Holiday Eating

1. Holiday Eating Bariatric Support Group November 2010 Tricia Lynch RN, CBN Elly Tran RD, LD

2. How to get through the holidays • Food is everywhere during the holiday season, making it tough to stick to your healthful eating and exercise habits. • With a little attention, however, you can make it through the holidays without losing track of your healthy lifestyle.

3. How to get through the holidays I have been losing weight successfully for 6 months. I’m dreading the holiday season because I know used to gain weight. What can I do to prevent it? • The best advice is to change your mind set. Set ideal expectations. Consider yourself successful if you don’t gain any weight. • Remember: The holiday season should be enjoyable, and fine food is one of the pleasures of the season. Enjoy your favorites in small amounts, and try to cut back in other ways.

4. How to get through the holidays I’ll be traveling during the holidays and can’t get to my gym. What can I do to stay active? • You may need to adjust your expectations for holiday exercising. • Try to be flexible and understand that you may not work out according to your normal pattern. • Try to sneak in exercise whenever you can, by taking a walk after a large meal, for example. • Be sure to get back to your regular exercise routine when you return home.

5. How to get through the holidays I’ll be traveling during the holidays and can’t get to my gym. What can I do to stay active? • Of course continuing regular exercise during the hectic and sometimes stressful holiday season can help you maintain your weight and your sanity. • Walking, running, or stair-climbing are easy when you are traveling-you can do these activities almost anywhere. • For resistance training, try using rubber resistance bands. They slip easily into a travel bag, are lightweight, and can be used to strengthen and tone almost any body part.

6. How to get through the holidays I always overeat at holiday functions. What are some tips to help keep me on track? • Survey the entire table before you take any food. Decide what foods are worth eating and what can be ignored, and then stick to that decision. Why waste calories on foods that don’t bring you pleasure? • Eat a snack before you leave home. If you arrive at a party starving, you’ll be more likely to overindulge. • Eat your calories instead of drinking them!

7. How to get through the holidays I always overeat at holiday functions. What are some tips to help keep me on track? • When you are the host or hostess, include nutritious and lower-calorie foods like fruits, vegetables, and lean meats on the menu. • When you are a guest, bring along a lower-calorie dish to share. • Try not to hang out near the food. Find a comfortable spot across the room and focus on people instead of eating.

8. Linda’s Recipe & Cooking Forum!Don’t be afraid of Thanksgiving Source: www.bariatriceating.com

9. Thanksgiving • Of all the traditions in American, Thanksgiving seems to be the one with the least amount of wiggle room when it comes to the foods we prepare and eat. • Especially for those not dealing with WLS. • Non-ops are very unwilling to compromise when it comes to this meal!

10. Thanksgiving • It’s good and commendable to try to make the food healthy and pouch-worthy. • Keep in mind, not everyone in your household or who you will be cooking for this year has had the surgery and never bargained on changing their way of eating. • Sneaking in healthier alternatives along with the old stand-bys will go a long way in keeping the peace and happiness during the holidays.

11. Thanksgiving For instance, you may want to try… • Lightening up some of your tried and true recipes • Use 1/2 less butter or half & half instead of heavy cream • Don’t drench the salad in fattening dressing • Put the stuffing in a casserole dish instead of in the bird

12. Thanksgiving (continued) • Offer full-sugared versions of pies, cookies and cakes for your guests that will throw a fit • Make a few of the same sugar-free, which is not only good-for-you but someone else may appreciate the gesture as well. • If you will be a guest in someone’s home bring a dessert that you know is safe for you, graciously explaining your situation to the host or hostess -they want you to have a wonderful time, too!

13. Thanksgiving Don’t let the Thanksgiving holiday bring on a panic-attack thinking about what or what not to eat. • Turkey, salad, cheese/meat plates, olives, a bite of sweet potatoes, and a wonderful sugar-free dessert are all great options • Whether you are cooking or going as a guest be THANKFUL that you are alive this year and are still here to be in this situation at all!

14. Thanksgiving Visit these websites for free reduced-calorie and reduced-fat recipes: www.bariatriceating.com www.foodfit.com www.deliciousdecisions.org www.allrecipes.com

15. Healthy Holiday Suggestions Holidays can be difficult for those on a special diet – actually, for anyone on any diet! The American Diabetes Association offers the following suggestions to make your celebrations a little sweeter and less damaging to your health and waistline. Source: American Diabetes Association, 2004

16. Healthy Holiday Suggestions • You can enjoy an occasional sugar-containing food but make sure to substitute it for other foods. If you want a small slice of pumpkin pie, for example, give up the baked potato and toppings at dinner.   • When you are making a festive dessert, try cutting the sugar by one-third to one-half and increasing the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and any other sweet-tasting spices and flavorings. • Decide ahead of time what and how much you will eat and how you will handle social pressure to indulge in foods that are not normally in your diet.

17. Healthy Holiday Suggestions • Take a smaller serving size of dessert or scrape off the high-fat whipped cream topping. • Volunteer to bring a favorite low-sugar dish such as baked apples or sugar-free puddings to social functions. • Do not take a holiday from your daily exercise routine. Continue your normal workouts in addition to extra activities such as power walking while shopping.

