In how to stay healthy through the holidays part #1 I gave you some tips on surviving the holiday season without gaining weight, feeling crappy, or stressing out too bad. In this blog post I want to share with you some tips to help you through your celebration (feasting) day. Click here to read part #1

I always look forward to the holidays but I know that they can be a little overwhelming and definitely overindulgent so I hope these tips will help give you some ideas on keeping healthy and avoiding that dreaded holiday weight gain so that you can wake up the day after without feeling that indulgence hang over and enjoy the coming year.

First and foremost is make sure to eat breakfast. I know a lot of people will go all day without eating so that they can gorge themselves come feast time but this is a horrible set up for misery. Eat a healthy breakfast of protein and fats to set the tone for your day. This will provide you with energy, kick start your metabolism for the day, and keep your blood sugar steady.
Bring a healthy dish that you love and know you will eat.
Drink lemon water before meals and make sure you are drinking water every hour throughout the day. Lemon water will help your body cleanse throughout the day and also kick start your digestive process if taken before meals and help you digest what you are eating.
Graze on veggies and other healthy foods through the day so that you are not tempted to over eat at meal time.
Use a small plate and rather than filling up large piles of each food take just a small amount of each item.
Start with soup and salad. This will help fill you up so you are less likely to overeat the foods that are more likely to pack on the pounds such as stuffing and casseroles.
Put your fork down each time you take a bite and make sure to give yourself plenty of time to chew your food completely. Research shows that it takes the average person 20 minutes before the brain registers its full. If you eat quickly you may overeat before the brain realizes it is full so eating slowly will help digestion and also make sure you do not over stuff yourself.
Focus on the protein and veggies and leave the starchy foods for last.
Swap out the fat creamy calorie laden starchy mashed potatoes with mock mashed potatoes made with cauliflower. For recipe click here:
Make desserts with natural sugars such as maple syrup and honey rather than processed white sugar.
Have a small amount of dessert and if there are multiple desserts take a sliver of each.
Start a new tradition with your family and friends for the holiday and have each person take a traditional recipe and swap out healthier ingredients and award the winning healthy creation with a prize.
Instead of hovering around the kitchen eating food all day plan out games or outdoor activities with your family to get in some exercise and get away from the kitchen.
Focus on quality not quantity. Focus on creating bright beautiful dishes not dull lifeless foods that are drenched in sauces. Also place more of the focus on setting the table and creating a beautiful atmosphere.
Run a feed the hungry holiday 5k the morning before your feast. This will make you feel good about raising money for charity and also get some good exercise in before having your big meal. You might find that after running that race you are less likely to overindulge in sugar.
Avoid or limit alcohol. If you are going to drink alcohol make sure that you have 1-2 glasses of water in between each alcoholic beverage. You can also swap out the usual high calorie beverage for a healthier sparkling natural fruit mocktail.
If you are sitting around with the fam watching the game or parade, take exercise commercial breaks. Each time the commercials come on get up and do jumping jacks or run around the yard and play tag or throw the football around or simply get up and stretch.
Take digestive enzymes to help you break down all that food to help prevent gas, bloating, and constipation,
Wear form fitting clothes. You are less likely to overeat when you can see yourself start spilling out of your clothes.
Hit the Black Friday sales. This will prevent you from overindulging in alcohol so that you can bring your A game to the shopping field and also get you moving and keep you active the next day so that you are not stuffing your face with pumpkin pie first thing when you wake up.
And finally, get rid of the all or nothing mindset. Its ok to indulge a little but you do not have to throw everything out the window and say screw it and regret it later. Everything in moderation. Its ok to have dessert or that amazing stuffing you've waited all year for but by having these things in moderation you will satisfy your desire for these foods without leaving you hating yourself for it the next day, week, or month. You can have your cake and eat it too just don't eat the whole cake ;)

Wishing you all a safe, happy, healthy holiday from "The Gut Healer" team