With the holidays coming up, it may feel impossible to enjoy the Holidays and Lose weight. It may sound like every one of your favorite Holiday dishes is something that wouldn’t align with successful weight loss. When we think of the Holidays, we may first think of Thanksgiving dinner. You might also think of religious celebrations such as Christmas or Hanukkah, which tend to involve gatherings with loved ones with some traditional dishes. Although it can seem impossible to do, you can enjoy your favorite dishes during the holidays and sustain your weight loss journey. Here are some ways to keep yourself on a steady weight loss journey so you can enjoy the Holidays and lose weight:
Alter Your Portions:
When you think of the upcoming holiday months, one of your first thoughts might be your favorite dishes. But how can you eat your favorite holiday treats while maintaining your weight loss journey without feeling like you’re restricting yourself? One way you can still enjoy these special meals is by enjoying smaller portions of rich foods while eating larger portions of foods that are on your weight loss plan. For example, on Thanksgiving instead of eating large portions of the mashed potatoes with butter, try a small portion and get a larger portion of greens and other vegetables to help balance your plate. You can make substitutions as another way to balance your plate is to replace mashed potatoes with a sweet potato mash that contains seasonings rather than butter. Both ideas are to lower your calories and saturated fat intake while also increasing your servings of vegetables.
Homemade Healthy Sweet Treats:
Some of the best parts of Holiday dinners include the dessert that comes after the main meal. Some examples of how you can replace dessert items to keep the same holiday feel to your meals are to:
- Offer a serving a festive fruit salad as part of the dessert selection. This can help you get give your guests a healthy fruit option.
- Omit the crust from your apple pie is also a great way to make a festive treat healthier. Baked apples provide the same festive feel as an apple pie, especially when topped with cinnamon, but without the extra calories and sugar that would be in a normal apple pie.
How can you still eat your favorite holiday desserts that don’t correspond with your weight loss plan? One way is by finding a recipe for your favorite holiday dessert that falls under your weight loss regimen. That way you can continue to eat dessert with your loved ones while maintaining your weight loss journey. One example would be a healthy pumpkin pie recipe from Ambitious Kitchen.
Although this recipe is not the healthiest dessert, it is still significantly healthier than the average pumpkin pie recipe and is something that you and your loved ones can enjoy together without feeling like you need to restrict yourself for dessert!
Check out this blog post for more healthy recipes for the holiday season!
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
Lana Shahine
Nutrition & Food Science – Dietetics
University of Maryland, College Park | 2023
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