Rebel With a Fork

Tis the season for … heart attacks.

You have  -

Poor diet

Holiday stress

Work stress

Finanacial stress

No exercise

Cold weather

Shoveling

Not enough sleep

It all adds up to a prescription for disaster.

Protect your heart this holiday season -

Eat 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day

Eat rich foods in moderation

Try to get some fish  in

Take your vitamins. This time of year you need to be supplementing with Vitamin D, and fish oil or something to get your Omega 3s – on top of your normal multi & anti-oxidants. If you’re over 50 or on blood pressure meds, you definitely should be taking CoQ10.

Eat all day. Don’t just do all of your eating at dinner. You need to keep your body fueled throughout the day, and you’ll burn more calories.

Get enough sleep.

Try your best to not over-schedule. Yes, it’s hard to do.

Head over to the members area and make sure you are loading up on heart healthy foods!

Tis the season for tons of misinformation designed to destroy your enjoyment of holiday eating.

Is holiday eating unhealthy?

In my opinion, holiday dinners are probably soem of the helathiest meals that most people eat all year.

When else do people go out of hteir wya to make fresh real foods?

When else can you stuff your family and friends full of healthy foods like turkey, green beans, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes and cranberries? You tell me when else people eat that many good for them foods in one sitting?

About the only thing that’s really bad for you about holiday dinners is stuffing yourself full of desserts after you’re already stuffed. But if you’re going to eat dessert, the time to eat it is when you’ve got food in your stomach. That will prevent the sugar spike you would normally get if you eat sweets on an empty stomach.

Is the practice of stuffing yourself healthy?

Of course it’s not. But like I said – you can sneak in a lot of healthy foods in that feast – and if you’re only stuffing yourself a couple times a year, and you eat relatively healthy the rest of the time – It’s not going to cause that much harm.

Use some common sense -

Don’t stuff yourself so much that you’re in pain.

Make sure you’re taking a good share of the healthy options.

Stick with seasonal favorites that you only get this time of year. You can have mashed potatoes or bread anytime. Skip them and fill your plate with sweet potatoes and cranberries.

Eat smaller portions of the ‘bad’ foods.

Don’t let guilt ruin your holidays. There are a good 360 days of the year that you can eat  healthier.

Now if you would just take better care of the other 360 days….