5 Ways to Eat Well at Holiday Parties

'Tis the season! 'Tis the holiday season for family, friends, love and gaining weight.  

A study in Physiology and Behavior notes that the average weight gain in Western countries from mid-November to mid-January is 0.5 kg or 1.1 lbs. each year (1).  The study also noted that people who are overweight or obese gained more weight than those of a healthy weight (more than 1.1 lbs.), so you may actually gain more than that during the holiday season.  Over the long-term those pounds add up too!

But you don't have to gain weight during the holidays!  Today I'm going to share with you 5 tips to prevent weight gain during the holiday season and how to stay on track at holiday parties.

1.  It's never too late.  Never too late for what?  Never too late to start eating optimally or working towards nutritional excellence.  Don't make excuses why you can't start now.  I have clients taking their first steps all throughout December!  

I recently asked my yoga teacher how to get into a daily yoga and meditation practice while my life is a bit unstable (moving to a new house, leaving the west coast to visit family on the east coast etc.).  I told her "I'll just start once I'm settled."  "No" she said, "start today.  Start right now."  And that's exactly what I did.  I'm not doing it perfectly but I'm trying and despite the holiday season, starting right away is helping me cope during the craziness of the holiday season.  

2.  Bring healthy food with you to share.  

Going to a party?  You're definitely more likely to eat poorly if there's nothing healthy to eat!  The most important thing is that you have a yummy, plant-based dish to eat.  Bring a pan of baked sweet potatoes dusted with cinnamon, or stuff them with apple chunks, cranberries and festive spices (check out my holiday Pinterest boards for more party food recipes).  If your dish is the only thing you can eat at the party, that's okay! 

I've done this before too at family holiday parties.  To avoid eating mountains of chocolate chip cookies and Christmas fudge, I brought my own healthy, holiday muffins and cookies. Everytime I passed that table and wanted to give into those Christmas treats, I just grabbed one of my muffins which brings me to the next tip...

3.  Get the heck away from the food table!  

Especially if you know you'll eat foods you don't want to.  Don't socialize around the food.  Take what you want to eat and eat it away from that table.  Distract yourself from the cookies, treats and chocolate, with good conversation catching up with family and friends.

4.  Eat before you go to a party.  

This will help you eat better once you arrive.  You won't be starved, and looking to mask the hunger pain with whatever food you can get your hands on.  You don't have to stuff yourself silly before you arrive, but feel pleasantly satisfied and when you do finally feel hungry, eat some of the healthy food you brought, or fresh fruit or salad.  

5.  Start or keep exercising.  

This doesn't mean I want you to start practicing for a marathon around the holidays.  What I am saying though, is even 20 minutes of exercise 5-6 days a week, especially on the day you're going to a party or having family over, is going to help you tremendously.  Just walk up and down your stairs 10-20 times or go on a brisk 20 minute walk.  

How will this exercise help you?  You'll feel more energetic, in control and exercise suppresses appetite (2)!         

Bonus TIp!

6.  Let the party hosts know you're eating healthy, plant-based (or vegan).  

Not only are the hosts more likely to accommodate you or tell you what you can't eat, but you're more likely to hold yourself accountable to your diet.  You'll feel quite embarrassed if you're caught by the host eating meatballs and ice-cream all night long.

Take Control Now Question

Which of these tips will you apply this holiday season?  Have another tip to share?

Answer by clicking 'comment' below.

Sources

1. Schoeller DA. The effect of holiday weight gain on body weight. Physiol Behav. 2014 Jul;134:66-9.
2. Manore MM. Exercise-Trained Men and Women: Role of Exercise and Diet on Appetite and Energy Intake. Nutrients. 2014 Nov 10;6(11):4935-4960.                        

The Difference Between Processed and Refined Foods

It's a general rule of thumb that 'processed foods are bad for you.'  If you stay away from processed foods, you'll be doing yourself a health favor right?

Generally, this is true, but precisely, it is not.  

Why?  Because some processed foods are really good for you AND they can help you eat more whole-grains, fruits, veggies and legumes, foods mostly all Americans need to eat more of.  

So, how can you tell the difference between a processed food that's good for you and one that isn't?

It's actually a matter of vocabulary.  You need to know the difference between a processed food and a refined food.  When the word 'processed' is thrown around, it generally means refined.

A refined food is a food that doesn't contain all of its original nutrients.  You can't pick a refined food out of the garden and eat it (it's not a whole food).  

Refined foods include oil, sugar, white flour and products made of these ingredients.  Examples include white and wheat breads, cakes, pastries, pretzels, cookies, most wraps, chips, Doritos etc. 

