Americans gain an average of eight pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years.
Fatty foods to avoid include:
1. American cheese: Seventy-five percent calories from fat.
2. Cream cheese: Ninety percent calories from fat.
3. Pepperoni stick: Eighty percent calories from fat.
4. Pork sausage: Seventy-four percent calories from fat.
5. Spareribs: Sixty-nine percent calories from fat.
According to a 1995 USDA survey, America's top ten fat sources include:
1. Margarine
2. Whole milk
3. Shortening
4. Mayonnaise and salad dressing
5. American cheese
6. Ground beef
7. Low-fat milk
8. Eggs
9. Butter
10. Vanilla ice cream
Holiday drinking is another way to gain body fat. Alcohol has no fat but it interferes with your fat burning metabolism. Your body will choose to oxidize alcohol instead of fat. Alcohol spares fat according to Swiss Calorimetry Chamber Studies. Ingesting alcohol is similar to consuming quantities of dietary fat. Cheryl Hartsough, R.D. says that if you are going to drink alcohol, drink a beer. And if you are going to drink a beer, drink a light beer with only one hundred calories.
Holiday Eating Rules and Reminders
1. Under-eating during the day can lead to over-eating at night.
2. Schedule meals in advance.
3. Become sensitive to your energy nemds.
4. Do not skip meals.
5. Eat two servings of carbohydrates and one serving of protein at eachmeal.
6. Remember eating the right foods along with moderate exercise helps fuelyour muscle to increase your metabolism.
7. Consume most of your calories early in the day.
8. Eat the right kind of foods.
9. Treat yourself to smaller portions of "forbidden" foods.
10. Eat your high calorie foods in the morning.
11. Eating speeds up your metabolism.
12. A good late night snack is a high-fiber cereal with skim milk.
13. Craving sugar may mean that you are not eating enough protein andcarbohydrates throughout the day.
14. Take control of your cravings by fueling your body every few hours.
15. Special order low-fat at restaurants. Use tomato, broth, andwine-based sauces instead of high-fat gravy, cream, and cheese sauces.
16. Buy large quantities of fruits and vegetables to use as munchies.
17. Make small changes: Skim milk instead of regular, jelly on toastinstead of butter, mustard on sandwiches instead of mayonnaise, diet sodainstead of regular, non-fat frozen desserts instead of high-fat frozen yogurt, use non-fat salad dressing, and eat your turkey without the skin.
18. Diet sodas don't satisfy a craving. Choose a non-fat snack instead. If there is no time to prepare a quality snack drink a meal replacement shake.
19. If you miss the potato chip crunch, choose crackers, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, carrots, celery, baked tortilla chips, saltines, matzos, or non-fat crackers.
20. Beware of the cheese and other condiments used on chef salads and Caesar salads.
21. If you are hungry, start your holiday meal with a non-fat soup.
22. Schedule a reasonable after dinner mini-meal instead ofsuccumbing to an uncontrolled binge.
23. Don't eat fewer than one thousand calories each day.
