Make Better Bad Choices This Holiday Season

As the holidays approach arm yourself with five tips to help you stay trim.

1) Fill up before you head out - Before you go to any holiday celebration, have a quick balanced small meal to prevent you from overeating. Have a small bowl of oatmeal with some skim milk or a small salad with grilled chicken. You will eat less at the party when you arrive already satisfied.

2) Chat Away…From the Table - Rather than standing around the appetizer table and mindlessly eating on chips and dip or fried hors d'oeuvres, catch up with your family and friends away from the tempting food choices.

3) Think Delicious and Desirable - Start with what’s Most Delicious or Desirable. This goes against the conventional nutritional wisdom, but if you start with the most tempting Holiday treasures and treats, you will not need to overeat in order to reach your final desert destination. When you feel satiated, stop eating and forego the other food options, even if it’s the healthy choices- the general goal is to cut calories.

4) Sip strategically - If you’re trying to lose weight a major factor preventing you from achieving your goal may be those late night drinks. Alcohol is extremely calorie-dense. In fact, one gram of alcohol has 7 calories. A rum and coke has about 180 calories, a 5 oz. glass of red wine has 130 calories, and a 8 oz. pina colada has a whopping 644 calories. That’s 100 more calories than a Big Mac! Also be aware that alcohol has the tendency to increase your appetite and cloud your judgment in making healthy food choices.

Why Do We Body Store Fat?

Prehistoric humans were battling for their survival and trying to find food. When food was in abundance, excess food that was consumed was stored as fat to help protect against times when food was scarce. These early humans are responsible for the way our metabolism works. That survival mechanism is why your body stores fat for when food is in short supply.

The problem is that you no longer need to store fat to protect against lean times but your body doesn’t know the difference. It couldn't care less about how you look or long term health consequences. This fat gets stored in unsightly areas including the stomach, lower back, chest, legs and upper arms.

Your body doesn’t let you pick and choose where it stores fat. In order to lose fat in those unsightly areas, you must lose fat overall. You can't choose to only lose fat on your stomach. Your body doesn't work that way. But if you lose it overall, you'll lose it on the stomach too.