Pump Up the Health in “Happy and Healthy Holidays”

Everyone dreads the yearly holiday weight gain despite the fact that it may not be quite as bad as we believe. Most Americans gain an average of just over a pound during the holidays, which is much less than often-quoted figures of 5, 7, and even 10 pounds. Fewer than 10% of Americans gain more than 5 pounds over the holidays.

Ready for that second piece of pie? Not so fast. A one-pound weight gain may seem like small potatoes, but for most people, even small gains lead to long-term weight control problems. If you gain a pound here and a pound there, year after year, it doesn’t take long to reach overweight status and shortly after that, obesity.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that by focusing on the right holiday foods, you can avoid weight gain and give your body the nutritional tools to stay energized through the holiday festivities and beyond.

Get Color Coordinated

The rich colors we associate with the holidays – the beautiful reds, greens, yellow-golds, oranges, and purples – are exactly the right place to find which favorites deserve a spot on our plate. That’s because these foods naturally provide the micronutrients we need for optimal health, plenty of energy, and a healthy body weight.

Macronutrients supply calories, in the form of carbohydrate, protein, and fat…and the occasional gram of alcohol. Micronutrients include vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, such as carotenes (care-oh-teens) and polyphenols (pahl-ee-feen-alls).

Vitamins and minerals are vital for life – it’s right in the name – vitamins. Unlike vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients aren’t vital for life. You won’t die of a phytonutrient deficiency, but you can have major health problems. And you certainly won’t feel your best if you don’t get enough of them.

Phytonutrients are found in vegetables and fruit and give these foods their bright colors. Most of us are familiar with beta-carotene, the nutrient that makes carrots orange, and just one of the hundreds of carotenes in plant foods. Other phytonutrients hide inside whole grains, beans, nuts, green and black tea, and even dark (not milk) chocolate.

Micronutrients Can Help Ward Off Holiday Pounds

Along with the other health benefits of eating phytonutrient-rich plant foods – lower risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and more – you can add “better weight management”. Some nutrition experts suspect that when we are undernourished in terms of micronutrients, our bodies have a harder time judging how much food we truly require to satisfy nutritional needs.

Our bodies tell us to keep eating until we meet our basic needs for micronutrients. If most of the foods you eat are low in micronutrients, you’ll end up eating more calories to reach the point where your body senses that you’ve gotten what you need.

When you are faced with the holiday food buffet, focus on the fall and winter staples. Sweet potatoes and yams, persimmons, pomegranates, cranberries, apples, beets, parsnips, carrots, turnips, radishes, rutabagas, Brussels sprouts, and water chestnuts likely are lining your grocery store shelves now.

These foods offer an array of healthful nutrients, complex carbohydrates, and flavor. And as long as you don’t smother them in sauces, gravies, and loads of butter, these foods will pump up the phytonutrient content of your holiday diet and provide great taste to boot.

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