3 Healthy Holiday Habits You Need To Take Up NOW

Even if the holiday party invites aren’t flooding your mailbox and inbox just yet, you know they’re coming. They do every year. And every year you look forward to the fun but you also sort of dread the exhaustion, deviation from your routine and the fact that time feels like it moves in fast forward. In the name of celebrating with wellness and fun in mind and not letting all those weight loss tips you stockpiled throughout the year go by the wayside, I want to set you up with a few healthy holiday habits in order to make this season of parties and celebration a little less draining and a lot more empowering.   3 Healthy Holiday Habits You Need To Take Up NOW   Don’t be creative with the food that is in your control. I know it sounds crazy, but if you keep your food simple, and stick to what you know works (where you can), then the party fare won’t be as stressful, damaging to your waistline or disruptive to your GI tract. You know how to eat healthy…don’t let the holidays completely push you off track.   If you’re eating all holiday foods all the time, you’re pretty much guaranteed to feel lousy and of course, pack on extra weight. Keep what you can control simple, and balance the holiday foods with your go-to healthy foods. Healthy breakfast: There are usually not many holiday breakfast parties, so keep these in straight forward and consistent. Rotate between two to three choices. Here are my faves. 6 ounces 2% or whole fat Greek yogurt with ½ cup frozen organic berries and 1 tablespoon flax meal 1 slice Ezekiel bread toasted with ⅓ medium avocado and 2 ounces smoked salmon ½ cup oatmeal with 2 teaspoons almond butter and a diced granny smith apple Healthy lunch / healthy dinner ideas: When these meals aren’t part of an actual soiree, keep them clean and don’t do leftovers. Rotate between your favorite lean proteins and choose 2 veggies with each meal and a little fat. More faves: Huge bed of spinach topped with a soy free veggie burger, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and 2 teaspoons tahini Stir fry prepared with peppers, onions, broccoli and chicken sautéed in 2 teaspoons coconut oil and a sprinkle of sesame seeds Fritatta with mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes with a green side salad and a squeeze of lemon   Make your space clutter-free. There is a saying about how horizontal spaces are a magnet for clutter. Clutter has a way of making us feel chaotic, out of control and less happy and productive in our work spaces. And guess what, there’s solid research to support this! Make a habit of clearing your plates and cleaning up the kitchen right away, instead of waiting to do it later. Set up one space for gifts to gift wrap in your home. Organize and strategically arrange your holiday cards to enjoy them without them falling over and getting in the way. Creating a habit of organizing your stuff will make it easier to stick to your wellness goals. {Tweet this}. I promise.   Get your zzzs at all costs. The third healthy holiday habit you need to have down this holiday season is your bedtime routine. Sleep hygiene is a really powerful tool in your wellness kit because the better rested you are, the less likely you will be to eat out of fatigue, stress, grumpiness or grinch-like energy. Choose a few things that you can do each night to make sleeping well a top priority: establish a bedtime, wash your face, brush your teeth, turn off all of your technology, spend a few minutes doing something calming you enjoy (read a book, journal, meditate), then turn off the lights. No staying up late wrapping presents. Your sleep is more important than that pretty bow.

The Best Portion Control Hack to Avoid Overeating

Figuring out how much you need to eat to reach your goal (weight loss or just maintaining!) is just as important as choosing what to eat. And portion control is usually not for the faint of heart, especially when your stomach is sounding like bad radio static. Have you ever noticed that the apple and peanut butter you usually have as a morning snack is sometimes perfectly satisfying? Sometimes that same apple and peanut butter doesn’t do the trick at all and you’re starvin’ for lunch before 11 a.m. or you eat the apple and peanut butter and dig your spoon back into the PB jar for just a little more. And, then more, and then more, and then more peanut butter. What’s the deal?  How much of this apple and PB goodness should you be eating? The Hunger Quotient Portion Control Hack Today I’m gifting you with one of the best hacks to conquer portion control; the Hunger Quotient (HQ).  Your HQ is one of the more difficult concepts to wrap your head around (yes, it takes mental work!) when it comes to healthy eating. But you can do this, you can learn this, it eventually becomes easy, and it does work. It will be one of your greatest nutrition tools in your knowledge base (regardless of the food you eat) and get you closer to the healthy eater you were meant to be. What is Hunger Quotient? Your HQ is a number on a scale of 1 – 10. It helps you determine how hungry you are and figure out your appetite at any given moment.   When you were born, you had the ability to eat when you were hungry and stop when you were full. As you grow, that ability sadly diminishes. As an adult,  you eat for so many reasons other than true hunger, and sometimes you eat without any hunger. Yes, we’ve all done that!  Many times! Stress, your previous meal experiences, emotions and hundreds of other factors influence your appetite. Quieting all of this “noise” that has a say (a big one) in what and how much you’re eating, connecting with your true hunger and giving an objective number to your readiness to eat is essential to eating the right amount and for the right reasons. Working Toward a HQ Goal This may sound easy, but it takes loads and loads of practice. The pay off? A lifetime of weight management once you conquer this. I promise. I live by it. Your goal is to always be between 4 and 6 on the HQ scale. You do not want to be starving or stuffed. You want to feel empowered knowing that you’ll be eating again in a few hours, so there is no need to overdo it at this meal, or under-do it at the next. At the beginning of each meal, you should be aware of slight hunger as you tuck your napkin onto your lap, take a sip of agua and pick up your (preferably not plastic) fork. You should not be ravenous. Being an 8 or higher on the hunger scale makes it impossible to be in the moment because you’re so hungry all you can do is focus on getting food in your belly.  Translation: Head-first into the leftover Chinese food container. Every opportunity to eat is an opportunity to eat just enough to be comfortable, something I call slightly satisfied. When you are at a 4 on the HQ scale, slightly satisfied, you are just right. This is because you have eaten just enough to feel content without needing to loosen your belt or take a nap. This may sound simple, but it can be the most difficult part of healthful eating. Understanding your HQ forces you to slooooow down. If you need a good example of a healthy meal that is properly portioned, try my Dijon Salmon. Then, before you dig in, take a deep breath and a few sips of water. Turn off your brain, which is telling you, “I always have room for dessert.” Shut down those childhood thoughts telling you, “I must clean my plate.” It’s not easy to get into this mindset of shutting down these thoughts, but you can do it! Take a few minutes to eat your food mindfully and check in with yourself as you go. Is the feeling of hunger going away? Are you enjoying your soup? Could you stop eating now and be satisfied, even though there are a few bites left? There is no true answer to the question, “how much should I eat?” It changes meal by meal and day by day. But conquering this feeling of being slightly satisfied will change everything. Your Secret Weapon to Finding Your Healthy Weight Regardless of whether you’re eating a kale salad or fettuccini Alfredo, if you never eat past this feeling, you’ll never overeat too dramatically. (I’m not encouraging the Alfredo, btw. Just sayin’.) Remember to follow these simple guides and you’ll be well on your way to healthier portion control. Take a minute to shut the voices in your head off, and listen to your HQ. This will help you figure out how much your body needs. Use your HQ and not calorie counting to monitor your food intake. You are not eating numbers, you’re eating food! Mastering your HQ will likely help you eat the proper amount of calories to meet your needs. Today you might need half the meal to satisfy your belly, and tomorrow you might need to finish your plate, plus an extra serving. This is normal. Become confident listening to your body. Don’t give up on this. It’s your secret weapon to finding your healthy weight.