Healthy Eating Choices at the Holidays

NAME: Z

STATUS: Festive
GOAL: Festivities without the fat
PEEVE: Holiday parties without healthy options
GLEE: Wearing the same size in January!

I am a social animal. I love parties. I love planning them, I love having them and I love attending them.

Usually.

Over the years, I’ve over-indulged at holiday parties, mostly when I am stressed. This was especially true during my first marriage because I didn’t care much for my ex’s colleagues. At the company’s shindig and private parties I sought comfort in food and, at times, a bit more wine than proper.

I developed a few coping strategies. Behold, the unofficial “Z’s Guide to Surviving Holiday Hospitality.”

1. Don’t go to a party hungry. Don’t stuff yourself like a turkey before leaving the house but eat half a sandwich or a cup of soup so you don’t dive head-first into the spinach-artichoke dip before you get your coat off.

2. Sample whatever you want. Pretend you are at one of those warehouse stores – one of every little thing that looks tasty. One.

3. Pace yourself. I will have a bite then walk away from the food area and talk to folks or just sit and people-watch. Fifteen minutes at least. Then another bite or two. Repeat.

4. Ask the hosts if they need any help. Hands that are otherwise occupied cannot put food in your mouth.

5. Fill up on the good stuff, if your hosts are wise enough to offer it – chopped salads, hummus, veggies, fruit. I could eat cheese and crackers for a week but I’d regret it – eat these foods sparingly, slowly and savor them.

6. Set a limit on dessert items and sweets. Split cookies and bars and other decadent treats with a friend so you can sample more than one or two. Have a glass of wine. But have a glass of water with you at all times. Navigating a table of food is hard when your hands are holding a glass, and the water is not only good for you, it also will slow down consumption of both food and alcohol.

And please, skip the eggnog. One cup of the stuff with a jigger of rum tops 400 calories. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day, that indulgence represents 20 percent. For one cup and a shot!

I’d rather have three extra cookies.

Let Mary Lee Bartlett, our expert for Weight Watchers, answer your questions about healthy eating choices at the holidays.

All the above information has been reviewed by this week’s expert.