18. Beneficial Baking Basics Are you looking for a few homemade treats that won’t blow your caloric intake? Add the following items to your grocery list the next time you want to bake a sweet treat: • Applesauce—Fruit purees such as applesauce can replace up to half of the fat called for in baked items. The natural sugars and fibers in applesauce help to retain moisture. • Cocoa—Reduce the amount of baking chocolate in a recipe with low-fat cocoa. Three tablespoons of cocoa plus 1-tablespoon of water equals one square of baking chocolate. Mix the cocoa into the dry ingredients and stir the water into the wet or creamed items in the recipe.

19. Beneficial Baking Basics • Confectioners’ Sugar—Leave that can of frosting on the shelf and reach for the confectioners’ sugar instead. A light dusting over cakes and brownies significantly cuts calories and fat compared to heavy frosting. • Nuts—It’s all right to keep nuts on your shopping list – simply decrease the amount you usually purchase. Toast the nuts before mixing them into your batter or dough. This will give them a stronger flavor so you can use less of them. • Yogurt—Replace up to half of the butter in your recipe with half as much low-fat or nonfat plain yogurt. Not only does this decrease the fat, but it also helps create tender products.

20. How to Let Go of Your Food Crutchby Katie Jay, MSW, Certified Wellness CoachDirector, National Association for Weight Loss Surgery www.nawls.com

21. Letting go of your crutch • Even though you say you want to be successful with your surgery, do you sometimes eat when you wish you wouldn't? • When it comes to eating, is guilt a frequent companion of yours? Welcome to the club. • In our culture, with the amount of unhealthy food we're exposed to, and with the holiday stresses bearing down on us, it's safe to say many Americans, including WLSers, will be using food as a crutch in the coming weeks.

22. Letting go of your crutch • Eating food with no nutritional value during the holidays has become such an accepted pastime, we don't even realize that we are eating to deal with feelings. • Because holiday eating is sanctioned by nearly everyone, we have a golden opportunity to hide in plain sight -- to use our crutch without anyone really knowing we're using it.

23. Letting go of your crutch • We take a brief vacation from the guilt (or at least we try to). • "I am not going to feel deprived at Thanksgiving," we insist. "I can handle a little indulgence." "I've been so good this year, I deserve a holiday from food rules!" "I've modified the recipe; this is *healthy* fudge." • Clearly, some of us *can* handle a little indulgence, but why do we tempt fate? Why do we turn to food with gusto and self righteousness? Feelings

24. Letting go of your crutch • Many of us don't want to feel our feelings. We don't like the discomfort of deprivation, longing, feeling different from others, isolation, loneliness, anger, fear, sadness, shame, loss, or abandonment. • The truth is, however, that finding healthier ways to deal with our uncomfortable feelings is essential to long-term success.

25. Letting go of your crutch • Even when you feel resistance to putting down the food crutch, it boils down to this: Do you want long-term obesity remission or don't you?

26. Letting go of your crutch • Some of us aren't so lucky. • We really don't know what we want. We don't know if putting down our food crutch is possible, or even desirable. Is it worth feeling all those negative feelings just so we can stay a size 12 (or whatever)? • Apparently, the answer for some of us is "NO!" 

27. Letting go of your crutch • There are a ton of resources available to help us learn to stop using food as a crutch • The bottom line is that we need to: • Put down the offending foods • Identify and feel our feelings • Find healthier ways to deal with those feelings • Get as much support as necessary to accomplish this challenging task.

28. Letting go of your crutch Here's what seems to work for most people: 1. Devise a strategy you will experiment with when you have uncomfortable feelings, instead of using food. 2. Take a few minutes first thing each morning to visualize yourself moving through your day, trying out your new strategy, allowing your feelings, and making healthy food choices. 3. Resolve to be self aware before, during, and after your eating -- no matter what.

29. Letting go of your crutch Here’s what seems to work for most people 4. Welcome your feelings warmly and "make small talk" with them, so you can understand what they are trying to tell you about your needs. 5. Honor your needs 6. Notice without judgment the thoughts and feelings you are having about your feelings. 

30. Letting go of your crutch Here’s what seems to work for most people: 7. Make notes about what you did in response to an uncomfortable feeling instead of eat, and how well it did or didn't work for you.  8. Resolve to stick with the experiment until you know whether or not the new strategy can work.  9. If the new strategy is not working, get more support. If it still isn't working, do some research and try another strategy. 10. Never give up!

31. Protein Punch! To make: pour 1 crystal light packet into 16 ounces of water. Pour 2 packets of Nectar Strawberry Protein powder into 16 ounces. Mix the two together in a 1 quart pitcher. Makes 8 servings (4 ounces each) Nutrition info: One 4 ounce serving provides 30 calories, 6 g of protein, 0 g of fat, and 0 g of carbohydrates.

32. Fall Spice Latte To taste: Pour ¼ cup coffee, ¼ cup skim milk, and the vanilla spice mixture into coffee cup. Stir and enjoy! Nutrition Info: Each 4 ounce serving provides 75 calories, 12 g of protein, 6 grams of carbohydrate, and 4.5 grams of sugar.

33. Peanut Butter Protein Balls (PBPB) • Plain ball = chocolate • White ball = Cinnamon chocolate • Dark ball = Spiced Chocolate (Nutmeg) Nutrition Information: Each cup (3 balls) provides 72 calories, 5.5 g of protein, 4 g of fat, 5 g of carbohydrate, and 1.5 g of sugar.