The American holiday season is every dieter’s worst nightmare. It’s more than easy to veer from good nutrition and health intentions during the season of giving – food temptations linger everywhere and cold temperatures keep us trapped inside. Holidays revolve around heavy, fattening, and sugary foods and don’t leave us much of a chance to avoid getting off track.
On average, a person on Thanksgiving Day can pack in over 4,500 calories and 230 grams of fat (SparkPeople). Traditional dinner dishes are only partially to blame; snacking in front of the TV while watching football and squeezing in pumpkin pie and ice cream after a much-enjoyed meal sends the calorie count soaring.
Aside from special holiday meals (and their leftovers), holiday parties provide plenty of opportunities to over-indulge. Tables lined with fudge, cookies, chips and dips, and fried treats are so difficult to resist! Filling your plate up with sugary delights and fattening appetizers is hard to avoid, especially if you don’t want to make the host feel like what they’ve prepared isn’t good.
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans gain on average only about a pound (SparkPeople). While that number seems small, it can really make a difference, especially if that extra pound (or 10, or 20) is still lingering a year later.
If you’d rather not make your New Year’s Resolution revolve around losing added “holiday weight”, or just want to survive the holiday season with health goals still in tact, keep in mind these key points:

Don’t feel pressured to fill your plate! Even on Thanksgiving, the biggest food day of the year, it’s okay to leave the table without feeling stuffed. It’s also okay to enjoy a bit of each of your holiday favorites. Taking smaller portions of even the most fattening dishes will help cut calorie corners.

See if your family wouldn’t mind making a few healthier dishes for holiday dinners. Everyone can benefit from heart-healthy (and tasty!) vegetable side dishes or soups, and there are thousands of great veggie recipes available online and in food magazines.

Avoid going back for seconds. If it couldn’t fit on your plate to begin with, it won’t fit into your stomach (which is only the size of your fist!). Grab a little bit of everything to begin with and eat slowly so your brain will register when you’re actually full.

The holidays should be a time of happiness and celebration of loved ones. While yummy meals and tasty treats are nice, they shouldn’t be the center of your holiday season. Just doing a few things differently this time can help you stay on track and avoid making the new year all about losing that pesky holiday weight.