by Jessica Geiger, RD
Tis’ the season for all our favorite holiday celebrations! November kicks off the holiday season that continues into mid-January. Everyone is beginning to prepare for the family gatherings, friend parties and work events that are to quickly ensue. The holidays often mean spending time with loved ones, decorating the house, cooking old favorite family recipes and lots and lots of eating! All of this sounds great until all the eating and overindulging catches up to the scale. The holidays can be a very stressful time for some, especially, if you are concerned about gaining unwanted weight.
Though it is a healthy behavior to indulge every once in a while, on a special occasion or big event, it is also important to also do so in moderation. Everyone has heard of “eating in moderation”, but how does one do that successfully? It all comes down to having a plan when eating or creating a dinner plate, and in this case, at a holiday party. Let’s explore some helpful tips when building your holiday plate!
(Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021)
Picture above is a simplified “My Plate” model that portrays the portions of how to build a complete and healthy meal. The My Plate model was established by the USDA as a visual tool to display food group targets that include what and how much to eat when building a plate. This plate model is a great reference to use when plating any meal, especially during the holiday season to aid in discouraging extreme overindulgence.
To start, fifty percent of the plate is filled with non-starchy vegetables (and/or fruit), twenty-five percent is filled with a lean protein food item and the remaining twenty-five percent is filled with a carbohydrate or starchy food item. Non-starchy vegetables would include any vegetable that is low in starch (or sugar) yet high in fiber. Some examples would be leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and other vegetables like carrots, asparagus, tomatoes, onion, zucchini, cucumber, artichoke, eggplant, mushrooms, leeks, peppers, radishes, turnips, tomatoes and the list goes on! The benefit to building a plate with half of it filled up with non-starchy vegetables is that this is where the bulk of the meal is coming from.
Non-starchy vegetables are high in vitamins/ minerals that are essential for our bodies to function. Vitamins and minerals support immune health, aid in the conversion of food to energy and repair cellular damage. They are high in fiber which is important for maintaining gut and bowel health. Fiber also takes our GI tract longer to digest thus providing a more satiating effect making someone feel fuller for longer. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, these non-starchy vegetables are very low in calories which will aid in avoiding unwanted weight gains. Food items during the holidays that may be included in this category would be a mixed leafy green salad, glazed carrots, roasted brussel sprouts or mashed turnips.
Opposite to non-starchy vegetables are starchy vegetables. Starchy vegetables would include vegetables that are high in starches and are more so considered carbohydrates. These vegetables include potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, corn, peas, pumpkin, succotash, beans/ lentils, hominy, squash (butternut/ acorn). These starchy vegetables wouldn’t be included on the vegetable portion of your plate, but instead, they would fall into the twenty-five percent carbohydrates or starchy food section.
Typically holiday meals are very carbohydrate heavy. Carbohydrates are our bodies preferred energy source that provides energy to help fuel all major body organs and muscles to function appropriately. The allotment for carbohydrate foods is twenty-five percent of the My Plate model. This is where any grains such as pasta, rice, couscous, faro, bread or a starchy vegetable like mentioned above would be included. During the holidays this could be food items such as corn, baked/ mashed potatoes or yams, mashed sweet potatoes or sweet potato casserole, butternut squash casserole, green bean casserole, pasta dishes such as macaroni and cheese, stuffing, corn bread and dinner rolls!
The last remaining twenty-five percent of your plate is left for your protein. Proteins, specifically lean proteins that are low in fat, provide many nutritional benefits. Protein is important for multiple metabolic processes that occur in your body. Protein is also well known to be essential in muscle maintenance and muscle growth. Sources of lean protein include animal protein such as eggs, fish, shellfish, turkey, chicken, beef, pork and non-animal sources like soy and soy based products such as tofu or tempeh, beans, peas, lentils, nuts and seeds. During the holidays this may include dishes like baked ham, turkey and gravy, roasted beef, mixed nuts or cheese. At this point in building your plate, you should have a full plate in a well portioned manner that will fill you up and allows you to enjoy all your favorite home cooked meal items without breaking the calorie bank.
Now, we mustn’t forget about the much looked forward to dessert table that follows the initial big holiday meal. This is often where some people struggle the most. Instead of loading up your dessert plate with one of every item, instead, try to focus on filling half your plate with fruit or a fruit dish. This will allow for less of your plate to be taken over by high calorie desserts that will negate the hard work put into following the My Plate method for your dinner meal. With the remaining half of your plate fill it with only one to two of your most favorite dessert dishes and ditch the rest. Allow yourself to be mindful in enjoying your favorite desserts by taking the time to eat them and not quickly inhale them. Savor these dessert choices!
Additional tips to try when avoiding unwanted holiday weight gain can include modifying some traditional high calorie or high fat recipes by substituting certain ingredients for lower calorie/ healthier options! This can include substituting sour cream for Greek yogurt, whole milk for a reduced fat or soy milk, or baking instead of frying a meal item just to name a few! Using a smaller plate during meal and dessert times may also prove to be beneficial in cutting down excess calories. Practicing mindfulness when making beverage choices will also be important. Try to choose low or no calorie beverages instead of items that are loaded with added sugar which means added calories. Lastly, incorporating a physical activity can be a fun way to promote energy expenditure (aka burning calories!). An example of this may include a group walk in a park or around the neighborhood after consuming a large meal instead of staying inside and sitting on the couch. Using all these small changes, tips and tricks will be your secret weapon in voiding any weight gain this holiday season! If you’d like to learn more about nutrition or how to better manage your weight feel free to set up an in-person or virtual nutrition consolation with the Clinical Nutrition and Psychotherapy Institute to speak with a Registered Dietitian today!
Happy Holidays!!
Works Cited
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, March 11). Diabetes Meal Planning. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from cdc.gov: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/managing/eat-well/meal-plan-method.html
Harvard Health Publishing. (n.d.). Vitamins and Minerals. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from Help Guide: https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/vitamins-and-minerals.htm
USDA. (n.d.). Explore the MyPlate Food Groups. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from MyPlate.gov: https://www.myplate.gov/
USDA. (n.d.). My Plate Graphics . Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/what-is-myplate: https://www.myplate.gov/resources/graphics/myplate-graphics
USDA. (n.d.). My Plate Plan. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from MyPlate: https://www.myplate.gov/myplate-plan
