10 Strategies to Stay on Track During the Holidays

Hey everybody. Welcome to my weekly house call. Your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is. Dr. Hyman, I just started your Eat Fat, get thin plan and I'm feeling great, but I kind of have a lot of fear around my social schedule coming up. How can I maintain my newfound health during the holidays? Well, this is a great question and one that so many people deal with around this time of year. You see, eating well is not about being perfect. It's about honoring your body and knowing what works for you and what doesn't work for you. I personally know that if I go to a party and I decide to eat a bunch of tortilla chips or sugar filled treats, I'm kind of going to feel sick and bloated. And that's not how I want to spend my time. I want to spend as much time as I can feeling good and living in my best body. So first, remind yourself about what your goals are and think about the way you want to feel before you hit the holiday dinners. Now, if you want to feel great and you remind yourself that you want to feel great, then you're less likely to indulge in foods and activities that make you feel less than great. So set an intention for how you'd like to feel after each meal and hold yourself accountable by sharing that intention with a close friend or family member. Or write it down in your journal. Sometimes indulging in what I like to call recreational drugs like sugar and other pleasurable foods is exactly what the moment calls for. But most of the time, you'll feel better off without it. Just remember it's a drug and you can't overdo it. But if you're actually going to somebody else's party, I recommend taking the following steps to protect yourself. First, begin your day as every other day. Don't skip meals so you can save on calories and carbs so you can eat them later. Next, eat a protein and a healthy fat as a snack about an hour before your holiday meal. Maybe things like celery sticks and nut butters or a protein shake. In fact, protein and fat help cut cravings for the sugar and carbs and the processed carbs. So you should focus on eating more fat and protein. Start the meal with a soup or fresh veggies or a salad. And I want you to avoid flour, pastries or sweet appetizers or bread, which blocks the cycle of craving. In fact, I just talked to a researcher from Cornell who told me that even eating the same foods differently in the meal can have a profound effect on your appetite, your metabolism and your weight, he said. For example, if you eat bread and carbs at the beginning of the meal, you're going to have higher insulin, you're going to be hungrier and and you're going to store more fat. Whereas if you eat more starch at the end of the meal, your body's going to more slowly absorb it and you'll have a different metabolic effect, which is pretty amazing considering it's exactly the same food. Now, I always look for the vegetable board too. If you want to munch on something, then you have lots of healthy options. Also, I encourage you to volunteer to bring something to every gathering that you go to because that's a really good way to guarantee that there's food that you want to eat there. Next, I want you to try your best to avoid or just limit alcohol because it reduces your inhibitions and it can lead you down a slippery slope of bad choices. It's also a source of sugar, like calories, so instead bring or ask for sparkling water with lemon or lime. Also, I recommend drinking two glasses of water with lemon before a meal. Why? Because that alone has been shown to promote weight loss. Now, sometimes it helps to plan an activity to look forward to after the meal. Maybe it's a group walk or visiting with other friends or family, or a group game or playing with younger kids in the family, running around with them. Or try offering to clean up and help your host. This helps you prevent overeating and reaching for that dessert. I also like to sit next to someone I find genuinely interesting and engage in a conversation with them because it helps you get distracted from all the food. Also, I encourage you to practice mindfulness. Here's what you can do. It's really simple. You can take five deep breaths before your meal and chew slowly. You can also really focus on the flavors and the colors and the smells of your food. Actually, really experience your food. Here's another tip. You can put your fork down between bites and enjoy each bite, finish it and then pick up your fork. Also, a really wonderful thing to do before you eat is to stop, take a few breaths, express gratitude. Some people say grace, but it's just a moment to pause and express gratitude before your meal and reset your nervous system. Also, think about halfway through eating. Put your fork down, see how you feel. Take a pause, because you know what? It takes about 20 minutes for our brain to tell our stomach we're full. Also, you can try taking three deep breaths and seeing if you're hungry on a scale of 1 to 10 and ask yourself how much you really need in order to feel satisfied and yet also feel energized and comfortable. Most importantly, take the time to enjoy healthy, wholesome meals with your friends and family. And remember you. You can heal your body and your mind with each forkful of delicious food that you're eating. Now, occasionally you might have somebody who's a food pusher. You know that person, There's a friend or relative who says, oh, why don't you just have this piece of cake or have this cookie or do this or eat that. You know what I say to them? I say, I'm here for the people, not the food. No one argues with that and no one can possibly feel insulted by it. Now, if you do happen to slip up, I encourage you to leave the guilt behind. Guilt is a pretty useless emotion. I like to think of this in this way. When things get out of control, which they do, even for me, just make a simple, gentle U turn. It's like a GPS for my soul. Your GPS doesn't yell at you and say, oh you're a stupid idiot. Why did you take that turn? And it doesn't make huge judgments when you went the wrong way. In the sweetest voice imaginable, the GPS reminds us that you should take the next possible U turn. So you indulged a little bit. Who cares? That's okay. Did you enjoy the process? How did you react to the food that you ate? What happened? Make a mental note and move on by making a U turn and getting back to the foods and activities that make you feel good. Don't just say, oh, I broke my thing or I stopped this and I ate this. Now I can just go crazy. Don't do that please. So there you have it. These are my tips for eating healthy during the holidays. I've included these tips and lots more in my new book, the Eat Fat, Get Thin Cookbook. Now this cookbook has over 175 delicious recipes that include plenty of recipes for your holiday parties. Things like dips and side dishes, soups, drinks, entrees, even desserts. Yes, desserts that are healthy and delicious. It's available for pre order right now. And when you pre order, you're going to get access to some special gifts like a sneak peek of the book and cooking videos where I actually show you how to make the recipes. I'll link to the pre order right here below. Now I want to hear from you. How do you practice mindfulness during the holidays? Or what are your tricks for staying on track and healthy throughout the holidays. Please comment on my Facebook page and if you like this video, share it with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter. And be sure to submit your questions to drhyman.com and maybe next week I'll make a house call to you.