Christmas Eatings

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Sorry about the long time between posts this time. It was kind of hard for me to do because of all my travel and  basketball. After New Year's I should be getting back into a regular swing of articles.

With Christmas dinner we can all easily fall into the pit of eating whatever is put in front of us. Tradition, family, tasty treats, and holiday spirit are all culprits. Eating these foods can hurt the waistline at an inopportune time when we all want to look pretty for family photos, New Year's, or any holiday party. Just a few reminders this holiday so that we don't lose everything we work for.

Avoid the food coma. Eat until you are full. What's nice about the holidays is that we usually get more time, leftovers, and plenty of opportunities to eat those foods we love. When you pass your own threshold in order to eat more foods you are going to hurt yourself. Side effects include sleepiness, vomiting, sweating, fatigue, etc. You should be having fun now not complaining about how full you are feeling! Pace yourself. Go back for more but do it much later, and definitely realize that food could keep on coming (don't forget dessert!).

Don't stop your typical daily activities. Instead recruit friends, family, others, etc. to do them with you! Go for a jog in the morning? Bring the sister. P90X around lunchtime? Who else wants in? Getting your blood flowing and working up an appetite will help you stay in shape while enjoying the awesome food. Who knows, maybe you'll introduce a fun new way to stay fit to your friends and family. Here's a fun exercise: shopping. Make sure it involves lots of walking, trying on clothes/shoes,  picking up objects, etc. You'll find yourself burning when you don't even realize.

Stop snacking! I know it's hard...but try not to eat anything unless it is at a meal. When we eat these big meals like this, snacking can be the real problem with too many calories being eaten in one day. The days where you know you'll be feasting (and I'm talking Grandma's house here), have a nice light breakfast and lunch and really get yourself hungry for the dinner. It will make it taste that much better I promise! I don't really recommend this style of eating all through out the year, but for these special events, it can work perfectly.

Happy Holidays again! You have been awesome readers my first year with the blog!