Survival Guide To Holiday Eating

Beth Reardon, director of integrative nutrition at Duke Integrative Medicine, compares controlling eating during the holidays to a marathon. 

"It's a long haul because the holidays are awash with food," Reardon said. "But you can prepare for the challenge, and there are strategies for the game day to lessen the chance that you will sabotage your health during the holidays." 

Reardon offered tips for healthy eating during a recent "Survival Guide to Holiday Eating" seminar at Duke Integrative Medicine. The discussion was part of a series of free health related talks sponsored by DukeWELL, a health management program offered to Duke employees. 

Here are her strategies to prepare for the holiday food rush: 

- Start from a healthy place: "Don't wait until New Year's Eve to set goals for healthy eating," she said. "Start forming good habits now so that you move into the holiday season with healthy habits in place."

- Set simple, specific goals: Commit to concrete, healthy goals such as, "I will have seconds on veggies before I take seconds on anything else." 

- Practice comebacks: "Come up with ways to say `no' to people who push food on you," Reardon said. "Run the tape in your head before it happens so you have it at the tip of your tongue." She suggests: "No thanks, I'm really full" and "It looks great. Maybe you could wrap it up, and I could take it home."

- Eat before a party: Eating a hardboiled egg or handful of nuts before a party can take the edge off hunger and keep blood sugar from plummeting during the evening. "A small bowl of soup is great because something warm in the belly cuts hunger and releases serotonin, which helps ease anxiety," Reardon said.

- Be a food snob: The average holiday meal with turkey, gravy and all the fixings, can easily pack 3,000 calories. "Eat what matters most to you, not simply everything that is available," Reardon said. "If you only eat a particular dish at the holidays, enjoy it. But go easy on the potatoes or other food that you can have any time of the year."

- Plate management: Try to leave an empty space between food on a plate to avoid overeating. 

Katie Hunter, a specialist in grants and contracts for the Social Science Research Institute, had gastric bypass surgery in Oct. 2010 to fight obesity. She has lost 130 pounds and attended the seminar for advice on how to change eating habits to help her lose an additional 40 pounds. 

"When I left the seminar, I felt much more educated about my choices and empowered to make changes like focusing on getting more veggies in my diet," she said. "I've had 50-some years of making poor choices around food, and I don't want that to continue."

Click here to find out how you can get free help managing weight over the holidays.