How to Snack Healthy During the Holidays

The snacking temptations during the holidays are myriad, even if you’re not attending parties or family gatherings this season. It seems for six seeks or so, from Thanksgiving through the New Year, we (and others) love to test our resolve and to blow up ten months of healthy eating. We surround ourselves with unhealthy foods that are normally absent from our lives the rest of the year and are expected to control our consumption of said unhealthy foods. Essentially, we’re setting ourselves up for failure and the inevitable guilt that follows. There’s got to be a better way…

…and there is, when it comes to snacking (remember, I wrote about healthy dining during the holidays a few weeks ago) if you just adhere to the following tips:

• Avoid temptation by keeping unhealthy snacks from view…in fact, just keep them out of the house altogether. We generally eat what is most accessible and readily available. With that in mind, stock your fridge and pantry with healthy snacks such as nuts, whole grain protein bars, fruit and low-fat yogurt. The more inaccessible the unhealthy stuff, the less likely you are to eat it.
• Eat those healthy snacks if you have a large meal on the horizon. Do not starve yourself during the day in a futile belief that it will help you better enjoy a large dinner. The consequences of this are usually gorging on dinner during which you taste little and enjoy less as you shovel food into your face. An hour or two prior to a big meal, eat a snack rich in protein and fiber, like an apple dipped in peanut butter and this will help you from overeating at mealtime.
• Do not eat holiday snacks from the bag but rather place a single serving size in a bowl and stop once the bowl is empty. We tend to eat several servings when we sit in front of a screen and unmindfully nosh while watching the Mandalorian or The Crown.
• Do not hang out near the snack table if you do attend a party or family gathering. For some, the theory of “out of sight, out of mind” works best when it comes to social gatherings that revolve around food, and which social gathering does NOT revolve around food? If possible, socialize in a room with no food or, better yet, on an entirely different floor.
• Do not “snack” on holiday Starbucks’ caramel brulée lattes (410 calories and 49 grams of sugar in a 2% milk Grande), toasted white chocolate mochas (420 calories and 56 grams of sugar in a Grande) or eggnog lattes (450 calories and 52 grams of sugar in the Grande). That’s a sh!tload of calories and sugar in liquid form. Holiday coffees from Dunkin’ are even higher in calories. If you have a caffeine craving, stick to coffee, black if possible (3 calories and 0 grams of sugar).
• Wear your skinny jeans to holiday gatherings as just undoing your belt and/or buttons will not be enough if you gorge yourself. The tightness of the jeans will be a constant reminder not to overeat.
• Be a mindful snacker rather than a mindless one. Simply be aware of what and how much you’re snacking on which can be rather difficult with so many distractions swirling around at holiday gatherings. But with a little effort on your part, it is achievable.
• Avoid over-indulging on alcohol, especially on an empty stomach as this increases your appetite and lowers your ability to control what and how much you eat. This is yet another reason NOT to go to a holiday gathering without eating some healthy snacks prior to arrival.
• Make and take your own healthy snacks if hosting or attending a holiday party. Here’s a site that offers some great recipes.

Look, over the holidays healthy snackin’ ain’t easy, but it ain’t impossible either. One just needs to be ever vigilant or mindful as they say in the nutritional world. Plan ahead, take a willpower pill (if only there were such a thing) and you’ll do fine. Happy holidays!