Healthy Eating Guide: 3 Ways To Avoid Diet Guilt During The Holidays By Janine Michaels At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

The holiday season is here again and for anyone on a diet, this festive time of year can be fraught with diet landmines. Even if you are very good at sticking to your diet plan, the holidays are a time when you are literally surrounded by all kinds of scrumptious food choices that can get you off track fast.

Relying on willower and simply telling yourself: I am NOT going to eat that piece of double fudge chocolate cake, is admirable, but not very realistic. Once the aroma of that cake hits your nose and you see everyone around you indulging in the chocolate treat, it will be nearly impossible for you to refuse to have “just a little slice” too.

The cake is just one example.

What if you love stuffing and there’s two kinds of your favorite stuffing on the table?

What if a loved one made their favorite candied yams dish just for you, because they know you love it so much?

Calorie-laden food is a big part of the holiday season and there’s no way you’re going to escape it. So, instead of trying to avoid it, face these temptations head on and come up with a strategy for dealing with holiday food. Below are three ways you can cut down on your calorie intake and still enjoy yourself.

Take a spoonful of your favorites – Lets face it, refusing to eat your favorite food items is going to leave you feeling deprived and unsatisfied. This feeling of depravity is more dangerous to your diet than you realize.

Even if you manage to fight off all temptation to eat those delicious fat-laden foods, a day or two later, you’re going to still feel like you’re missing out. You might even resent the fact that you’re on this stupid diet. Once you begin feeling this way, you’re more likely to feel like you deserve to cheat.

So you go out and buy yourself a big bag of cookies and a half-gallon of ice cream. As you stuff the sugary treat into your mouth, you tell yourself that you deserve this treat because you were so good at the holiday gathering. Next thing you know, you’re binging on junk food again. This isn’t what you want to happen.

Instead, I suggest that you go ahead and take one spoonful of all your favorite holiday foods. That’s right. Don’t deprive yourself at all. You’re making a compromise with yourself. You won’t eat a full serving, but you won’t deny yourself the pleasure of tasting this food. Eat it slow and savor it. This strategy eliminates the need for you to binge because you’re not denying yourself anything.

Drink water before the big meal – Drinking one or two glasses of pure water before you sit down to a holiday meal will stop you from overeating. It’s a simple strategy and it works. Even if you desire to go back for seconds, you won’t because you’ll be too full from the water you drank.

Remember to eat for yourself – Granma made your favorite pie. Mom made her famous cheesy potato bake. Uncle made his pecan stuffing. Cousin made her butterscotch fudge. They all know you love these foods and encourage you to indulge yourself.

You tell them you’re on a diet, but they just wave you off. Oh, come on. It’s the holidays. Eat!

They mean well and just want to see you happy. However, you have to remember that you’re on a diet for a reason. You really want to lose weight. That means it’s your decision on whether you take them up on their offer or not.

Remember, they won’t be there when you’re staring at your lumps of fat in the mirror wishing it would just melt away. They’re not around when you feel humiliated in public because of your weight. So, you’ve got to eat for YOU. Never eat to please anyone else. Make smart choices and let them know you’re making a positive change in your life.

If they love you, they will understand that this is what you have to do right now in order to feel good about yourself in the long run.

I hope these tips help you to enjoy your holiday season while on a diet. Don’t worry if you fall off the diet wagon. Just make sure you get right back on and keep going until you reach your weight loss goal.

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