Healthy holiday eating is an endurance event

Welcome to the Olympics. The Winter Food Olympics. Years ago I heard or read that phrase, and it has stuck with me. From Halloween through Easter — for almost six months — we have food and candy/chocolate-heavy holidays.

Making it through these times can feel almost like being in two different Olympic events. We are all part of the main event, which is making good food choices most of the time. The lucky group in the second event gets to spend hours in the kitchen preparing food for all these special holiday gatherings — party prep, cookie baking and more. So let’s dig into these two events a little bit more.

We all should strive to make healthy food choices. Realistically, that doesn’t happen all the time. Planning ahead helps make healthy choices easier. When you can’t plan ahead, there are some simple techniques you can use to help.

—Think ahead: Make a list of all the holiday meals and parties you are invited to. Plan to eat lightly at other meals on these days to balance the calories and fat in your party food.

—Snack before you leave: Before you leave the house, eat a low-fat, low-calorie snack to help curb your appetite.

—Minimize the hors d’oeuvres: Resolve in advance to limit your choices to a particular kind or to a moderate number.

—Keep your distance: To keep temptation to a minimum, socialize away from the bar, buffet table, and other ready sources of food and beverages.

—Burn it up: Be sure to make moderate exercise a part of your holiday plans. Exercise can help burn off extra calories, tone muscles and work off some holiday stress.

Now what can we do about all that time spent in the kitchen? Don’t misunderstand — I enjoy preparing food and sharing it with others, but after a few hours, the joy can wear off as the pains set in. This is where a few words of wisdom come in handy. A colleague of mine is fond of saying, “Many hands make light work.” This quote is often credited to John Heywood in the 1500s.

The holiday season is all about getting together. Whether you come together for Thanksgiving, “Friendsgiving” or any other holiday event, think about how you can share the workload. The person who is hosting the gathering gets their home ready and makes one to two dishes. Everyone who’s coming brings something, and you have a full meal or buffet ... and no one is stuck in the kitchen for hours.

The same technique works with holiday baking. Look at how popular cookie exchanges have become. It’s way easier for me to mass produce one type of cookie and then trade it for other cookies I’m not as good at making (like decorated sugar cookies).

If you are the host of a gathering, be sure to offer a variety of low-calorie and low-fat choices along with the traditional holiday favorites. Don’t forget an assortment of fruit to complement all the other dessert choices. When you’re the cook, use lower-fat or lower-saturated-fat ingredients when possible in your recipes. Every little bit helps.

We all know some of these foods only come around once a year, and they have special meaning. Savor every bite of those special foods and make sure you pass the recipes down to future generations.

Lastly, remember to enjoy yourself. If you slip up and overdose on pumpkin pie one day, you are only human. Just remember to get back to your healthy eating habits the next day.

Kate Shumaker is an OSU Extension family and consumer sciences educator and may be reached at 330-674-3015. Like and follow on Facebook @OSUEXTHolmes or visit holmes.osu.edu.