A processed food is simply a food that has gone through a process.  A processed food can be a refined food, however it can also be a healthy whole food that has simply been chopped, rolled or ground, aka gone through a process.

A processed food could be good for you or bad for you.  It depends on whether it's a processed whole food or a processed refined food.

Processed foods that are bad for you include white bread, most 'wheat' breads, chips, cookies, most crackers, cakes and treats.  These processed foods are bad for you because they contain refined ingredients.  You aren't eating a whole food or a food made from just whole foods.

Processed foods that are good for you include 100% whole-grain breads, crackers, pitas, pastas, ground corn tortillas or other 100% whole-grain products.  Additionally, rolled or steal cut oats, dried fruit or frozen vegetables are also health enhancing processed foods.  They've all gone through a process, but the food still contains 100% of its original nutrients, unlike refined foods.  

Kapeesh?  If you have any questions about processed versus refined foods, ask in the comments section or contact me.  I'd love to hear from you :)

Take Control Now Question

What healthy processed foods do you enjoy eating?  What unhealthy refined foods are you still eating regularly that you shouldn't?  

Answer by clicking 'comments' below.

How to Eat Healthy Anywhere

The holidays are filled with traveling for many, myself included.  Traveling can be a time when people don't eat so well or they 'stop their diet'.  Sound familiar?

Earlier this week, I spent days traveling, adjusting to different time zones and want to share how I managed to eat a healthy, plant-based diet along the way and how you can eat healthy when you travel for the holidays too.

Normally when I'm flying, I'm well prepared with food… dried McDougall soups, oats in little baggies with raisins and cinnamon and sometimes I even fly with baked sweet potatoes in my bag!

This trip however, I didn't have any food but, this healthy, plant-based, vegan gal wasn't worried!  Why not?  Because I know it's possible to eat decently healthy just about anywhere!  

Here's a breakdown of the last few days of my life/travels from the west coast to the east.  I share with you what I ate when I couldn't prepare food for myself for days.

Day 1:  Thanksgiving in a hotel and food from Shari's restaurant.  What the hell did I eat?

The only restaurant open on Thanksgiving day was Shari's.  If you've never eaten at a Shari's, just think Denny's restaurant (with famous pie!) and you're about close.

I ordered a dry garden salad and a veggie burger with no cheese or dairy and it was delicious!  (Not exactly Thanksgiving food but I had had quite a few Thanksgiving meals prior that month). I knew I'd be hungry later and options were limited (and expensive) at the hotel, so I bought another salad and veggie burger to go.

Day 2:  Breakfast and lunch at the airport and dinner with family at a Mexican restaurant.  

Rise and shine at 3:30 am and through airport security by 5 am.  Breakfast at the airport -- a dry multi-grain bagel and a mixed fruit cup.  I also bought an Odwalla granola bar for a snack on the plane.

I landed in Chicago after a 4 hour flight and grabbed a salad from Saladworks in the airport.  It included a mescaline type lettuce mix, garbanzo beans, white beans, pasta, green beans, carrots and olives.  I added a very tiny amount of fat-free italian dressing because they didn't have any plain vinegars.  It was yummy and the beans and pasta made the salad filling.

Finally -- New York accents, honking horns and soft pretzels (lol that I didn't eat).  After a celebratory glass of wine with my mama bear and aunt, we met our family for Mexican food in Staten Island.

Chips and salsa fluttered the table as soon as we sat down but I did NOT want to eat chips!  Tortilla chips have been one of the hardest foods for me to stop eating.  So, I ordered warm tortillas (not fried) and a side a guacamole.  When everyone was chowing down chips, I rolled up a tortilla filled with salsa and guacamole.  Mission 'don't eat chips even though staving' -- accomplished!

For dinner I ordered the vegetable burrito with rice and black beans with no cheese or dairy products.  It was delicious and I even had some left-over for breakfast.

---

Tips for Eating Healthy Anywhere

1.  Don't expect to eat perfectly (unless you have to my advanced heart disease and other friends!).  This is another reason why it's so important to eat healthy in your home and in your kitchen.  Eat extremely well at home on the regular, so when you do travel, eating a little 'less perfect' isn't as big of a deal.

2.  Don't go completely 'off' the diet.  EAt as well as you possibly can.  Eating a whole-foods, plant based diet 75% of the way (dry bagel, Odwalla bar, oily veggie burrito) is so much better than eating a plant-based diet 15% of the way (oily eggs and bacon, fries and cheese burgers).

Take Control Now Question

Have you ever really poorly while traveling or used traveling as an excuse to eat unhealthy?  Or, have you successfully eaten well on the road?  

