Holidays

How was your 4th of July? Mine was filled with plenty of outdoor activities and food. Lots of yummy food.

Keeping the balance of all that holidays offer with healthy living can be difficult. But with some careful advanced planning you can enjoy any holiday while sticking to your healthy living routine.

1). Plan your workouts that week to include the day before the holiday and either the day after the holiday or two days after the holiday. Don't stress about working out on the holiday. There's a very good chance that won't happen anyway. Enjoy your day off!

2). Hosting your own holiday party will ensure that you have plenty of healthy food & beverage choices.

3). If you're not hosting but instead attending a holiday party, offer to bring a dish and make it one of your healthy choices.

4). Assuming the host doesn't need any help or you don't want to offer it, eat a meal before attending so you're not hungry enough to eat everything served.

5). Attending a dinner party where #4 won't work? Watch your portion sizes during dinner and drink water during the meal. Eat very little or completely omit spreads and dips like butter, sour cream, gravies, white sauces (like Alfredo), etc. Load up on the veggies and trim the fat off meat.

6). When confronted with a buffet of desserts, pick your top two and decide if they're worth the calories. If they are, eat half of each one and discard the rest. If not, chose one, eat it slowly, and enjoy every bite. Then discard your dessert plate. Don't go back for more! If one dessert is served, again watch your portion size, and savor the yummy goodness. Drinking water after eating something sweet will help get the flavor out of your mouth and deter you from eating more.

In most cases of life planning ahead really does help you avoid pitfalls. Holidays are meant to be enjoyed. Don't dread the holiday celebrations this year and plan ahead to continue to live well!