Community Voices for Health

By: Kristen Clifford

Starting and sticking to a diet is hard any time of the year, but the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be some of the hardest few weeks! Here are a few things I try to do to keep me from straying from my diet:

1. Be prepared– This is key! If I know I’m going to be at a holiday event I always bring a dish to share. I make sure that the dish I bring is healthy and can fit into my calorie allowance. This way I go into every party knowing, that if there is nothing else for me to eat, I at least have the dish I brought. If I know I’m going out to eat, I always look at the menu ahead of time and plan out what I’m going to eat. Sometimes waiting to look at a menu until I’m hungry makes me lose my willpower.

2. Never go out hungry– I always eat before we go anywhere. I never leave my house hungry because that always leaves me in a bad spot. I’m more likely to cave if my stomach is talking louder than my head!

3. Drink lots of water– Drink, drink, drink! I find the more water I drink, the less hungry I am. If I’m feeling hungry, I always drink a glass of water before eating to make sure it’s really hunger and not thirst I’m feeling.

4. Watch your portions– If there are no healthy choices or if you simply can NOT resist then help yourself; just watch your portions. If there are two different size plates, always pick the smallest plate. Our brains feel the need to fill all the space on a plate so if you have a smaller plate you have less room for calories.

5. Fill up on veggies– When making myself a plate, I always start with the salad or veggies and load the plate so there is very little room for anything else.

6. Indulge every now and then– The best thing is to know yourself. I know that if I eat free will at every holiday party we attend, it will lead to lots of binge eating on my end. I decided ahead of time that on Christmas day I will eat anything and everything I want, but only on Christmas, not every other day. Make a plan ahead of time, decide which days or parties where you’ll allow yourself to be carefree, and stick to it.

7. Get back on the horse– Here’s the most important thing: if you fall off the diet wagon, just get back on board. You don’t need to wait for a Monday, or wait until the holidays are over, just do it. Get back on that horse and be proud of the body you have!