Share your thoughts by clicking 'comment' below.

3 Ways to Feed an Omnivore Vegan Food

How can you show people who LOVE eating animal foods multiple times a day that plant-based food can be delicious without turning them off?

Maybe you're hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year and would LOVE to serve some healthy and delicious plant-based foods but are worried about how that would 'go over' with the omnivores.

Or, maybe you just want our husband to eat more fruits, veggies and whole-grains!  

No matter what your motive, here's 3 ways you can get an omnivore to eat healthy and delicious, vegan food.

1.  Cook familiar vegan foods.  This means pasta salads, bean chile with corn bread, hummus with pita bread and veggies, fruit salad, garden salads, veggie and bean soups and stews.

Your husband has most likely eaten 'vegan' food before but doesn't think of it that way.  Pasta primavera or marinara is pretty typical and so are garden salads and vegetable-barley soup.

Serve him something traditional and not intimidating like a piece of tofu shaped as a fish and you'll be fine.

2.  Make food that tastes amazing!  Don't serve boiled potatoes or over-cooked, mushy broccoli.  Make a recipe you know tastes and looks amazing.

Even better, keep a stash of recipes specifically for impressing others (I'd call this recipe folder 'Recipes that "Woo"').  That way, when you head to a pot-luck, church gathering or are having the in-laws over for dinner, you can easily go-to and make a 'recipe that woos'

3.  Don't call it vegan.  Or even talk about the fact that there's no meat in it.  That in itself may turn someone off from trying it.  Don't make a scene and just let them enjoy the food.  The food will speak for itself .

---

Here are recipes (some are fitting for Thanksgiving too) that I've served to omnivores (some pretty hardcore ones too!) that were enjoyed:

Creamy mushroom gravy by Cathy Fisher

Mashed sweet potatoes by Trish the Dish (yes that's me!)

15 Minute Black Bean Chile in Dr. Esselstyn's book, 'Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease' (this has been a huge hit with my different families!)

Cranberry Sauce by Cathy Fisher

Banana Ice-Cream by Trish the Dish

Fast Cookies for School Lunches found in the first Forks Over Knives book

Take Control Now Question

How do you successfully feed your husband (or other loved ones) vegan meals?  Have any tips or questions to share?

Answer by clicking 'comment' below.  

When You Shouldn't Follow the Diet Perfectly

Have you ever felt the need to be perfect on a plant-based diet?  Or for that matter, any diet? 

Have you ever felt that if you weren't eating perfectly, to the exact diet recommendations, that you were a failure… that you were just off the diet and couldn't do it?

Today I explain why not eating perfectly, to 100% of the recommendations, can be okay AND how straying from diet guidelines can actually help you stay on course.

Today's episode made me think of a recent client, Linda Floyd, age 57, accountant and now dear friend. 

Linda came to me feeling defeated.  She wanted to lose 100 pounds but the scale hadn't moved for her in years and she also has hypothyroidism.

After meeting for an hour and 30 days of bonus email support, Linda kicked butt!  She followed my recommendations to a 'T' -- 100%, never straying.  She was determined and with her adherence, saw amazing results and quick.  

Linda lost 24 pounds in 4 weeks and her TSH reading came back "better than ever" all while her hubby continued to eat ice-cream and junk on the daily.

So why does not eating 'plant perfect' remind me of Linda?

Well, a few days after she emailed me with her inspiring results, she fell down the stairs and broke her ankle!  

Linda's loving, and helpful hubby is now assisting her which is wonderful, buuut Linda can't eat 'plant perfect' anymore and that's okay!

What I want for Linda and for YOU to remember, is that when you have a set back, an emotionally taxing life-experience or you just feel deprived, it is OK to eat to 70% or 80% of my recommendations to get you through the tough time.  

This is sooo much better than completely giving up and reverting to your old eating habits.  

I've been there, Linda's been there, you've been there and we'll all continue to have ups and downs that affect our diets.

That being said, if you are someone who needs to eat 'plant perfect' -- you have advanced heart disease or cancer for example, then eat plant perfect.  You have little wiggle room.  This is not an excuse for you to eat high-fat, oily food.  

Plant perfect or not, here are over 20 Thanksgiving recipes on my Pinterest board that are all oil, dairy and sugar free.  The list will keep getting bigger too!

I'd like to send Linda a huge wishing you well.  Please send some love Linda's way in whichever way you can (and to my Gammy too -- she's 85 and just broke her ankle too!).

Now I'd love to hear from you...

Take Control Now

Have you ever felt deprived on a plant-based diet?  What was your experience like and what did you do about it?

Answer by clicking 'comment' below.