When recently asked to discuss nutrition “worsts” for athletes, I zeroed in on one. But I think it applies to the holidays, too. Let’s take a look.

Taking an off-season with food is as energy-damaging as it gets.

My endurance coach, Jim Karanas, used to say, “Endurance athletes don’t mind expending energy, but they don’t want to waste it.”

Wasted energy is energy spent with no performance payoff. And the wasted energy of a food off-season is considerable:

• It wastes physical energy for your body to deal with junky food.
• It wastes time and energy to get things back on track for the next athletic season.
• It wastes effort to correct bad habits, weight gain, mood swings, loss of motivation – and to re-create the right training state.

What stress on body and mind?

It reminds me of the terrible habits professional sports teams used to have when I was a kid. They’d actually stop all training during their off-season and then have to use the pre-season training period to get back in shape. Really. Think of the time, effort and money that took. Fortunately, pro athletes no longer do that.

But some non-pros may still do it with food.;

How Can Indoor Rowing Help with Food?

In the book The Stress of Life, Hans Selye defines stress as anything that takes the body out of homeostasis. If clean eating is your habit during your sport season – whatever that may be – then letting your nutrition slide is stress on your body.

And once you’ve established the new, junky pattern, shifting gears to get back to healthful habits again is additional stress on your body.

A few years ago, I learned a concept from the best rowing coach I know (and I’ve had several). Because he’s such a talented instructor and coach, he deserves a shout-out: Duncan Kennedy, who rowed with the U.S. national team from 1993 to 1994. He knows his stuff and loves to teach.

Duncan suggested that his indoor rowers use an outdoor rowing technique called Battle Paddle. In a crew boat, even during recovery moments, the rowers need to be in sync to prevent an 8-oar free-for-all.

So the strokes are just relaxed paddling, but the team stays in formation. Most importantly, the rowers are ready to drive into action as soon as they receive the signal. That vigilance underlies the relaxation at all times.

How about an athletic off-season that mirrors this concept with food – and becomes the nutrition equivalent of Battle Paddle?

Keep food intake – quantity and quality – under control, perhaps allowing an occasional dessert, say, once a week. From that point, driving into action for the next season will be a simple and disciplined matter.

How Can Battle Paddle Work for You?

Why can’t non-athletes use this concept during the holidays? Too often, my clients let food pandemonium take over – with all the stress that puts on the body, and all the effort they have to go through to undo the damage when January gets here.

Ideally, we’d all avoid troublesome foods all year. But choose your Battles, right?

If you can’t bring yourself to avoid holiday goodies this season – and if you really believe you can handle it (although that may not be true!) – stick to your healthful guidelines just 99% of the time.

Like rowers on the water, maintain the discipline of good form. Relax only enough to have the occasional – and that’s the operative word – treat.

Please keep in mind that this plan may backfire for anyone with an addictive reaction to specific foods, especially foods with sugar. I’m in that category, so my holidays will NOT be done in Battle Paddle mode. It’s better for me to stay away from trouble altogether. I encourage my clients to do the same, but the decision is theirs.

Eat Vegetables

There are so many great vegetables out there that I love! If you are someone who doesn’t like veggies get creative and make the veggies fun that you eat. Some of my very favorite veggies are banana squash, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, broccoli & asparagus. All these vegetables are so yummy and can be used in cooking in many different ways. The key is to find some vegetables that you enjoy and use them in fun ways that your family will enjoy.

Find Physical Activities You Enjoy

Finding physical activities that you enjoy is key to living a healthy lifestyle while enjoying it. When it comes to physical activities I love to try new things. It’s so exciting when you find an activity that you enjoy that you have never tried before.

A couple years ago my husband wanted me to try mountain biking up a canyon that is close by our house. I was a little nervous as I had never done anything like that before. However, after trying it I realized how much I loved it. There is something about being up in the mountains & going for a ride.

Another thing that I really enjoy is hiking up in the mountains with my husband. This past summer we made it a goal to try a new hike every week. It was so fun to discover new places we had never seen before while exercising.

If you aren’t one for nature or don’t live near mountains, another thing I have grown to love is running. There is nothing I love or cherish more than the night runs I have with my husband where we have some one on one time to talk about life while enjoying some exercise.

When it comes to physical exercise you just need to find what makes you happy and do it. If you are enjoying what you do you will be more likely to get out and exercise than if you don’t.

Have an Idea of How Many Calories You Are Taking In

Another way to live a healthy lifestyle is to count calories. Now I’m not saying go to extremes counting calories everyday. But you need to have a good idea how many calories you are taking in each day so you don’t over eat. There are many ways to make counting macros easy and many helpful sites on the web that can teach you how to do so.

Food additives are substances added during the processing or making of a certain food in order to preserve flavors and freshness and enhance taste and appearance.

Although some of them have been used for centuries, the use of certain food additives is becoming really widespread and some of them are extremely dangerous for your health, I would say toxic even.

