How to NOT Gain Weight From all the Big Meals Over the Holiday Season

Learn a few easy healthy tips for runners in training to keep enjoying the traditional foods without sacrificing your diet plan over the holidays.The Holiday Season is synonymous with a month-long period of large feasts, rich foods, and festive treats and drinks lurking around every corner.

It is also a time of traveling, socializing, and hibernating away from the cold and snow that winter brings (at least for me and my fellow Minnesotans).

It seems as if the holidays and training are not meant to coincide, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

My goal is to show you how to enjoy the holidays and still maintain training your runner identity and make traditional holiday eating fit into a solid runners’ training regimen.

First let’s focus on the foods. Below are a few examples of some of the most common holiday foods and tips on how they can be a part of a healthy training diet plan.

Holiday Eating and Your Training Diet Plan

Turkey – White Meat vs. Dark Meat

White meat or dark meat? Mainly the decision boils down to personal taste preference, but here are a couple of things to consider:

  • White meat contains fewer calories and fat than dark meat, but the differences are really minimal. Per ounce, choosing white meat over dark meat saves you only about 4 calories and 1 gram of fat. The more you eat, the bigger the difference but a traditional serving size is between 3-6 ounces.
  • Compared to white meat, dark meat has more iron, zinc, and B-vitamins (riboflavin, thiamine, B6 and B12), all of which are important to a runner’s health. Zinc plays an important role in immune function, iron is critical for hemoglobin synthesis and oxidative metabolism, vitamin B6 is a key player in nearly 100 metabolic reactions including those involved in energy metabolism, and vitamin B12 is necessary for normal red blood cell synthesis.
  • Both white and dark meats are abundant sources of lean protein (~24-25 g per 3 oz serving). Just be sure to remove the skin, which would double the fat content with mainly the saturated type that can clog blood vessels.

Cranberries

I opt for cranberries over gravy to accompany my turkey. I like the sweet and savory combination, and there are key health benefits that cranberries can bring to your meal. But what is the best way to add them?

With homemade sauce you control the amount of cranberries and sugar you put into it. Cooking them with orange juice will naturally sweeten the sauce and bump up the vitamin C content.

Canned cranberry sauce: Three standard “slices” contain ~258 calories and 65 grams of sugar (over 16 teaspoons!) For reference purposes, the American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 5 teaspoons per day of added sugar for active females and no more than 18 tsp/d for an active male. The bottom line is that the canned sauce includes a lot more sugar than whole cranberries

Homemade: With homemade sauce you control the amount of cranberries and sugar you put into it. Cooking them with orange juice will naturally sweeten the sauce and bump up the vitamin C content.

It is best to use the whole cranberry to get the most health benefits:

  • Cranberries are a good source of vitamin C and fiber.
  • They also contain an array of phytonutrients that have infection-fighting properties.
  • Most notably, cranberries have been linked to the prevention of urinary tract infections.
  • Cranberry research has also focused on the antioxidant properties of the fruit and its role in immune function, cardiovascular health, and anti-cancer benefits.

Sweet Potatoes

Holiday eating is not complete without the inclusion of sweet potatoes, which are an excellent source of vitamin A. The nutrient is most popular for its role in vision, and also as its role as an antioxidant.

Furthermore, sweet potatoes are starchy vegetables that are rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber. These properties make sweet potatoes a great choice for athletes year-round.

I like my sweet potatoes best either baked or roasted with a little bit of salt and butter. The more traditional way to prepare these spuds is in a casserole with hefty amount of butter and sugar.

While sweet potatoes do have good health properties, too much added sugar and fat can certainly negate any positive health benefits of consuming them.

If the sweet potatoes on your dinner table are loaded with extra sugar and butter, it is okay to partake in them in a smaller portion. But get your carbohydrate fill from another, more nutritious selection, like a whole grain dinner roll or whole grain dressing.

Cookies

Homemade cookies and other sweet treats are always right there looking you in the eye no matter where you are during the holidays. They are full of calories and sugar and fat, but you can’t stop yourself from eating them no matter how hard you try to resist.

The good news is you don’t have to.

I suggest making cookies a part of your holiday training diet plan. The high sugar content of cookies makes them a suitable choice for post-workout recovery.

You know you are going to eat them anyways, so why not replace your traditional recovery foods with a couple of cookies and a glass of milk. That way you aren’t really adding any extra calories to your diet and you still get to enjoy some festive treats.

Final Holiday Diet Plan and Training Tips

  • Remember what your plate should look like: About half should be fruits and vegetables, one-third whole grains, and a small portion should be lean protein. By visualizing this plate scheme, you can fill in your plate with the foods that are available and rest assured that you have a well-rounded meal that fits into your training diet plan.
  • Have a holiday eating plan when you go to parties or gatherings and know you will be surrounded by tempting foods. Try a small tasting of everything you think you want to try. Don’t waste calories on foods you know you won’t like, and allow yourself to indulge on a select few of your holiday favorites.
  • Don’t try to save calories by skipping meals. Maintaining a solid meal plan throughout the day will keep you from getting too hungry and eating too much.
  • Exercise whenever you can and try not to stress out over missing a run or having to cut a run short. Any exercise you can get in during the busy holiday season will still benefit you, especially in helping control stress and dangerous stress eating.
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