Holiday Weight Gain: More of a Threat than Ebola

‘Tis that time of year yet again. The pumpkin spice latte has been shoved to the side as peppermint and eggnog mochas return to the spotlight. The mall has not quite turned into a zoo quite yet, however you can already find Christmas commercials on tv and radio stations playing Christmas music.

Oh the holidays, full of friends, families, parties, and of course food…copious amounts of food. When I go home for the holidays, there is a day where our house is transformed into a sweatshop where we spend an entire day cookies, chocolates, and fudge. Inevitably, there is always some squabble about what color the cookies should be frosted and if there are enough sprinkles on said cookie.

Between the stress of attempting to decorate your cookies like the ones on the box…

The stress of spending an extended amount or time with family…

And wanting to keep your physique yet being inundated with cookies...

the threat of holiday weight gain is imminent.

Now, if you haven’t figured it out by now, the media likes to exaggerate a little about the amount of weight people gain between the holidays. The media claims range anywhere from seven to ten pounds, but in reality most people only gain one pound. One pound may not seem like a lot but if you keep that pound on, it starts to add up year after year.

To help guide you through this tumultuous time, I have prepared for you Beth’s Ultimate Healthy Holiday Eating Guide!

Beth's Ultimate Healthy Holiday Eating Guide:

1. Exercise- I briefly touched on how stressful the holidays can be; we have all been there. Whether it’s the frustration of fixing the Christmas lights, the long lines at stores, figuring out what to get everybody, or just being cooped up with your family, the stress can be overwhelming. It is a saying in my family that it is not truly Christmas until someone cries.

All of this holiday stress can be channeled in one of three ways. The first is via emotional eating. The second way is best exemplified by this scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas… 

The third and probably the healthiest way is by exercising. Have you had it with the lights or your mom nagging you about every little thing? Try going for a jog or do some pushups instead of eating, drinking, or screaming away your frustrations.

2. Wear tight clothes- You may laugh at me on this one, but take my word on it. Leave the sweatpants, elastic waisted pants, flowey dresses, etc at home and opt for something more figure forming that won’t give or you can always just slap on a belt. I think we have been there after that Thanksgiving meal where we ate too much and are so uncomfortable that we have to unbutton our pants. By wearing tighter clothes, it helps serve as a reminder and may help keep you from going overboard.

3. Eat a snack before the party- Instead of arriving at the party starving and end up gorging on all kinds of not as healthy food, try eating a small, healthy snack or meal before you go to the party. This way you won’t go crazy and turn into the cookie monster.

4. Bring a healthy dish- There are no guarantees that any holiday party will have healthy options. Instead of being “forced” to eat not as healthy food, bring your own healthy dish so that there will be at least one thing there that you won’t give you a Santa-esque figure. 

5. Use a small plate and utensils- Instead of grabbing the huge buffet plate, try using a smaller plate, perhaps a salad plate, and smaller utensils. This will way it will take more effort to overeat. If you really wanted to take this advice to heart while adding some culture to the traditional holiday meal, try using chopsticks. If your chopstick skills are like mine, you will get frustrated and just give up rather quickly.

6. Sit next to either the health nut, most judgmental person, or person you dislike the most- One sure fire way to avoid overeating is to sit next to the food police or the most judgmental person at the party. Going up for seconds or loading up on cookies? Be prepared for a snide comment or to be judged heavily. While it may be agonizing, it will make you a little more conscious of what and how much you are eating in addition to want to finish eating quickly to escape. This concept also applies to sitting next to the person that you dislike the most as well.

7. Say no to Grandma (food pushers)- For some reason grandmas and moms around the world have come together to decide that nothing shows your love more than shoving cookies, cake, or more lasagna down your grandkid’s/kid’s throat. Nobody wants to hurt grandma’s or mom’s feeling so if saying no won’t work, just tell them you will take it to go. That way you can eat it later as part of a meal or, depending on how good the food was, throw it away. (Grandma if you are reading this, I have obviously never done this)

8. Fill up on fruits and vegetables- Fruits and vegetables are lower in calories and contain fiber that helps you feel full.

