Avoid Holiday Weight Gain by Preparing for the Temptations of Holiday Eating (part 1 of 4)

The holidays are filled with warm memories and pretty pictures. Just like the one to the right with my daughter in our great room in 07'.

The holidays sometimes are also hard. They can be hard to get threw with out feeling guilt from eating way to much food or to many sweets. The New England Journal of Medicine study in 2000 shows the average healthy American will gain 1 lb of fat during the months of November and December. However the average over weight person will gain 5 pounds and continue to gain threw out the year.

Nutrition Journal 2006 has shown the obese person more than likely will gain 10- 15 lbs around the holiday season and will also gain threw out the year.

(Studies done: N Engl J Med 2000; 342:861-867 and Nutrition Journal 2006, 5:29doi:10.1186/1475-2891-5-29)

These studies are 4 - 10 years old. We should assume that the weight gain during the holidays would be higher in 2010 with our "more is better" mind set.

I have a four tips that I will share with you in the next few blogs that will help you win the battle of temptations and over eating around the holidays and other festive times.

1. Know what you typically do and plan on changing your mind set and your habit.THE BATTLE WITH FOOD BEGINS IN THE MIND! (I will blog about this with more details soon)

A. If you normally start eating appetizers right after you get to a party. DO these 2 things to help you change this habit. First tell your self you have to drink 2 glasses of water before you can even go near the appetizer table. Second give yourself a start time. Allowing yourself to eat after you have been there one hour.

B. Go in knowing how you normally eat, how you typically react to food and drinks at parties, and prepare yourself for the emotions you will have during the party that may cause you to eat more or drink more than you typically would.

Next blog coming tomorrow.

Let's get healthy,

Coach TIA