The 17 Day Diet (35 page)

Fit in Exercise

The holidays are not a time to take a vacation from your workouts. Stick to your regular exercise routine. It’s one of the best ways to fight fat gain during the holidays. So regardless of what comes between you and your workout, try not to eliminate it all together. If you’re like most people, you’ll need to let off some steam during the often-stressful holiday season, and exercise is the perfect stress reliever. Plus, it helps to burn off the extra calories that you’ve eaten at those parties and holiday get-togethers.

If you have the luxury of time during the holidays, why not engage in a little additional aerobics to burn off those extra calories? Do a bit more of your usual aerobic activity or try some new types just for fun. Spend an afternoon at an ice or roller-skating rink. Whack a ball around the racquetball court. If the weather permits, hit the ski slopes, try your hand at cross-country skiing or rent some snowshoes and go exploring.

If you’re not that adventurous, try to slightly increase the duration and/or frequency of your usual aerobic exercise routine. Duration refers to the length of time that you work out. It’s amazing how many additional calories you’ll consume by pushing your body just a little longer.

Another option is increasing exercise frequency: working out more times per week to incinerate more calories and fat. Add some extra weekly sessions to your normal exercise routine.

Beef up your intensity. Make the effort count. For optimum fat-burning, you should exercise at a level that is hard enough to raise your heart rate to 70 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. (You can calculate your desired heart rate by subtracting your age from 220 and multiplying that number by 70 or 80 percent.) As an added bonus, exercising at a higher intensity has also been shown to suppress hunger.

So don’t plop down on the sofa this holiday season—move your body!

Get a Grip on Holiday Stress

I’ve always thought the concept of “stress” attached to the word “holiday” was the ultimate contradiction. Shouldn’t a holiday be simply filled with joy and celebration?

Yes! Even so there is holiday stress, much of it self-imposed. What is supposed to be a time of joy and good cheer begins to resemble frantic preparations for a military invasion.

Along with the season’s celebrations come temptations and preparations that can cause stress and fatigue. It’s no wonder people often gain weight during this time of the year. To help you avoid the season’s pitfalls, namely weight gain and stress, I’ll give you my thoughts on how to organize your life to make time for what really matters. Don’t let your holidays be downers. With some organization and planning, you can sail through the season with your health and emotional well-being intact, and maybe even a few pounds lighter.

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Manage your time and priorities. To prevent being hijacked by the demands of the season, do some planning. Decide which events and activities are most important and mark your calendar accordingly, along with planning for some “personal” time. Holidays are about family and friends, so decide which people are the most important (like family, close friends and those visiting from out of town), and spend more time with them. Gift buying and sending out holiday cards can be overwhelming tasks. Tackling them in smaller chunks not only makes them more manageable, but more enjoyable. Try writing out several cards each evening, rather than trying to do them all at once. Do your gift-buying online and avoid the annual mall death march through toy stores, factory outlets and discount palaces.

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Guard your sleep. Stress management and overall health demand adequate sleep and should top your priority list. The best way to ensure proper rest is to set regular bedtimes. Avoid or cut down on caffeine, alcohol and tobacco; all disrupt sleeping patterns, making it difficult to drift off or stay there. Eating too much food close to bedtime adversely affects slumber as well.

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Set reasonable goals over the holidays. If you want to shed fat, the holidays may not be the best time to do it. There are just too many tempting goodies around. In fact, it may be unreasonable to expect to lose any weight during the holidays. Maintaining your present weight, or only gaining 2 or 3 pounds instead of 7 pounds or more, is a more sensible goal.

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Cancel the guilt trips. If, after all of your planning and commitment, you do overindulge, try not to feel guilty. Guilt only weakens your resolve to maintain healthy habits. Besides, guilt can spoil the fun of your holiday celebrations, and this is a time of year to be merry. Even if you do veer off your program, don’t let that be your downfall. See the bigger picture, without obsessing over every little deviation from your plan. Simply do the next healthy thing for yourself: exercise, have a nutritious meal, or do some relaxation exercises.

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Be of good cheer. Send a contribution to someone in need, volunteer at a shelter, or contribute to a charity like Toys for Tots. Take a few moments of each day to simply say thank you for what you have. Release anger, bitterness and resentment. Be like a kid again in how you view the holidays; it will help you live with more wonder and enthusiasm. And finally, hold each day sacred. The present is the greatest gift of all.

If you take just a few pieces of my advice, I doubt if you’ll have even one vision of a sugar plum or be tempted to sneak a nibble of the carolers’ figgy pudding.

Review:

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Pre-diet prior to the holidays. That way, you’ll come into season weighing less. Should you gain weight over the holidays, it won’t be such as big deal.

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Eat strategically at parties and holiday gatherings so you don’t go overboard.

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Fill up on fiber-rich foods to keep from overeating.

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Keep track of what you eat during the holidays by writing it down.

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Don’t neglect exercise.

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Use stress-reducing techniques during the holidays.

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Remember the real reason behind the season.

LEAN 17
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The 17 Most Fattening Holiday Foods and How to Downsize Them

H
ere are 17 holiday favorites from around the world. Note how they stack up calorie-wise and what you can do to soften the blow.

Food

1.
8-ounce cheese ball

Calories per Serving

729

The Leaner Eat

Opt for reduced-calorie cheese as an appetizer.

Food

2.
Eggnog (9 ounces)

Calories per Serving

343

The Leaner Eat

Make your own low-fat version with egg substitute, evaporated skim milk, rum extract and some Truvia for sweetness.

Food

3.
Dinner rolls

Calories per Serving

84 to 201

The Leaner Eat

Serve whole wheat rolls or no bread at all.

Food

4.
Cranberry sauce (½ cup)

Calories per Serving

223

The Leaner Eat

Serve reduced-sugar cranberry sauce and save around 150 calories.

Food

5.
Candied yams (1 cup)

Calories per Serving

420

The Leaner Eat

Mash sweet potatoes with a little orange juice; skip the sugar and marshmallows.

Food

6.
Mashed potatoes and gravy, large helping

Calories per Serving

240

The Leaner Eat

Mash the potatoes with 2 parts potatoes and 1 part mashed parsnips, carrots, or cauliflower to reduce the calories by nearly 75 percent. Use a little evaporated skim milk and forgo the butter. Skip or go easy on the gravy.

Food

7.
Potato pancakes (latkes), 2 pancakes

Calories per Serving

400

The Leaner Eat

Use extra-virgin olive oil instead of higher-fat kinds such as corn oil, and toss out the egg yolks.

Food

8.
Creamed corn (1 cup)

Calories per Serving

184

The Leaner Eat

Enjoy regular cooked corn kernels instead.

Food

9.
Traditional stuffing, large serving

Calories per Serving

640

The Leaner Eat

Try wild rice as stuffing instead, and bake it separately in a covered casserole. Cooked inside the turkey, the stuffing absorbs too much fat from the meat.

Food

10.
Roasted goose

Calories per Serving

519

The Leaner Eat

Stick with roasted turkey.

Food

11.
Prime rib

Calories per Serving

569 to 854, depending on the size of the slab

The Leaner Eat

Control your portion size!

Food

12.
Roast pork with pineapple

Calories per Serving

466

The Leaner Eat

Roast a pork loin in the oven by removing the skin, draining the fat, and adding broth, fruit, or bitter orange or orange juice instead of oil to keep it moist. Serve with pineapple canned in its own juice.

Food

13.
Tamales, 3

Calories per Serving

459