How to eat healthy this holiday season
At the first of the year, people often adopt a new outlook on life. With excitement, they make New Year’s resolutions for healthy eating and rigorous exercise, but these are sometimes just as quickly forgotten or abandoned.
The reason for this breakdown of goals is often because people are trying to make too many changes at once, Donna Sibley said.
Sibley, a registered dietician at St. Vincent’s One Nineteen, is now teaching a class called Countdown to the Holidays Living Healthy Challenge. The goal is to provide students with simple health and wellness information on a weekly basis and give them goals to reach each week. In its first week, the class focused on the importance of drinking water throughout each day. In its second, Sibley showed attendants how to make creative vegetable snacks for tailgates. At the end of each class, students are challenged to incorporate Sibley’s tips into their day-to-day routines. At the next meeting, they discuss their progress.
“Coming to class will make me more accountable for healthy living,” student Donna Swalley said.
As holidays approach in the fall, family members visit, shopping trips are made and cold weather can make cravings for comfort food overpowering.
“When the weather changes, everybody wants to do mac and cheese, potatoes and gravy and chili,” Sibley said. “Tailgate parties and holiday parties start, and it’s just one thing after another. Some people can gain as much as five to 10 pounds over the holidays.”
The program is not necessarily for weight loss, but to show how to maintain a healthy lifestyle permanently. By the first of the year, students will have already formed healthier habits and will not feel overwhelmed with so many new goals at once.
For students to make a true change, however, they must remember their commitment to their goal of a healthy lifestyle, which can be tricky at holiday get-togethers. When heavy casseroles and pumpkin pie are skewing one’s better judgment, Sibley has some advice to help stay on track:
1. Don’t keep tempting foods in the house. During the holidays, it can be easy to pick up or prepare less nutritious foods for family gatherings. Sibley warns that this can lead to overeating of these kinds of foods, even if they are meant for other members of the family. Replace less nutritious recipes with a healthier option whenever possible.
2. Take 10. If food is brought to the house or if family members or friends cannot live without a certain unhealthy holiday dish, Sibley suggests a time delay of 10 minutes. Once a craving has struck, thinking about the option for 10 minutes might help you refocus on healthy goals.
3. Keep busy. Finding an alternate activity can often make cravings go away, Sibley said, whether it’s exercising or even taking a bubble bath.
Countdown to the Holidays Living Healthy Challenge meets each Thursday from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m. at St. Vincent’s One Nineteen. The class is free for members and $10 per week for nonmembers. To learn more, visit onenineteen.com or call 408-6550.