By Katie Coseo
Published on December 5, 2007
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and unfortunately the most fattening. No offense to your grandmother’s sweet potato pie and uncle Vern’s famous turkey gravy, but this is the time of the year when you throw your New Year’s resolution for eating healthy out the window.
Holiday eating has been known to cause an average weight gain of 7 to 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
“We started at Halloween,” said Professor Janet Levins.
Levins is one of the nutrition instructors and a registered dietician who has been working at PJC’s Pensacola, Warrington, and Milton campuses for the past 27 years. She teaches PJC students the science of eating healthy and understanding how foods work in the body.
It does get harder as the seasons turn to avoid the tasty treats of the holidays but there are a few things students and other members of the family can do to try to avoid the holiday bulge.
Linda Mills, an adjunct professor and a master’s level registered and licensed dietitian, simply suggests people can eat “anything without sauce.”
At buffets or family dinners, people are usually bombarded with many choices and growling stomachs that want everything. Levins suggests eating breakfast or lunch at their regular times, so you won’t be starving and running to be first in line for the turkey and stuffing.
“We’re all on the see food diet. We see it and eat it,” explained Linda Mills.
Keeping track of what you eat can also help avoid gaining that extra weight during the holidays although sometimes it’s hard to remember the measurements of what you actually ate. Portion control is key for this, but instead of trying to figure out how many ounces or cups of food you’re eating you can approximate instead. For instance, Levins explains to her classes that, “one serving of meat is equal to a deck of cards and one cup is approximately the size of a tennis ball.”
Eating slowly can also be helpful because your brain has a 20-minute lag time until it signals the body that it is full.
Levins also suggests for those buffets that offer rolls to make small sandwiches to use mustard instead of mayonnaise and to try to avoid butter and margarine products as well. One teaspoon of either of these fats is equal to 45 calories. You even need to watch the bit of salad you may get with your meal as well, mostly the dressing.
“Imagine the salad dressing as a pat of butter,” Levins said
Although it is good to stay on track with eating healthy, Levins says, “If it’s Christmas Day, Thanksgiving Day, or New Year’s day, don’t worry about your diet. It’s the times in between that get you.” Mainly it’s those leftovers and snacking that get you where it hurts, so be sure to get right back to your regular eating habits after the family dinners.
If you want to eat healthier during or after the holidays, you can go to www.mypyramid.gov. After typing in your height, age and weight, the Web site will create a food plan for you based on the food pyramid. It has instructions on the kinds of foods for you to eat and helpful tips to stay healthy.