Preventing Holiday Weight Gain

Studies have shown that individuals gain the most weight during the winter holidays which
cover mid-November to January. These are the times where physical activity decreases and
consumption increases, which is the main contribution to weight gain.

There is a way to approach holiday eating without sabotaging a weight-loss program. First, plan plenty of activities for which food is not the primary focus. And, when food is an important part of the celebration, it helps to:

• Change some traditional holiday habits can keep a diet going without having to give upholiday treats altogether. For example, a person can make a list of favorite
  holiday food and then pick two or three to enjoy this year.
  
  Another technique is to eat holiday treats in smaller quantities. Such as
  baking a small-size cake that the family will finish at one sitting with no tempting
  leftovers. Or, use low-calorie, low-fat substitutions for rich ingredients like sugar,
  butter or cream.
  

• Get help from family and friends--Whatever changes you decide to make, it’s important to ask family members and friends to respect these choices and to refrain from tempting the dieter with other holiday goodies.

• Find activities that reduce the holiday stress that often leads to compulsive eating. Sometimes the stress of the holidays causes people to eat more than usual. If that’s the case, it helps to seek out friends and family for support and to engage in activities that produce feelings of contentment or happiness.

For additional tips on reducing calories and fat during the holidays, or if you have specific medical concerns about your meal plan, consult your health educator provider for advice on maintaining a safe weight-loss program during the holiday season.

Halloween Candy Survival

It's one of the candy companies favorite holidays while it's our stomach and hips least favorite day. You guessed it....HALLOWEEN is quickly approaching. Costumes have been purchased, cute decor is all around, and candy dishes are filled. You look at the candy and the candy looks back at you, you want a piece and the candy taunts you. Well before you give into the temptation. Here are a few ideas to prevent overdoing it.

1) Buy candy that you don’t like. Then you won’t be tempted to eat it. Also,
buy it a day or two before Halloween so it is not sitting around waiting to
be eaten.
2) If you are giving out candy, try to give it all out by the end of the night.
3) The day after Halloween, get rid of all that candy! Take it to work, give it
away or just throw it away. Remember don’t keep it around the house.
4) If your children come home from trick-or-treating with a stash, have them
go through and pick out their favorites. Throw the rest away.
5) Don’t buy a “jumbo” bag of candy if your neighborhood only gets a few
trick-or-treaters.
6) Consider non-candy goodies like mini-containers of play-doh, stickers,
temporary tattoos or $1 gift certificates instead of candy.
7) Consider healthier treats like 100-calorie packs instead of candy.

***The key is to have the least amount of extra calories sitting around the house for you to eat.***

Here are just some of the more popular Halloween Candies:

* Twizzlers 1 treat size pkg.= 45 calories

* Almond Joy 1 snack size bar = 90 calories

* Milk Duds 1 treat size box = 40 calories

* Junior Mints mini box= 50 cal

* Milky Way = 75 calories

* 1 Tootsie Pop/Blow pop 1 pop = 60 calories

* 1 Tootsie Roll 1 small roll = 13 calories

* Twix (fun size) bar = 80 calories

*Reese’s cup (regular) = 80 cals

*Reese’s cup mini = 40 calories

* Butterfinger 1 snack size bar = 100 cals

* Snickers fun size = 80 calories


Note: Calorie content is based on 1 serving of Halloween ‘snack’ or ‘fun’ size
packages, not full size servings found in the candy aisle. Having only a few
pieces of Halloween candy won’t crash your healthy eating routine, it’s the
temptation to keep having ‘just one more’ that will pack on the pounds. It only
takes nine small fun-size candy bars to put on a quarter-pound of fat.

N*E*A*T*

Non-Exercise Activity Today

For many of us, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to eat breakfast, make sure the kids eat breakfast, get ready for work, get the kids ready for school, work, pick up the kids, take them to soccer or dance or piano, do the groceries, do the laundry, cook dinner, help with homework, answer emails, get lunches ready for the next day, and so on…and so on.

For times like these, and other times in our lives when our schedule gets disrupted, it’s time to try N*E*A*T. This stands for non-exercise activity today. To put it simply, these are just tricks to increase our calorie burn during the day. These types of activities do not replace the more formal types of cardiovascular, resistant training, or flexibility exercises. N*E*A*T activities, are simply a way to sneak in physical activity throughout the day without compromising our time at all.

N*E*A*T activities do serve a very useful purpose however. It takes 3500 calories to burn off a pound of fat. If we just increase the calories we burn to 10 extra calories a day, we would burn the equivalent of over 1 extra pound a year. Doesn’t sound like much does it? What if we were to increase it to 50 extra calories a day? Now we have just increased our calorie burn to 5 extra pounds a year. What if we increase it to 100 extra calories a day? Now our calorie burn is over 10 pounds a year. 

Still, how do we do this without disrupting our already overbooked days? Here is my top 10 list.

1. Whenever you have to walk anywhere – walk faster 
2. Whenever you walk anywhere – take bigger steps
3. When waiting in line at the bank or while pumping gas - do calf raises
4. When waiting in line at the grocery store- pick up a can and do bicep curls
5. When using the bathroom – do the “dirty potty squatty”
6. When riding in the elevator – do knee raises
7. When brushing your teeth – do squats
8. When rinsing off dishes – do hamstring curls
9. While waiting for the microwave to beep – do wall push-ups
10. When getting up from a chair with arm rests do – do a triceps dip

There are so many more. What are some ways you sneak exercise into your daily activity? I challenge you to add to my list. Then you can be as N*E*A*T as me.