With all kinds of holiday parties popping up on your calendar, you might find it hard to stick to eating healthy and keeping up with some of your other healthy habits with all of the treats and festive foods on the menu. But luckily, there are things that you can do to help you come home from your holiday parties without feeling bloated and sick.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three ways to make your holiday parties healthier for everyone.
Try Some Healthier Swaps
While a lot of the foods that you’re likely to have at holiday parties would qualify as comfort foods, you can make some healthier swaps to the recipes so that the foods taste just the same but aren’t quite so hard on your body. This can be especially helpful if you’re cooking foods for people with dietary restrictions or will be sharing your food with family members in assisted living facilities who have certain dietary needs.
Some of the swaps that you might want to try could include choosing low-sodium options, using applesauce as a butter or oil substitute, and choosing reduced-fat or fat-free options for things like cheese or yogurts. These little changes can make the dishes healthier without having to sacrifice the flavors.
Use Smaller Plates When Serving Food
Once you have all your food made, something else that you can do to help make sure you and your guests don’t overindulge at your holiday parties is to use smaller plates when dishing up your food. When you have a smaller plate to work with, you can’t load it up too much with food. This can help you prioritize what you really want and put a barrier between yourself and second helpings.
Something else you can do is have the food in a different location from where you’re eating or socializing. This additional barrier can also help to keep people from mindlessly eating during holiday parties.
Include A Physical Aspect
To help with digestion, you might want to include some kind of physical activity after you have your meal at your holiday parties. This doesn’t have to be something big or extravagant. But as long as you get your body moving a bit, it can be helpful to your body and your mind.
Some options you might want to try for getting everyone at the party some physical activity could be taking a walk together, playing a more active game like charades, dancing together, or doing a pickup game of something like basketball or touch football.
If you want to keep yourself fit and healthy while still attending all of the holiday parties you’re invited to, consider implementing some of the healthy tips mentioned above.