The Tribune

By Regina Smith

WITH Christmas and New Year’s Day just around the corner, the holiday party invites are as overwhelming as the food that will be served at them.

The good news is, if you’re trying to watch your waistline during this holiday season, you can still enjoy the tasty dishes that will soon be within reach. Here are seven steps to successfully staying happy and healthy this season:

1. There are 99 bottles of beer at the bar, but you don’t need to have them all. Keep your alcohol consumption moderate. While moderate consumption of alcohol has shown to lower the risk of heart disease as well increase bone density, excessive alcohol consumption causes a build-up of toxins that can severely affect the liver as well as cause an interruption of the digestive system by preventing absorption of nutrients and healthy bacteria. The American Dietary Association and the Centre For Disease Control defines moderate consumption of alcohol as one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. While this may not sound very exciting, you are making positive choices for your body in the long run. Besides, you don’t want to have slurred speech when you’re gushing to your friends about how fabulous spin class or boot camp makes you feel! Keep it moderate and keep it moving!

2. Put your portion sizes into perspective. Poor planning and starvation are two the most common triggers of over eating. While you may not know the menu at the holiday party, decide ahead of time that you will control your portion size to smaller sample sizes in order to curb over eating. If you’ve saved up your spare calories for that one slice of guava duff, then decide beforehand that you will have a sample size of dessert. Instead of eating macaroni, potato salad, coleslaw and peas n’ rice, choose one starch to enjoy. Excessive intake of carbohydrates can lead to blood sugar spikes. Avoid starvation. The accepted macronutrient distribution ranges are: 10 per cent to 35 per cent of protein; 25 per cent to 35 per cent fat; 45 per cent to 65 per cent of carbohydrates. Simple sugars, such as desserts, should make up no more that 15 per cent of your plate.

3. Keep your plate colourful! Although, no one wants to be told to cut back on the stuffing during the holiday season, shake up your plate and add more vegetables to your ham and turkey feast. Steamed carrots are tasty. They are also rich in vitamin A, biotin and vitamin K. Steamed broccoli and baked sweet potatoes are nutrient dense, filled with fibre and excellent additions to mom’s snapper, grouper and baked chicken.

4. Choose baked or grilled options when available. Bahamians love their snapper, grouper, conch and chicken. Any of these options can also be tasty when baked, grilled or steamed and seasoned well instead of fried.

5. If dining out, order an appetiser portion of your favourite entrée or select an entree from the appetiser menu. Restaurant portions are usually enough to feed two people. Offer to share an entree with a friend. Capitalise on the season of giving and offer to pay for the meal for you and your friend.

If you’re not in the mood to share, ask the waiter to halve the entrée before it arrives at the table, and to put the other half into a take-out container. If it’s a tasty dinner, you’ll have twice the enjoyment the next day at lunch or dinner.

1. Make your workout a priority, even if you have to move your physical activity to the break of dawn in order to leave the rest of the day free for shopping, errands and evening soirees. Whether it’s a morning jog, a walk or 45-minute strength training session, ensure that you plan ahead to get your workout done. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

I always remind my clients that the holiday season is less about greed and gluttony and more about giving and spending time with the people you love. This month you may have more “cheat meals” than you usually do. It’s OK to “let your hair down”, just not to the point where you undo all the work you’ve done over the course of the year. Food can be enjoyed without excessive consumption. Many of my clients avoid putting on the extra pounds during the holiday season because we conduct pre-holiday consultations where we sit down and create a plan for success. Gorging during the holiday season and embarking on a new fad/starvation diet in the new year will not help you produce the long-term results that you want. There has to be a lifestyle change. Your physical activity and nutritional choices will reflect that change. Enjoy your time with your family. Enjoy the fitness and health successes you have achieved during the year. Leadership and self-development expert Darren Hardy says: “We make our choices and our choices make us.” Let’s make wise choices to close this year, for our body, our functionality, our health and our future. Happy healthy holidays!

• Regina Smith is a certified personal trainer, weight loss specialist and senior fitness specialist with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in dance pedagogy and exercise science and a master’s degree in business administration. She can be reached for personal training and weight loss consultations at regina.tonia.smith@gmail.com or on Facebook at Regina Tonia Victoria Smith.