Eating Your Way Through the Holidays


By Douglas Barnard DC

During the holiday season temptation is everywhere. Whether at home, work, or socially – the holidays mean food – and lots of it. And not only are we tempted by lots of food, but we usually eat more than usual and of course holiday meals and treats are usually more fattening than regular meals. Healthy eating can be a real challenge over the holidays as many things can divert us from our regular routine. This means less exercise, more stress, and more food consumption

Yeah, but Christmas only comes once a year... So what to do? Well, maybe you could just eat, drink, and be merry. Eat whatever you want. Don’t deprive yourself of all the wonderful holiday treats. There is that wonderful chocolate divinity that your Aunt Helen makes, and the eggnog, and turkey and stuffing and gravy and pie, and cookies and all kinds of little goodies at all the parties. Oh, the parties with champagne and more chocolate and more cookies and...

Christmas only comes once a year so enjoy all the food and drink you want and right after New Year’s get serious again about eating habits and exercise.

Whoa! You say, no way. I’ve worked hard to lose this weight, to get healthy, and I feel good and I look good so I want to eat healthy over the holidays.

Well you might be right. After all, the American Heart Association says on an average people gain five to ten unwanted pounds from Thanksgiving to New Year’s – and that’s an average.

So let’s take a look at why we typically overeat during the holidays.

First, there is the overwhelming amount of food available. And from a nutritional viewpoint there is usually too much processed sugar, alcohol (sugar), fat, and excess of simple carbohydrates (sugar). Too much of bad thing — is too much.

So, if your intention is to stay healthy and not look like a turkey, then make some sensible choices. If you are going to a holiday party or dinner then eat small and healthy meals or snacks throughout the day. Then, when you are confronted with all the tempting treats at the parties you will be less inclined to gorge yourself.

Maintain your regular water intake throughout the day. Many people ask me what is the right amount of water to drink every day. I encourage people to drink at least 1/2 a gallon every day, more if you are exercising. The accepted formula for water intake is half your body weight in ounces. If you weigh 250 pounds then by this formula you should drink 125 ounces of water a day, that’s just three ounces short of a gallon. That might be too much for some people. The best way to measure water intake is to listen to your body. In addition, I usually put some powdered “greens” in my water to make it more alkaline and reduce the acidity of eating and drinking too much. Remember that a diet containing raw fruits and vegetables (preferably organic) provides more water and minerals than a processed food diet, so eat organic when you can.

Another reason that people eat more food around the holidays is a change in their normal routine. You might be traveling, shopping, trying to finish the Christmas cards, and put up the tree. There is lot to do so we often sacrifice our healthy lifestyle and spend lots of time trying to create the “perfect Christmas.” So whatever or wherever you spend Christmas, try to maintain as much of your normal routine as possible. Go for walk or a jog like you normally do even if it’s not as far or as long. It will keep you on your normal routine and of course free your mind of some stress. And so much of holiday stress and overeating comes from trying to create the “perfect Christmas.”

Ah, the perfect Christmas. Let’s see, what’s next on my list. Okay, only 47 more Christmas cards to write (all with a personal note) and then be sure to mail them on time. Next is shopping for Christmas dinner, which is at my house this year (why did I ever agree to that?) After all I work full-time, go to school part-time, and I’m raising two kids.

And then the presents, I haven’t even begun to shop and I hear the malls are just jammed... better get going. Oh, and of course there is the office Christmas party, Christmas Eve dinner at my grandmother’s house (I sure hope Uncle Ed is not coming this year, I can’t stand his stupid jokes). Whew, it’s exhausting...and stressful. No matter what your holidays are like, there is never enough time to do it all and be perfect. Trying to make everything perfect and meet every one’s expectations often produce substantial guilt.

Guilt around the holidays is not your everyday guilt, holiday guilt happens when you fail to meet the “expectations” of the holidays, whether they’re your expectations or others and whether they’re realistic or not. Consider trimming some of the usual expectations this year: send fewer cards, buy fewer presents, do less baking, less travel, and don’t commit to as many holiday functions. After all, less is more isn’t it? Trimming back will give you more time, save you money, and lower your total stress level.

Last, always keep in mind that health is a total picture. There are many, many exciting elements to the holidays — not only food — holiday music, memories, movies, games, scents, and decorations. The idea is to enjoy the holidays the way you did as a child and take some of the attention away from food — it gets way too much attention as it is.

So if you feel you ate too much at a holiday party or dinner — take a walk, a long walk.

Happy Holidays

Douglas Barnard is a chiropractic physician in private practice in White Salmon, WA. His practice is a combination of chiropractic and nutritional therapy. Dr. Barnard is also a lead teacher for the Nutritional Therapy Association, which is an educational organization dedicated to helping healthcare professionals and lay persons understand and reverse the ill effects of the modern diet. He may be reached at globalhealth@gorge.net.