9. Drink water- Keeping hydrated is important because thirst is often confused for hunger. Instead of heading straight for the fruit cake at the first pains of hunger, make sure that you are actually hungry and not just thirsty. Also, not only does water help you feel full, but it will help you avoid other liquid calories in the form of egg nog or other adult beverages.

10. Eat slowly- It takes about 20 minutes for the signal from the stomach to reach the brain to tell it that the stomach is full. This is actually the key to success that competitive eaters use; the quicker you down the food the more you can shove in before your brain recognizes that your stomach is about to burst. So go ahead and slow down and talk to that weird cousin of yours.

11. Keep sweets in opaque containers- If you or your parents keep tons of holiday cookies or candies around try to put them in opaque containers (containers you can’t see through) to keep them out of sight. Research has shown that the “out of sight, out of mind” adage actually works. 

12. Don’t eat out of the container- While lounging on the couch watching all the Christmas movies or specials with the whole container of cookies may sound nice and relaxing, it can be a train wreck for your figure when you look down to see that you downed five cookies without even noticing. Instead, put whatever it is that you are eating on a plate and put said food away. This will help you from mindless eating more than you wanted to. 

13. Only make a couple kinds of desserts- Instead of making every recipe you pinned on your Pintrest board, only make two or three. Think of it this way, if there are 15 types of cookies that you can choose from, you will find it appropriate to eat more since there is more variety. Lets say in this situation you eat five cookies. Now, if there were only three types of cookies available, you would find it more appropriate to try maybe one or two.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to perfect the grace that I will be giving this year…

Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,
Keep it Green,

Beth

My Story

I often get the question as to why I became a Dietitian. I usually begin by telling people that I always liked math and science in grade school; yet often pass out/get squeamish at the sight of blood, especially if it is my own. That being said, becoming a doctor or nurse was out of the picture. Somewhere during the high school years, I came across the job title of dietitian and haven’t looked back since.

What I usually don’t tell people is that, growing up I myself was obese. In fact most of my immediate family was. I weighed more then as a ten year old, than I do now as a twenty something. Since most people never believe me when I tell them this and because I have no shame, I am going to share a picture with you. Before I do that, I have two disclaimers. The first being that I am the only girl in my family so I was a HUGE (no pun intended) tomboy growing up. The second is that I had a tragic haircut, for which I blame my mother. She thought it would look cute, but you can see for yourself that cute is not quite the word that comes to mind. This resulted in me looking like a boy. But without further ado…

If you couldn’t tell, I am the kid all the way to the right in the white shirt. 

Now, the reason I am writing about this and sharing this picture with you is not to throw a pitty party, get a pat on the back, or become the next Jared Fogle. What made me think of writing this blog was this video.  

During my fat phase as I affectionately call it, I, along side my family, ate like crap. Oreos, Doritos, Little Debbies, Gushers, soda, fast food, you name it, I ate it all. I hated most fruits and veggies, which is ironic since I am now a vegetarian. I was physically inactive; sitting in front of the tv, computer (yes, they did have computers when I was a kid), or playing video games (yes, they had those as well).  

I wrote last week  about how others influence your eating and physical activity habits because I am a living example of this. I ate like crap because that’s how my family ate. I was sedentary because my family was sedentary. What caused me to change my eating habits and exercise habits you ask? My mother. She decided that she was going to eat healthier and start walking for exercise. Did she know that the rest of the family would follow suit? Probably not, but it is amazing what the power of influence can do. If it weren’t for my mother’s motivation to make healthy lifestyle changes, it could have been me in that video; it also could have been her.  (Mom I know you are reading this…please don’t let this go to your head, but do remember this post from your favorite child come Christmas time.) 

The reason I became a dietitian is so that I could not only help people struggling with weight issues, but more importantly to help prevent them from even having weight issues. If you are an avid reader of my blogs, which I know you all are :) , you should know that there is no miracle pill for weight loss. All you have to do is eat right and exercise. Now I recognize that this is easier said than done, but seek out positive influencers in your life to help you along the way. Now if you will excuse me, I have to browse for an equally heinous haircut to pay back my mother for when its time to put her in a home. Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,

Keep it Green,

Beth

Are Your Friends Making You Fat?

