5 Tips to Beating Holiday Weight Gain

Thanksgiving in the U.S. is the official launch for December's holiday festivities. For some of you it is the beginning of the battle of the bulge. Did you know you can gain as much as 15 pounds during the holidays? All the rich foods, deserts holiday spirits, and ohhhh the chocolate… as much as you want to turn down the invites, you can't. Have no fear, you can enjoy the holiday’s festivities and save your waist line with these easy tips. In fact your game plan starts the day before your first party.

Your body is run mainly by hormones and hormones affect how we feel. Sleep is an intricate play of hormones. Serotonin wakes you up and keeps you alert and Melatonin makes you fall asleep. If your sleep cycle is off, it will lead to hormonal imbalance which leads to low blood sugar and low serotonin. When there is an imbalance, you become depressed, moody, and negative thoughts creep in which leads to emotional binge eating. You brain signals for a pick me up, which is usually interpreted as sugar or refined carbohydrates, which spike your blood sugar, and get you super revved up. This short term fix sends the brain a false sense of alertness; serotonin goes up and we feel good, happy and energized. Within 1-2 hours you crash, blood sugar dips below normal, pancreas releases hormones to convert sugar to energy and the brain signals hormones to get more happy food!

This viscous cycle can actually permanently change the neurochemical pathways making the brain lazy and relies on you to provide the fix.  You end up in a constant cycle of good and bad moods and that means excess fat and weight gain, especially in the mid section. Getting a good night's sleep is crucial to keeping your clothes fitting like they should and you on your game. According to the National Sleep Foundation seven to nine hours of sleep nightly keeps your body running optimally. With the stress of the holidays, it is even more important to ensure you get adequate rest.

Skipping Breakfast = DISASTER!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The name actually means to break overnight fast. Think about it, if your last meal was at 7:00 pm and you sleep until 7: 00 am that is 12 hours your body has gone without food. You need a good breakfast to ward off the pounds. Your blood sugar is at its lowest in the morning, and if you wait until later in the day to eat, your body will send out chemical signals to eat sugary, high calorie foods for a quick fix for your fogged brain. The problem is sugary, refined carbohydrate foods will not keep you and your brain satiated for long and within 1-2 hours you will be reaching for your next sugary fix.

Start your day with a quality protein rich meal such as organic free range eggs, organic free range chicken, bison or organic grass fed beef. An omelet with good sources of hormone free meat and vegetables, cooked with a little olive oil provides you with quality nutrients your body can utilize and will keep you full longer. On the run; a pure quality protein shake with fruits and some flaxseed oil will also keep your waist line happy.

Lunch is also important to keep you on track and keep you slim. If you ate a really healthy high protein, good quality breakfast, your blood sugar levels are just getting ready to signal you to eat. Beat the signals and load up on a protein, veggies and a good fat meal. A roasted chicken salad with the dressing on the side is a great way to keep you on your game. Eating lunch will keep your blood sugar level and will keep the weight off of your waist and will allow you to be in control of the food you eat.

Snacks are important as well, especially if you have a party to attend right after work. It is this time after lunch and before dinner that disaster can strike. Carry snacks such as raw nuts, nut butter and crackers, veggies, or a cup with a tight fitting lid with a scoop of protein powder inside; all you need to do is add the water. If you eat before you get to the party, you will be able to sensibly choose healthier foods instead of arriving and heading straight for the food and eating like a wild starved animal.

Drink up! No not alcohol, water. Water can actually keep you feeling full which means you will not be snacking on high calorie foods. Water is the avenue on which nutrients and wastes travel. It is required in abundance for the kidneys to regulate and for the bowel to eliminate. Insufficient amounts of water leads to health problems. The body is designed to use water to help pump volumes of blood throughout our arteries, helps chemical messengers communicate and to keep hormones working properly.

So how much water should you drink?  Ideally, the amount is based on your body weight. So take your body weight (in pounds) divide by 2 and this represents the number of ounces you require for daily maintenance.  Then divide by 8 which will let you know how many eight ounce glasses you need per day. Let’s use a 150lb person as an example:

150 pounds ÷ 2 = 75 ounces,

75 ÷ 8 = 9.4 8oz glasses per day

Avoid municipal drinking water it can actually make you fat! Aging water treatment distribution systems, pollutants and chemicals should be enough reason to stay away from it. Throughout North America there are acceptable guidelines laid out by Environmental Protection Agencies as well as ministries as to what are acceptable amounts of pollutants in the water such as chlorine, lead, arsenic, and aluminum, which should not be a part of our drinking water; period.  What is more shocking than undesired heavy metals is the fact that most filtration system cannot filter excreted medications and essentially if you are drinking Municipal tap water you are essentially consuming other’ excreted synthetic drugs and a host of other substances. According to Steve Meyerowitzi author of Water The Ultimate Lure;

There are more than 75,000 chemical compounds in our water with more being added daily. The problem is there is no long term research on the effects of ingesting daily amounts of chemicals, pollutants, industrial waste, along with agriculture land fill run off.  

Most pesticides, herbicides and chemicals are estrogen in nature. Estrogen dominance leads to weight gain.  

Stick to Spring water or reverse osmosis with a pinch of Celtic sea salt for added trace minerals. Read the water bottle label, if it says purified drinking water, you are essentially paying for municipal water that has been purified. Be sure the water bottle label says spring water.  Combine your mid afternoon snack with water and you will arrive at your party level headed and in control.

Follow these 5 easy tips to beating holiday weight gain and you will be the envy of your outta-control sugar munching holiday party goers. Think of how well you will feel come January when everyone else has added the 10-15 pound weight gain to their New Year's Resolutions. Tis the Season!