Try these healthy eating tips instead of following a strict diet.
Holiday Eating Tips
Holidays can be a time of excess and excuses to eat a lot of really good food. Here is a handout with some tips to help navigate the holiday eating excess.
Tip #1
Eat at the table, put your electronic devices away, pay attention to the food you are eating. How does it taste? Are you getting full? By paying more attention, there is less chance to overeat or eat because you are bored.
Tip #2
Aim for 1/2 a plate of vegetables or fruit at each meal. Too hard? Try 1/2 plate vegetables at supper or make fruit part of your
breakfast and lunch.
Tip #3
Watch out for sneaky marketing. There is a lot to say about foods marketed to look healthy but may not be. The grocery store is a place where we can often be enticed to buy more than what we intend on buying. Click below for all the juicy details.
Tips #4
Put that Craving on HOLD. Many of us are probably getting a little bored and lonely with the self-isolation and social distancing. Some of us are working from home, closer to the kitchen. It’s easy to confuse REAL hunger with BORED of HEART hunger. Try “Putting that Craving on Hold”; set a timer for 5 to 20 minutes and finish a task or distract yourself with a chore. After the 5-20 minutes, decide if you really need to eat something. If so, decide on what that will be BEFORE going to the kitchen. Give it a try! Does it change how much or how often you eat out of boredom?
Tip #5
What are your triggers??? Have you ever walked into a coffee shop wanting a coffee…just a coffee…and ended up walking out with the next greatest chocolate creation?
Have you ever gone shopping and stood in line for more than 5minutes and ended up with a bag of chips or a chocolate bar or a pop in your cart?
Have you ever had every intention to make a nice healthy dinner for yourself and your family after a hard days work but ended up smelling the KFC on the way home and ended up buying chicken instead?
Are any of these a problem for you? If so, try to think back in time only 5 or 10 minutes and ask yourself if you wanted any of these items before you saw they were available. Probably not right? Be mindful of WHY or WHAT is making you want certain foods, it may become easier to avoid certain items in the future.
Tip #6
How much are you ACTUALLY eating? Humans are not very good at estimating portion sizes. Without measuring
portion sizes, it’s hard to tell. Try measuring portion sizes for a bit, use a measuring cup to measure how much pasta or rice you put on your plate. Use a tablespoon or teaspoon to measure how much oil or butter you use to fry something up. Use a measuring cup to scoop out ice cream or cereal. Use a table spoon to measure dressings added to salads. I’m not suggesting you aim to reduce anything, but you may be getting more than you realize. Be
mindful of your portion sizes by knowing how much you are ACTUALLY eating.
Tip #7
Journal what you eat. Most people think the reason to do this is to feel bad about what you are eating to make you change your eating habits. I like to think it helps people be mindful of their food choices. Most people think journaling what you eat needs to be done 24/7, I suggest journalling when being mindful is a bit more difficult like snacking in the evening, or on weekends or perhaps around a time of year that is challenging. I also recommend journalling in the moment instead of at the end of the day. Eating well is not all-or-nothing, talk to your dietitian about some tips and techniques that suit YOU!.
Tip #8
Watch your alcohol consumption! Alcohol impairs our ability to drive, often reduces resolve to eat well, adds empty calories to our diet and most recently has been found to have NO benefit at all to our health.
Read the latest guidelines on alcohol consumption below.