Marine Corps Base Quantico -- The average person gains one pound during the holidays and doesn’t lose it. That accumulates over a lifetime.
“I call this the Season of Temptation,” said Lauren King, Semper Fit dietitian. “And now it starts before Halloween.”
The endless round of cookie exchanges, holiday open houses, office potlucks, and family gatherings can make even the most dedicated health nut decide to throw in the towel for the season. But King has some simple strategies for preventing holiday weight gain.
The theme of her Oct. 7 nutrition class was Healthy Holiday Survival. She will repeat the class on Nov. 4 and Dec. 2, at 11:30 a.m.
“You’ve worked hard this year to lose or maintain your weight, so let’s keep it that way during the holidays,” she said.
The first step in managing holiday calories is modifying the traditional food favorites on King’s Naughty List so they won’t be quite so naughty. Turkey becomes a low-fat food if you pull off the skin, and stuffing can be friendlier on the waistline if it’s made with chicken broth instead of butter and whole grains or vegetables instead of bread.
“If you taste a plain sweet potato, you’ll find that it’s really sweet naturally,” King said. “So you don’t need to add so much sugar to your sweet potato casserole.”
Pecan pie is the dessert with the most calories, so opt for pumpkin — with the least — instead.
To avoid over-indulging at holiday parties, King recommends not attending on an empty stomach, and not standing close to the food table.
“Studies show that people standing near the food table tend to visit it more often,” King said.
Everyone has heard the saying “You are what you eat,” but King says it’s also true that “you are what you drink.” A day in which you drink juice at breakfast, a mocha on the way to work, soda at lunch, iced tea with dinner, and a beer in the evening is one in which you consume an extra 1500 calories. King advises replacing most beverages with water, which will keep you hydrated and feeling fuller.
“Often thirst gets disguised as hunger,” King said.
When filling up your plate at holiday dinners, follow the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate guideline, which dictates that half your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables. Proteins and grains combined fill the other half.
“Think about it, do you even have a green vegetable at Thanksgiving?” King asked. “Be the person who brings a green salad.”
She recommends waiting 20 minutes before serving yourself seconds at any meal.
“Time yourself the next time you eat,” she said. “It usually takes five minutes or less to eat a meal. But it takes 20 minutes for your brain to send an ‘I’m-full’ message to your stomach.”
Cpl. Mauricio Moncivais, 23, who works at Installation Personnel Administration Center, said he attended the class to get a general idea of what to eat and what not to eat during the holiday season. Moncivais, who is from Miami, Fla., said his favorite holiday food is his mother’s tamales, which she makes only during this time of year.
“But I don’t think she makes them healthy.” Moncivais said.
Cpl. Elba Rosario, 21, from New York City, and her friend Lance Cpl. Yemily Maldonadocenteno, from Peru, Ind. said they just started exercising and want to learn how to maintain healthy weights.
“I feel like the best way to get where I want to be is by eating,” Rosario said.
Biljana Rosomanska is aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico with her husband, who is in the Macedonian Army and is attending Command and Staff College. They will return to Macedonia in June 2016. She came to the class to learn new things about how to handle food this holiday.
“I will hopefully not gain weight this year,” she said. “We just have one more American holiday season to get through!”
— Writer: auphausconner@quanticosentryonline.com