UNFORTUNATELY FOR DIETERS, holidays mean that we are faced with enormous quantities of tempting foods. Many of us simply give up at this time of year and decide we will suspend all dieting efforts until the holidays are over.
What happens when you make this decision is that you give yourself a good excuse to binge and overeat, and you end up feeling guilty and depressed.
Don’t make that disastrous decision this year. Instead, decide on a few simple, but important, rules to help you keep your weight under control even in this most difficult time to diet.
Make a blanket promise to yourself that you simply will not even sample the most fattening of the goodies which are sure to be offered. For example, vow that no matter what else you eat and how much of it you consume, you will not have even a taste of sugar during the entire holiday season.
Sounds too difficult? It. really isn’t. Since this is a period in your life when it will be hard to keep track of every little calorie, it will be much easier to concentrate on giving up one kind of food.
Giving up sugar does mean you can’t gorge on cookies, pies, cake and candies, but you can find substitutes — fruits, nuts, cheeses and yogurt — and giving up that one very fattening type of food will allow all on want of other kinds of food without risking too great a weight gain.
If you find it easy to give up all sugar foods, try adding a forbidden food to your no-no list, breads, perhaps, or butter potatoes or fried foods.
Another thing to keep under control over holidays is the kind of eating you do because of pressure from others. Prepare to say no in such a way that you will not hurt anyone’s feelings. If the pressure is strong, the best thing to do is to say is you aren’t hungry enough right now, delicious as the offerings look, so you’d like to take some home to enjoy later.
Keep yourself well satisfied with lots of low calorie food vegetables, cottage cheese, diet sodas and fruits during merry-making to help you resist the temptation of eating more fattening foods. If you prepare now for the upcoming feasts, it will easier for you to resist the things you shouldn’t eat.
This article was first published on December 22, 1978