Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

November 23, 2011 by Heather

Happy Full Throttle Wednesday, lovelies! My girlfriends and I dubbed the day before Thanksgiving “Full Throttle Wednesday” because it’s the night when everyone comes back to their hometowns and goes a little buckwild. You can bet we’ll be getting our freak on tonight. Hehe.

Breakfast

My morning started off on the best note: with cereal of course! I combined 1/2 cup each of Nature’s Path Multibran and Cinnamon Flax Plus flakes with unsweetened almond milk, 1 Tbsp. chia seeds, and sliced banana – aka foodgasm city.

After breakfast, I headed to my one and only class of the day (rude, I know) until 10:30 before packing up the car and heading home for Thanksgiving break. This actually isn’t much of a break because I’m working all weekend and have an exam early next week but oh well – at least I’m free from classes for a couple of days!

Workout

Today marked week one of the new Total Body Workout. I was so excited to get this one together and it is a KILLER! You have to try it and tell me how it is. You might grunt and hate me a little bit.

Note: I did this today at my house instead of the FSU gym. You can replace running up the stairs with 1 minute of jumping jacks, jump rope, burpees, or mountain climbers. Alternating between these four moves is a great way to keep your body guessing too! Remember to talk to your doctor before starting a new routine!

Repeat this circuit twice after warming up with 25 minutes of cardio.

Blast It! Workout

Exercise	Weight	Reps
Bicep Curls	10 lbs.	20
Ab Isolations	None	Entire song
Run up and down the stairs	None	3 flights (up & down=1 flight!)
Standing Row	Resistance band	20
Stability Ball Crunch	None	40
Run up and down the stairs	None	3 flights
Standing Tricep Extension	10 lb. dumbbell	20
Weighted Crunch	5 – 10 lb. dumbbell	40 pulses
Run up and down the stairs	None	3 flights
Push-Ups	None	20
Dumbbell Side Crunch	5 – 10 lb. dumbbell	20 reps each side
Run up and down the stairs	None	3 flights
Front Raises	5 – 10 lb. dumbbell	20 reps each side
Saxon Side Bend	5 – 10 lb. dumbbell	20 reps each side
Run up and down the stairs	None	3 flights

Lunch

After said KILLER workout, my tummy was a-gurglin’ so I put together a simple lunch of a whole wheat pita stuffed with romaine lettuce, a black bean burger, and some mild salsa.

Alongside my pitawich, I ~~enjoyed~~ inhaled some garlicky sweet potato fries. Mmm mmm mmm. (Sorry for the dark photo…the lighting was being pesty!)

After lunch, Matty and I headed to Whole Foods to pick up the ingredients for our Thanksgiving dishes (which will be revealed tomorrow evening!). We got to cooking and I must say, I think we have some winners.

Dinner

After an cooking and watching Ellen, it was time for dinner – or at least that’s what my tummy told me! I decided to roast some Brussels sprouts and carrots and added them to a pan of kale and quinoa sauteed in Earth Balance. I added some rosemary and sage to the mix, let the flavors blend, and then added about 1 Tbsp. of Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki Sauce. The end result was phenomenal. Even Matty gave it a thumbs up!

Healthy Holiday Eating Tips

Ahh, the holidays. It’s the most wonderful time of the year – especially when Michael Buble comes out with a new Christmas CD. Hubba freaking hubba! In my last post about the holidays, I talked about how I ended my obsession with eating during the holidays but I didn’t dive into specific tips on how to feel satisfied, not send yourself into a food coma, and please your host! Allow me to olbige…

Don’t tell yourself you can’t have something! The more you restrict yourself from having a food, the more you will crave it and, most likely, end up binging on it. Take a palm-sized amount of each food that you’re interested in trying. That way, you can enjoy a bit of everything without worrying about “missing out” on other dishes.

If someone asks about your food choices… (i.e. avoiding meat or Aunt Marie’s famous casserole dish), be confident, be yourself and politely get to the point. I deal with this a lot during the holidays because many people equate veganism with deprivation. I usually smile and say something to the effect of, “I love the food on my plate and I’m definitely enjoying it! But thanks for your concern.” If people ask further questions, then I divulge on my reasons for being vegan…but only if it is requested of me.

Don’t fast. Sometimes, we think eating less earlier in the day will “save us calories” in the long run. This is actually more harm that good. Our body STORES fat when when it sense starvation. Stick with your normal eating schedule and have a couple of smaller meals before T-day dinner.

Take Control. Don’t feel like you need to have everything on the table because everyone else is and/or expects you to. Eat what you want until you’re satisfied. If you become satisfied before your plate is clear, that’s okay! Simply throw the rest away. Intuitive eating is hard but key to connecting your mind and body together.

Relax! The holidays aren’t all about food, despite what society tells us. Focus on what matters most: the company. If it was just you and the food, things wouldn’t be as enjoyable or interesting, right?

Stay lovely,
Heather

Question of the Day: What do you think about healthy eating during the holidays? Yay or nay?

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a safe, beautiful, and delicious day filled with love, laughter, and light. You’ll all be in my tableside prayers.