You probably have all heard the saying, “you don’t become tall by hanging around tall people,” which is in fact true. Being tall is not contagious, but what about if you hung around overweight or obese people? Would you then become overweight or obese as well? First let me clarify that overweight and obesity, like height, are not contagious in the way that the beloved cold, flu, and the trending ebola is. What recent research (caution: read at your own risk it is a rather dull article) has found is that overweight and obesity may be a socially transmitted disease. Think about it. How often do you meet up with friends, family, old co-workers, classmates, etc to exercise? My guess would be hardly ever. What do we do instead you ask? We meet up for coffee, dinner, drinks, or to watch a movie/tv show. Basically all we are doing is sitting around, eating, and talking, but do you ever think that the people you eat with influence you? To help illustrate this phenomenon, I am going to delight you with yet another one of my hypothetical scenarios.

Lunch Scenario

Let's say that I came to lunch with you, maybe it’s a date or maybe not, I’ll let you decide. (That’s right I am still single...despite my mothers attempts to marry me off.) Anyways, before we even order you are a little paranoid because you are eating with a dietitian and we only eat lettuce, apples, and sometimes if we splurge, carrots, so I am obviously going to judge you based on what you order. So...you think to yourself, 

"Should I  go with a salad? Should I get the dressing on the side? What about a diet soda? Does adding lemon to my water count as a serving of fruit? What if I get the fried pickles…pickles are a vegetable? I want a burger but maybe I will get a veggie burger because it has veggies in it so it has to be healthy right? Wait…let me get the sweet potato fries because they are better for you right?"

Whew...decisions decsions. Anyways, what if on our lunch date, I ordered a salad with no cheese or croutons (shameless promotion: did I mention that all of our croutons on campus are made in house and delicious?!?), just veggies and oil & vinegar dressing? Chances are you would order something a little healthier, even if you really wanted a baconator and fries. Fast forward through random small talk about the weather and our childhoods mixed in with small white lies and half-truths, I eat half of my salad and stop and say how stuffed I am and ask the server for a box (because everybody loves leftover salads right?). You on the other hand are halfway done with whatever option you deemed a little bit healthier than a baconator and are still hungry, but I stopped eating and you don’t want to look like a pig right? So you stop eating as well and try to fill the remaining room in your stomach with water or whatever it is you ordered to drink. We both get boxes for our remaining food and the server hands us the bill, which I might offer to go halfsies on but I don’t really mean it, so you pay the bill and we leave. Noticed how my order and actions dictated what and how much you ate? Did I intend to make you to choose a healthier option or to eat less? Yes, because in studying to become a dietitian we all take we take a class called how to judge people and make them feel bad 101, but me being a woman, am a natural and tested out of it. Ok, so maybe I am just kidding on that one, but the real answer is no. My actions still influenced you though.

Now, what if on our date I ordered first and ordered a baconator with fries with ranch (I am from the Midwest after all and we do love our ranch)?

My guess is that your reaction would be something along the lines of, “heck yeah, this chick is the coolest dietitian ever!” and you would proceed with your order of a monster burger and fries. Again, fast-forward through random small talk about the weather and our childhoods mixed in with small white lies and half-truths, but instead I annihilate my baconator and fries with ranch. Not wanting to be shown up by a girl, you join the clean plate club as well. Blah, blah, blah, you pay the bill and we leave. Notice how I dictated what and how much you ate differently than in the first scenario? Note: This really is hypothetical because A-I am a vegetarian (gasp, one of those hippy tree huggers) and B-You should never take someone to Wendy’s on a first date.

Breaking it Down

Is the moral of the story to eat with a dietitian? No. Should you never eat a baconator and fries? No. Should you abandon all of your friends, family, etc that do not eat as healthy? No. The moral of the story is to be more cognizant of the influence that whoever you are eating with has on you. If you want to eat healthier stick to it, heck maybe you can be the leader of team nutrition and unintentionally get whomever it is you are eating with to eat a little healthier or to eat less, but beware you may get the title of food police or nutrition nazi... 

Now if you will excuse me, I am late for my daily ritual of singing Beyonce’s Single Ladies while parading around my living room with my dog.

Until next time!

Keep it Fresh,

Keep it Green,

Beth