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Healthy holidays: Tips on how to avoid weight gain, unhealthful eating during the season of parties and dinner celebrations

by Stephanie Cadora

The holiday season is a time for people to socialize and celebrate the end of the year and the beginning of the new. It's also a time of an abundance of sweet and tempting treats — from finger foods to desserts — that can be hard to resist.

Maintaining one's health, and a healthy weight, during this time can be difficult. Yet a recent study by the National Institutes of Health on weight gain during the holidays reveals that, on average, adults gain only one pound — although each year that pound tends to remain.

To keep down weight gain and survive the flurry of holiday activities, it is important to stay healthy and robust, says nutritionist and Atherton resident Joyce Hanna of Stanford University School of Medicine.

The Almanac asked Ms. Hanna, associate director of Stanford's Health Improvement Program (HIP), and Tara Coghlin-Dickson, a sports nutritionist who works for Stanford Varsity Athletes, for some health tips as the holiday season unfolds.

Ms. Hanna, who has master's degrees in nutrition and exercise physiology, emphasizes that "maintaining — not losing — weight is a good, realistic goal."

So what to do about all those holiday parties and dinners? These, both nutritionists agree, require a strategy to survive the high-calorie foods generally available at the holiday table.

"It's important to have a holiday wellness plan," Ms. Hanna says. "Stick to it. Make some goals for yourself. Develop a game plan. What foods do you really want to eat?

"Have planned indulgences. Enjoy every single bite of pie if that's what you want."

At holiday parties, "alcohol reduces good intentions," Ms. Hanna says. "A smart thing to do is to exercise before parties."

Also, you can get into trouble if hunger pangs accompany you to a party, so before you go, "eat raw vegetables with a low-fat or nonfat dip. Don't go hungry — eat yogurt or a handful of nuts," she advises.

"At parties, don't stand by the food table or bar," Ms. Coghlin-Dickson recommends. "People are exposed to food they don't usually eat. It's not necessary to finish everything. Use water to wash down food, not alcohol. Have one-half of a dessert or have a fruit-containing dessert."

And the big holiday dinners are not all bad. Ms. Hanna notes that "turkey is a healthy item. Bake sweet potatoes or yams without marshmallows. Opt for sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes. Cranberries are very big as antioxidants. They can be used in a variety of sauces. Leave out sweet rolls and butter. Usually there is salad available."

Not all good cheer

The holidays can be a time of great cheer, but they also can be emotionally battering, causing stress and depression.

"Eating is one way to deal with stress," Ms. Hanna says. "Don't expect things to be perfect. Have a stress management plan — it helps to maintain weight and get through the holidays.

"Don't have too high expectations. With family problems and people stationed abroad, there is a lot of sadness around the holidays."

Exercise, she says, is a good way to lessen stress. "It's a high priority. Even if you don't belong to a gym and the weather's bad, you can walk at a different time, get an exercise tape, or have an exercise machine at home. And keep water intake up — keep from getting dehydrated. Six to eight glasses of water per day is the best."

Ms. Hanna recommends a plant-based diet rich in fruits and vegetables, including green leaf vegetables, and fatty fish. She also suggests brushing up on which fats are good and which are bad — such as unhealthful trans fats.

To reduce stress, Ms. Coghlin-Dickson recommends that people "keep a normal schedule. Get regular exercise — plan it in advance. Stretch at your desk, walk, take breaks.

"Try to schedule around the weather. Walk around the building, or up the stairs, even for 15 minutes."

Many of the health tips the women offer apply equally to spring, summer and fall — not just to the short, wintry, celebratory days of the holiday season.

Ms. Coghlin-Dickson advises paying attention to when and what you eat. "Don't miss meals," she says. "Don't snack. Even if it's on the run, eat a nutrition bar and a yogurt, or string cheese and crackers."

She recommends the whole grains, vegetables and fruit of the food pyramid. "It's better than more refined products," she says. "And have meals with a good source of protein in them so food will hold you longer."

She suggests a few quick meals:

• Use flat packs of fish — packaged fish you can find in grocery stores that some see as an improvement over the tinny flavor of canned fish — and throw some on a salad with baby vegetables.

• Make wraps — whole wheat or veggie — with cooked chicken.

• Cook an omelette for dinner with vegetables in it.

Ms. Hanna says to "have a smaller portion and eat it slowly — this can really help. The first four to five bites are the most enjoyable."

"There are a lot of substitutions you can make," she says. "Choose low fat instead of full fat. Cut butter or margarine in half. Cut sour cream in half. Have whole wheat stuffing instead of white wheat. Nuts are more healthy than potato chips. Eat less cheese or eat nonfat/low-fat cheese."

Ms. Hanna has been with Stanford for 15 years. She teaches several classes for HIP, part of the Stanford Research Prevention Center. Among them are: Boost Your Metabolism, Waist Management, Osteoporosis, Healthy Aging, Healthy Living, and The Best Diet Ever.

"I enjoy motivating people," she says.

Ms. Coghlin-Dickson has a master's degree in nutrition and is board certified in sports nutrition. "This field combines sports and nutrition — two things I like. And the opportunity to work with collegiate athletes was appealing to me." She has been with Stanford for eight years.