in recipes for whole wheat flour. You can also try to find whole wheat pie and pastry flour, which is designed to mimic white flour.
- Try these ThedaCare dietitian-recommended holiday treat recipes.
A Final Word
As you navigate the holidays, give yourself grace. If you overindulge one day, get back on track the next. Weight management is about progress, not perfection. Here’s to a happy, healthy holiday season!
