How is your diet these days? Thanksgiving and Christmas are both big days with a lot of food we don’t normally enjoy the rest of the year. Did you maintain your healthy eating habits during the family feast, or was the turkey not the only thing stuffed? With celebrations continuing this week and next, maybe it’s time to think about eating healthy.

Donna Peitz, RD, dietician with Food and Nutrition Services at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, talks about healthy food choices:

Is planning ahead the first ‘rule’ of healthy eating?

That’s exactly right. What we want to avoid impulse eating and impulse food buying. The best advice I can give is to prepare your menus in advance. Whether that’s a weekly menu, or a bi-weekly menu, or even perhaps preparing your menu ideas a month in advance. Once those menus are planned, that’s your shopping guide. That will enable you to stay within the better calorie kind of food choices throughout the holiday season.

What types or kinds of food make good choices?

You always hear us talking about increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet. That’s because those foods are high in what we call soluble fibers. Additional foods with soluble fiber are things like barley and legumes, different types of products that contain oats. Those help to slow the transit time that the food moves through the GI tract, and that helps make you feel fuller for longer. In other words, if you’re going to snack on something in the afternoon, it would be better to choose an apple or some crisp carrot sticks rather than grabbing a handful of chips.

Are there foods, like chips, that we all should limit ourselves to or just stay away from entirely?

I think there are some foods we should limit. I’m not convinced we need to stay away from something entirely. We always say there really are no bad foods. It is eating high fat, high sugary types of foods in moderation. It is important to limit foods that have a lot of fat or a lot of sugar in them.

I have a list of tips for healthy eating. Tell us why these are important to follow;

• Eat before you arrive at the party
  Yes, that’s exactly right. Eating a light, healthy meal a few hours before you go to that holiday event and it will help control your intake because you’re not going to be extremely hungry. When you enter the doors of that holiday party, there will be lots of food everywhere. If you’re already feeling slightly full, it might help you stay away from that buffet table.
  
  
• Offer to bring a healthy dish along
  I think that’s a great idea, and I think we’re seeing more of that in today’s society. People are really trying to be more heart healthy in their food choices. And I think that is a wonderful idea.
  
  
• Once you’re at the party, what about avoiding snacking and alcohol?
  
  Alcohol has calories, so the more alcohol you consume, the more calories you consume. Snacking is another issue. Often once you start snacking, it’s hard to stop. You might have to make up your mind that you’re going to have to choose very low-calorie, low-fat snacks or not snack at all.
  
  
• Eating smaller portions
  We recommend eating five or even six very small meals a day rather than the usual three meals. The reason is because frequent eating helps control your blood sugars, and that’s going to help curb your appetite.
  
  
• Eating slowly
  It takes a while for your stomach to signal the brain that your stomach is full. So eating more slowly helps you “listen” to those hunger cues. If you’re not as hungry, you’re going to pass on those second helpings that might be floating around the table.

What is the importance of getting up and leaving the table when you are full?

Get up and leave the table if you can, or at least put down your silverware, fold your napkin, and remove yourself from the table a little bit. Push yourself back from the table and engage in the conversation rather than in second helpings of food.

Is it too late for those of us who may have consumed more than we should have and may have gained a pound or two in the past month?

It’s never too late. Today is a great day to get started again. It takes 3,500 calories to either lose a pound or gain a pound. We always say that, even if you over-indulged yesterday or the day before or for the last month or for the last year, today is a great day to start changing your eating habits.

What’s your best advice for the remainder of the holidays when it comes to healthy eating?

The holiday season is certainly the toughest time of the year to maintain good, healthy eating habits. So try to enjoy yourself without over-indulging. You’ll hear dieticians often talking about moderation, and that really is the key to calorie control. If you eat more than you’ve planned, get back on track. Today, as I’ve said, is a new day, and today is a great day to set some realistic diet goals, some exercise goals, maybe keep a food diary so that you can track more carefully how you’re eating and how you’re doing.

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