This is sponsored content from BlogHer and The Laughing Cow.
How do you eat healthy and manage your portions during the holiday season with everyone showering unhealthy, yet great tasting food choices on you?
Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes eating healthy. Thanksgiving through New Years is a hard time for most people to maintain their waist line. Actually, no matter what time of year, I never like to watch what I eat!
Much of the holidays involves cooking and eating delicious foods made by family and friends. You may think that it isn't possible to enjoy holiday gatherings while eating healthy, and although it may be challenging, I actually think that it can be done!
I am a lucky girl because I don't have a sweet tooth nor am I a big drinker, and as I'm sure you know, alcohol and sweets have a lot of calories. Imagine the fat and calories you can eliminate by simply cutting out desserts and booze!
By not drinking and eating desserts, I am more able to enjoy the appetizers and the main courses. So you see, just by making these couple of adjustments, you can eat and enjoy most everything else, providing that you follow some other basic rules. Here are the rest of my tips for eating healthy and managing your portions during the holiday season...
1. Eat very small portions of everything, this way you can try all of the delicious foods at the parties without getting sick!
2. Only eat things that you really love and make you happy.
3. Eat healthy at home so you can really enjoy yourself at holiday parties.
4. If you have a choice between turkey and red meat, go for the turkey. Oh, and be sure to take the white meat and don't eat the skin if you can help it!
5. Fill your plate with salad before the main meal. By filling up on lettuce, you'll eat less after. Be sure to stay away from fattening dressings or you will defeat the purpose. If you can't find a bottle of low-cal dressing, just use some Balsamic mixed with water and Splenda for a great tasting, low-cal dressing.
6. While at a party, if you have the opportunity...dance, dance and dance. It is a great way to burn calories fast while having fun!
I am giving away a $150 Visa gift card from BlogHer! If you would like a chance to win, please leave a comment with your thoughts and tips as to how you eat healthy and manage your portions during the holiday season and you will be entered to win a $150 Visa gift card! Please keep your comments G-rated as any profanity or offensive content will automatically disqualify you from sweepstakes entry.
Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) Read the official rules for alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Click here for the official rules and don't forget to visit "The Daily Dose of Well-Being" to check out other blogger's stories and for more chances to win.
Also keep in mind the following as per the official rules:
-Please check to ensure we have your current, correct email address. Please do not leave your email address in the body of your comment but rather in the corresponding field on the comment form.
-Entries must be written in English. Sorry to anyone who only writes in Spanish, but I don’t make the rules 🙂
Mickey Coutts
I eat healthy when friends are bringing me all sorts of goodies by eating a healthy meal first, before parties or entertaining. If I’m not hungry, I won’t nibble the goodies!
ANGEL JACKLYN
FORGOT MY TWEET EARLIER
twitter.com/#!/kytah00/status/19629959131701248
kytah00atyahoodotcom
Auriette
I tweeted about the giveaway:
twitter.com/Auriette/status/19624767405428736
Vivian Vizcaino
Hi, Great article.
I am watching what i am eating those days, trying to eat healthy salads and mostly fruits and raw vegetables and drinking plenty of fresh water during the day that way i can balance somehow the extra calories that inevitable will add on the diet,
I don't like sacrifice myself a\restraining from eating on Christmas dinner or holiday parties, of course, I watch the size of portions 'cause I love to try all the goddies.
Vivian V.
heatherzilla
I just pick the the items I want most and have a small portion. I eat slowly so that I can savor the flavors and textures.
Amy Brewer
I just try to eat veggies when I get hungry. I tend to want to eat the goodies and snacking while baking is a major problem for me. I try to keep veggies like broccoli and carrots around to snack on when I want something. Doesn't always work but I do try to do it.
By the way, I am so loving the snowman sled in the picture..So cute!!
Kim H.
The recession hit our family HARD these past few years. We've learned to scale back, especially on food. Really, do we need to have leftovers for the next 5 days?
We've honed in on what we think is important, and food ended up being at the bottom of the list. We have a great meal, wonderful dessert and loads of conversation, games and movies.
latisha depoortere
Tweeted too
twitter.com/#!/latishajean/status/19574489020891136
tishajean@ charter.net
latisha depoortere
Im not a big eater so it is not that hard to eat right I eat small meals! great giveaway thank you so much!
tishajeanatcharterdotnet
Angel Jacklyn
Holiday eating, I don't worry to much about it, I am a huge salad eater so I gear towards that mostly.
kytah00atyahoodotcom
Claire
Drink a lot of water and eat a lot of veggies so you won't have too much room for all the unhealthy stuff!
Ceinwyn R
I sneak vegetable purees into my food to amp up the nutritional value!
Valeen N
I try to keep plenty of fruits and veggies on hand already cut up so we reach for those instead of the sugary goodies!
sweepyhead at gmail dot com
nanjhall
I try to choose the treats that I really want and ignore the rest. I also increased by exercise this month so I could indulge more without feeling too guilty.
Lori Hart
I load up on fruit: pears, oranges, cranberry (I have to be careful on that last one!). I guess I'm "lucky" enough not to have a severe sweet tooth. I drink a lot of water (which is also good when you're inside overly heated rooms) and watch my portions
simone
I make sure I don't keep any sweets that I make over the holidays in my house. We eat a few and then drop them off at someone else's house or a work potluck! Thanks! thebubbledies(at)gmail(dot)com