Thursday, November 27, 2008
Food for thought: Fit for the holidays
Experts from the Roanoke area weigh in on ways to avoid letting poor holiday eating habits completely consume you.
ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times
Melissa Ranalli, personal training manager at the Botetourt Athletic Club, said that taking in a football game on Thanksgiving doesn't have to mean sitting in front of the television. Take advantage of the yard.
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This shouldn't be a surprise: The time between Thanksgiving and New Year's is one six-week, belly-popping holiday when the eating never stops.
It's no myth. The proof is in the pants that fit nicely the third week of November but don't seem to buckle on Jan. 2.
"With the holidays, people are spending more time indoors being sedentary, and special holiday treats may be more widely available at home and at work," said Brenda Davy, a Virginia Tech professor of human nutrition. "So many people likely do gain some weight during this period."
An average Thanksgiving dinner, Davy said, can have more than 1,000 calories -- half of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's daily recommended allowance. Three local experts offered tips on holiday celebrating that won't inflate the waist.
-- Jorge Valencia
MELISSA RANALLI, personal training manager at the Botetourt Athletic Club:
- Play ball: "Everyone sits at home and watches the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day. Rather than watch TV, go outside and play touch football."
- Be honest: "Realize you need to pick your indulgences. If you're typically a four-day-a-week exerciser and you look at your calendar and you know you're not going to get in four, at least try for three."
SONDY SHIPLETT, personal trainer at the Kirk Family YMCA in Roanoke:
- Write it down: "A new study has found that people who keep daily food diaries lose twice as much weight or more as those who don't keep a tally of their meals."
- Work it out: "Look at your daily schedule to find times where you might slip in a workout. Interval workouts can pack just as much punch in terms of fitness goals in shorter amounts of time."
KATE STAHL JONES, registered dietitian at the Carilion Diabetes Management Program:
- Limit the splurges: "Most people have a last supper mentality and overeat for two months with the idea that they'll start making healthy choices come January first. Rather than letting it last two months, you can splurge just a few times like just on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's."
- Prepare: "If you're going to a holiday party, eat something before the party. An apple or some whole grain crackers and a piece of cheese. They'll tide you over there so you're not starving when you get there."
- Alcohol in moderation: "A drink a day for women, and two a day for men. Intersperse the drinks with water or something else low in calories because if every drink is eggnog or a daiquiri, then the calories are going to add up."
- Take your time: "Eat slowly and enjoy your food. Your brain needs 20 minutes to catch up with your stomach and realize you're full."
- Be selective: "If you really want everything, have a little spoonful of each, or prioritize and pick three or four things that you really want and have a moderate portion of those things. If all the food is overlapping and it's sort of in a mound, then you probably overdid it."
