The Junk Food Season

Source

Sunday is Halloween and the beginning of what I like to refer to as "The Junk Food Season." You know what I'm talking about, right? The Junk Food Season begins with the bags of Halloween candy that we buy for the trick-or-treaters who will show up at our front doors on October 31and doesn't end until the last of the leftovers from the New Year's day brunches are consumed. In between there will be copious amounts of pumpkin pie, candy canes, egg nog, Christmas cookies, spiked punch, and gingerbread waved under our noses to tempt us. It's not always easy to resist these offerings when they are available at every turn.

So how do you handle the temptation of the leftover fun size candy bars from Halloween sitting in the pantry or the plate of holiday cookies in the break room at work? How do react when Aunt Elsie insists that you try her sweet potato pie on Thanksgiving or when the sweet old lady down the street shows up at your door with a homemade fruitcake? For me, the best answer is to anticipate what you might encounter and have a strategy formed in advance. A few suggestions that work for me:

-If you celebrate Halloween, don't buy candy for trick-or-treaters until the 31st of October. You won't have to worry about those bags of chocolate and licorice calling your name.

-Our church accepts individually wrapped candy on November 1 to put into treat bags for a Thanksgiving day dinner that they host. Again, if it's not in my house, I won't talk myself into eating just a couple candy bars. Even the fun size bars rack up the fat and empty calorie count if you eat several. (You can contact Meals on Wheels, nursing homes, or veteran's homes as well.)

-I host Thanksgiving for my immediate family every year which allows me to control the menu. I do my best to provide healthier versions of the traditional holiday foods. Check out my post from last year on strategies for a healthy Thanksgiving.

Green beans with almonds are a delicious alternative to green bean casserole.

via Shrinking the Planet

-I don't work outside of the home currently, but when I did, I avoided the break room as much as possible during the month of December when clients and co-workers would send in trays of sweets for the staff.


-Christmas is filled with traditions, one of them being the baking of cookies. When my children were small I started the tradition of baking one batch of cookies on Christmas Eve so we could leave them for Santa and save a few for us. My kids usually had plenty of opportunities throughout the holiday season to decorate and eat cookies, this prevented them from having too many sweets at home as well.

Save the cookies for Santa!

-If I don't want to feel deprived when everyone around me is enjoying sweets, hot chocolate or egg nog I will make myself a cup of herbal peppermint tea or one of the holiday blend coffees that Hickory Farms offers during the holiday season. It's even more festive if I drink it from a Christmas mug.

source

-There are always a lot of parties and celebrations during the holiday season and that can pose a problem if you aren't prepared. I like to bring a dish to share, that way I know there will be something healthy to choose. For some ideas, take a look at my post What to Bring to the Party.

A beautiful presentation like this one from Eddie Ross will make veggies and dip the hit of any party.

-I like to keep a glass or bottle of water handy so that if I'm offered something laden with fat and calories at a party, I'll have a built in excuse not to take it-my hands are full! A simple no thank you without explanation usually works too. If someone says, "but it's the holidays!" I'll remind them that I don't want to spend the new year working off what I ate in the old year. Then I high tail it out of there.



What strategies do you use to get through the junk food season?