![\"\"](\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/4144892561_4cfea1545b-e1321605099443.jpg\" "\\"Turkey")
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It’s that time of year again!<\/p>\n
Rum-spiked egg nog, reruns of A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em>, and meals of the most ginormous proportions.<\/p>\n I’ve always loved this time of the season. Growing up in northern Minnesota, the winters were long, cold, and dark. But the holidays always cycled around like a beacon of light each year. I honestly think that all the big winter celebrations that occur across most cultures were the only way that we humans were able to stick it out through this part of the year with our sanity intact.<\/p>\n Maybe it’s hard for us to appreciate now, but before electric lights and heaters, this would be a truly rough time of the year, and having a big party is just what people would have needed to get through it.<\/p>\n From the Festival of the Wild Women in Ancient Greece to the Alban Arthan of the Druids all the way through Christianity’s Christmas, people have a strong history of banding together and celebrating during the dark season.<\/p>\n Roast turkey with sage stuffing. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Homemade cranberry sauce. Pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream. Oh. My. God!<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Thanksgiving (as well as the other winter holidays) has kinda turned into a guilty pleasure in American society. Around this time each year we get bombarded by articles such as the following:<\/p>\n Zzzzzz…. Huh, what?<\/p>\n Expect to see more and more stuff like this churned out over the next couple months. And expect them all to make the same assumption: it’s all about willpower, you need to adhere to these hard and fast rules if you’re to make it through to spring without ending up looking like a latter-day Marlon Brando!<\/strong><\/p>\n Um, no. As I’ve said before, willpower is a limited resource, and it’s a losing game to fight your body. You need to change things at a more fundamental level here, gentlemen.<\/p>\n Conventional wisdom states that most people gain between 5 and 10 pounds during the holidays. But a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n According to them, the average person gains a mere ONE POUND between Thanksgiving and New Years<\/a>. The bad news in all of this is that these people didn’t lose the weight after the holidays.<\/p>\n While nothing staggering, it is the kind of weight gain that most people would like to avoid. Over the long term, for example, you could expect to gain 50 pounds over 50 years. D’oh!<\/p>\n But don’t worry. The sky ain’t falling, Chicken Little.<\/p>\n With a more strategic (and realistic) approach, you’ll make it through the holiday season without gaining significant weight, and lose what you do gain throughout the next year, and more importantly actually, y’know, ENJOY the celebrations!<\/p>\n First and foremost, pleaseohpleaseohplease do yourself and your family a favor and don’t be so neurotic about food during the holidays.<\/p>\n I know this is hard to take if you are struggling to take weight off and keep it off, but it is simply more important to spend time with loved ones and take part in the celebration of the season than it is to be a rude pain-in-the-ass and break your mother’s heart by refusing to eat anything she makes because they have too many carbs.<\/p>\n And really, is it really all that unnatural to gain a little weight during the winter?<\/p>\n Most animals that have to weather the chilly months put on an extra layer of adipose tissue to keep themselves warm, which they then shed in the spring. The laziness and enjoyment of comfort food you feel during the winter is quite possibly a universal evolved method that animals are able to survive the winter.<\/p>\n The issue we should be concerned with isn’t how to avoid holiday weight gain, but rather how to minimize holiday weight gain and lose that unwanted weight during the next year.<\/em><\/p>\n 1. Minimize feasting.<\/strong> How many socially-obligated meals do you really have during the winter? Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe one at your workplace? Let’s be generous and double that and assume that you have six big feasts you need to attend.<\/p>\n Well, you should be cutting loose at least once per week anyway<\/a>, so you’re still well under your limit when you look at those “unavoidable” meals. Don’t feel bad about the celebrations you have to attend, but just don’t make it an everyday thing if you’re worried about it.<\/p>\n 2. Keep up your everyday healthy eating routine.<\/strong> For the other 97% of the meals you eat stick with the healthy eating template: lots of fresh meat and veggies, not a lot of processed junk. It works during the spring, summer, and fall, and it will work during the winter as well.<\/p>\n 3. Find something fun and active to do.<\/strong> Driving to and from work in the dark sucks. I know how tempting it is to just crash on the couch and watch reruns of The Office<\/em>. (I’m speaking from experience, folks!)<\/p>\n Strategic exercise is crucial for building muscle, but I think it’s more important to find something FUN to do that is physically demanding, particularly during the dark months when it takes more willpower to get yourself to exercise. Maybe it’s skiing. Maybe it’s snowshoeing. Hell, maybe it’s even getting together with friends and playing laser tag once a week. (No judging here!)<\/p>\n Personally, I’m looking forward to getting back on the surfboard this winter. It’s been a hectic year and the weather still permits, so why not? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n 4. Sleep more.<\/strong> Embrace your inner grizzly bear and do some hibernating. While you don’t want to dig a hole and not come out for a few months, now’s a great time to catch up on your sleep. With the sun setting so early, your body is primed to stock up on its z’s now. The scientific research strongly suggests that sleep deprivation leads to weight gain<\/a>. So in the evenings spend less time in front of screens, take a cold shower, keep the lights dim, and get some reading in before bed\u2026 which should be as early as possible.<\/p>\n 5. Seriously, enjoy your time with others!<\/strong> Taking some time to slow down and have some good times with friends and family has immense psychological perks that you can’t measure with a scale or body fat calipers. The benefits you gain from this are far greater than that which you lose from eating potatoes, or gravy, or whatever else you are trying to avoid.<\/p>\n I’m spending Thanksgiving in Minneapolis and Christmas in L.A. And I plan on eating no fewer than 3500 Calories each time. What are the rest of you doing?<\/p>\nFood, Guilt, and the Holidays<\/h2>\n
One of my favorite parts of the season is, of course, the epic meals. Thanksgiving in particular is inextricably tied to eating, since it has strong ties to the celebration of the end of harvest season in pastoral cultures.<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Holiday Weight Gain–A Realistic Perspective<\/h2>\n
5 Practical Tips (That Won’t Drive You Insane)<\/h2>\n