Be the 'Undercover Fat Trimmer' for the holidays!

My husband and I don’t eat the traditional holidays meats such as turkey, ham or prime rib. Instead, we will sauté prawns in vegan butter, white wine, garlic and lemon or have a braised fish like sea bass. But we all know it’s not the meat that creates the five-pound 'what the heck' situation. It’s the butter-loaded mashed potatoes, the warm pecan pie with salted caramel ice cream, the Brie en Croute—a fancy name for calories wrapped in calories, and the delicious creamy casseroles. Even an appetizer of a warm spinach dip with a toasted French baguette will challenge even the highest metabolism teenager of the household to not pack on a waist tire for the holidays.

So, how to avoid the nearly inevitable weight gain for the holidays? Well, for a bit of gallows humor, you could knock off the cook. NO! Unacceptable solution! Unacceptable humor! You could test your discipline and fast during the holidays and prove to everyone at the dinner table that you are superior to them in all ways. NO! Everyone hates that family member! You could buy your own pre-made unimaginative food and make sure that the cook and everyone else at the table is certain that you are just plain weird. NO! That seat is already taken by the gluten-free, vegan, no nuts, no seeds gal that always sits at the closest exit chair to evade discipline breakdowns.

So? How to?

Small portions my friend. And when I say small, pretend for a moment you’ve popped into one of

those cooking reality television shows and you are at a tasting table of 10 items and you are the lean judge. Do you understand how much discipline it takes to judge those shows and not be utterly obese? Pretend you are the skinny one. How do they do it? Small, itty bitty, only for taste—that one special amazing bite.

Find the healthiest food on the table, there is always a salad, and take a large portion of that. Drink an apple cider cocktail before dinner. It will curb your appetite.

Oh, my goodness, your mom made that famous sticky sweet toffee pudding that she hasn’t made in four years, and you’ve been bugging her about it every year since the first time she skipped it. What to do? First, you’ll thank her profusely for her thoughtful gesture to make the dish instead of investing in an in-home zapper to get the bugs out. Second, you’ll compliment her dish like never before, to the point she may have to rename the sticky sweet toffee pudding to {insert your name} toffee pudding. Third, you’ll ask if she will generously allow you to have an award-winning bite and then wrap a portion that you will take home and enjoy one bite per night for the next week. That is how you practice your discipline at home, while no one is looking, perfecting your game as an undercover fat trimmer.

The next day, workout as usual. Life continues without the need for those first of the year resolutions that many make and few keep.

Enjoy your bites!

Shannon