Eat, Drink and Be Merry! Diet Tips and
Strategies for the Holidays
By Fran Gare, N.D.
Reprinted with permission from Glow Beauty Magazine
The holiday season can be one of the most joyful-and-stressful times of the year... Develop your “holiday eating strategies” NOW!
The Holidays are fast approaching, beginning with candy-binging Halloween The temptations are undeniable, balanced only by your drive not to gain weight. What to do? Here are no-fail suggestions that can help you approach the season with a realistic plan for handling holiday treats and food- filled celebrations.
Begin keeping the extra pounds off by losing 5 pounds before holiday eating begins, and again between holidays. Gain at Halloween, lose before Thanksgiving; gain at Thanksgiving, lose before Christmas, Chanukah and New Years. Follow the simple suggestions that follow, and 5 pounds will be gone in two weeks and may not return as you celebrate the Holidays.
Drink water between snacks. A large bottle of springwater can be your best friend. Water helps fill your stomach and has great health and weight-control value. It flushes your body of toxins, helping you stay more alert, less hungry and “regular”.
Take these snacks to work as well: crunch is good! Avoid drinking soda. Soda depletes your body of minerals, causing instant fatigue. Even sugar-free sodas can cause you to crave sugar. Take these snacks to work as well: crunch is good!
Take the amino acid L’Glutamine thirty minutes before eating a planned meal. It can control sugar and alcohol cravings.
Start now or at least two weeks before your Holiday parties begin. Remove those foods and drinks you will consume the most during the Holidays: sugar, flour (bread, cakes, cookies, pasta) and all alcoholic beverages. Doing this should help you shed at least five unwanted pounds.
To stave-off hunger, consider replacing those calorie-laden treats with more healthy substitutes as follows:
Ways To Feel Less Hungry
Snack all day when you are not partying.
Fill a bowl with ice cubes and keep it in your refrigerator. Fill it with raw vegetables (carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers, celery, whatever you like).
Drink it with your cheese or nuts. Red wine helps.
These foods are fat-free and low in calories and carbohydrates. Snack on them hourly. They will help you lose weight and keep you from overeating at a holiday dinner or party. Take these snacks to work as
well: crunch is good!
L’Glutamine is available at vitamin shops.
Tip: L’ Glutamine is valuable not only as an appetite suppressant, it will help to detox your liver if you lose your will power and eat or drink too much.
PARTY TIPS: Fill up fast with healthy treats!
Head straight for the cheese or nuts! Fat is filling. Two ounces of cheese (about the size of two fingers) or 20 nuts should remove the “edge” from your appetite.
Hold a glass of red wine and sip it slowly. digest protein and “the calories don’t count.” That’s how the French do it!
Drink a glass of Perrier or seltzer a lemon wedge between alcoholic drinks.
Eat only when you are hungry and hoose your foods. Stay conscious of what you put in your mouth. (Unconscious eating always leads to unwanted pounds.)
Write down all the foods and drinks you can remember eating — as soon as you get home.
Tip: Talk and dance more then you eat.
More Serious Tips — Only To Be Used On Special Eating Occasions.
If the foods you like best are sugary-simple-carbohydrates, and you know that given the chance, you will binge on them — take chromium and vanadium. These supplement, found in vitamin stores, help balance insulin levels.
If you know that fatty foods are your weakness, take Chitosan. This derivative of crustacean shells glams onto fat and keeps it from being absorbed by the body. Unfortunately, it will also take healthy fats and fat soluble vitamins with it. Please do not use this on a regular basis. Swallow only for party-gluttony-emergencies.
A nutrient you can take on a regular basis is CLA which helps to emulsify the fats you eat and is a powerful antioxident. CLA will keep the fat off of your hips as well as make you healthier.
The most important activity is to have fun without over drinking or over eating. Relax and enjoy the Holidays and every day. Stressful situations produce cortisol, a hormone that can cause weight gain.
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Stay Healthy, Young and Fit :
advice and tips from Dr. Fran Gare
Fran Gare is a clinical nutritionist and naturopathic physician who has coauthored six best-selling books including Dr. Akins' Diet Revolution, Dr. Aktins' New Diet Cookbook and The Mandells' It's Not Your Fault You're Fat. Dr. Gare was the Director of Nutrition at the Atkins Center for Complementary Nutrition, New York City, and Director of Natural Medicine at Miami Heart Hospital. She is a media personality who has appeared frequently on national TV and radio and print, offering expertise on health and diet issues.
Fran is also a contributing expert to Glow Beauty Magazine .
Dr. Fran Gare
Office: 635 Madison Avenue
19th Floor
NY, NY 10022
212-752-1662
FREE 1/2 hour anti-aging or weight loss consultation with Dr. Gare. Call her office and tell her you're a tomato.
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