Sticking to Your Diet During the Holidays: Tips for Cooking, Eating and Beyond

While dieting is usually a struggle for most individuals, it can seem impossible to do during the holiday season. With tasty foods and delectable desserts everywhere you look, it takes a lot of willpower to stay motivated. Just because dieting during the holiday season may be a little bit harder than other times of year does not mean that it is impossible to stay on track with your plan. Read on to learn some tips to keep you motivated.

1. When you are cooking, use foods and ingredients that are diet friendly. Use low fat or fat free products when possible. Many ingredients can be substituted with other ingredients that are often healthier. For example, applesauce is often used as a replacement for oil in cakes and brownies. Substituting healthier ingredients can drastically reduce the amount of fat, calories, carbohydrates, cholesterol and sugar in many recipes.

2. If you are asked what type of entree you will be bringing to holiday get togethers, choose something that you can eat on your diet. There are more non-dieters than dieters around the holiday season, so health friendly foods may be limited. Make sure to bring a food that you can eat guilt-free.

3. Instead of eating throughout the entire holiday party, stay busy talking. Make a point to get one plate of food and be satisfied. After you have finished your meal, throw the plate and fork away so that you are not tempted to have seconds. Do not stand by the food. This encourages nibbling and you will have racked up alot of calories before you know it.

4. Allow yourself to have a small amount of your favorite foods. Rather than scooping out heaping portions of a few different foods, serve yourself small portions of the foods you enjoy most. You will feel more satisfied this way. More than likely, you will not feel like you are depriving yourself of your favorite holiday foods if you allow yourself to eat a small portion. Do not feel like you have to sample everything.

5. After the meal, be active. Instead of napping or sitting down on the couch to watch the parade or football game, get up and get busy! Gather a group of friends and family to go outside and play a game of football or baseball. Get on the sleds and go skiing or take a winter walk.

6. Drink lots of water before, during and after your meal. The water will help you feel full and you will likely eat less food.

7. While you want to be comfortable, do not wear sweats or jump suits for holiday meals. Wear a pair of jeans or snug fitting pants. You will be less likely to overeat if your pants do not allow you to stuff yourself.

8. Limit the amount of alcoholic beverages you consume. Alcohol has a lot of calories in it and you will rack up with just a few drinks. If you want to have an alcoholic drink, limit it to one and drink water the rest of the time.

9. Do not skip other meals on the special day. Many people think that they can save their calories throughout the day and add them back during the big meal. Calories are calories, but you will be more likely to eat more because you will be hungry by mealtime.

10. Be wise about leftovers. While turkey can be a healthy choice for dieters, stuffing and pumpkin pie are not. If you have leftovers of unhealthy foods, send them home with someone else. Only keep items that are diet friendly or you will watch the numbers rise on the scale within the next few days or weeks.