I’m not talking about the once-in-a-while consumption of a certain processed food containing additives, which can’t harm anyone. I am talking about daily use. Statistics show that the average American spends about 90% of his/her budget on this kind of food; which means that if you open an American fridge or look up on the shelves you’ll find tons of canned, dehydrated, artificial or processed stuff, which is extremely unhealthy, and its persistent consumption can cause health problems.

Typically these food ingredients are very difficult to identify, both for the variety of names and codes they’re labelled with and the very minuscule fonts used to lists them on the ingredient list.

Here is the list of the top 10 toxic ingredients.

Go get your detective glass and start reading labels!

1) HFCS – High Fructose Corn Syrup

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a highly-refined artificial sweetener made from corn starch and found in almost all processed food such as: bread and baked goods, salad dressing, candies, yogurt, soda etc. And according to some studies has become the number one source of calories in the US.

Indeed, its easy handling and cheap cost made it the number one granulated sugar replacement: The amount of refined sugar we consume has declined over the past 40 years, while we’re consuming almost 20 times as much HFCS.

HFCS is linked with weight gaining, it increases your LDL (“bad” cholesterol) levels, and contributes to the development of diabetes and tissue damage, among other harmful effects.

Also, recent researches published by the American Association for Cancer Research found that the fructose in HFCS promotes cancer growth, specifically pancreatic cancer.

2) Sodium Nitrate & Sodium Nitrite (NaNO3- NaNO2)

Both of them are chemical compound used as a food additive to preserve and give to cured meats, smoked fish and poultry a nice red pinkish color. Although their purpose seems harmless, these ingredients are highly carcinogen and their consume is linked with gastrointestinal cancer and heart diseases.

In fact, under certain conditions, they can form nitrosamines compounds, molecules that cause cancer in animals and humans.

Also, in massive doses, nitrite – and nitrate, which under some conditions changes to nitrite – can lead to a condition called methemoglobinemia. In our body, nitrites, indeed, have the ability to change the structure of the hemoglobin into methemoglobin: the binding of oxygen to whom results in an increased affinity for oxygen in the remaining heme sites. This leads to an overall reduced ability of the red blood cell to release oxygen to tissue and it may occur in tissue hypoxia.

Can’t give up on eating salami, bacon or ham? Choose the uncured ones.

Sodium Nitrate is listed under its INS number 251 or E number E251, Sodium Nitrite has the E number E250.

3) MSG – Monosodium Glutammate

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer commonly added to Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups and processed meats. While the Glutamic acid is naturally present in our bodies, and in many foods, such as tomatoes and cheese, the ones exploited by the processed-foods industry is chemically produced through hydrolysis of vegetable proteins with hydrochloric acid to disrupt peptide bonds or by the fermentation of starch, sugar beets, sugar cane or molasses.

The substance produced has the ability to excite our taste buds and make everything taste delicious, which wouldn’t be a big deal if it hasn’t been shown that high levels of MSG can seriously screw with brain chemistry causing damage to areas of the brain unprotected by the blood-brain barrier.

4) Artificial Colors

Food dyes are one of the most common ingredients in processed food used with the purpose to make your meals or drinks more desirable and appealing.

Nothing against that if they wouldn’t have been linked to some serious health problems.

Blue #1 and Blue #2 (E133)

Banned in Norway, Finland, and France. May cause chromosomal damage.

Found in candy, cereal, soft drinks, sports drinks and pet foods.

Red dye #3 (also Red #40 – a more current dye) (E124)

Banned in 1990 after 8 years of debate from use in many foods and cosmetics. This dye continues to be on the market until supplies run out! Has been proven to cause thyroid cancer and chromosomal damage in laboratory animals, may also interfere with brain-nerve transmission.

Found in fruit cocktail, maraschino cherries, cherry pie mix, ice cream, candy, bakery products and more!

Yellow #6 (E110) and Yellow Tartrazine (E102)

Banned in Norway and Sweden. Increases the number of kidney and adrenal gland tumors in laboratory animals, may cause chromosomal damage.

Found in American cheese, macaroni and cheese, candy and carbonated beverages, lemonade and more! (source Food Matters website)

The slogan “Eat the Rainbow” is still cool but go natural, please!

5) BHA & BHT

BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), also listed with the label of E320, and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) are two organic compound widely used by the food industry as preservatives due to their antioxidants proprieties as they can prevent rancidification of food containing fats.

Although declared safe from FDA, The U.S. National Institutes of Health reported that they may form cancer – cause reactive compounds in our body potentially leading to cancer.

Also, they can disturb your hormone and neurological system.

BHA is in tons of food: pick up a bag of chips, a box of cereal, a package of frozen sausages or simply eat a gum, and you have a high probability to find BHA and or BHT (or even worse, both of them) in the ingredients list.

6) Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial Sweeteners are sugar substitute used to give some sweet taste to drinks of food without all the calories of sucrose.

Aspartame, known also as NutraSweet, Equal and codified ad E951, is the most famous one. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar, but its effect on the human body is not as sweet as it tastes: is a neurotoxin and carcinogen.

Some studies claim that is the most dangerous substance on the market, with a wide range of health effects ranging from mild problem such as memory issues, headache and dizziness, to more serious ones, such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, fibromyalgia, and emotional disorders.

Avoid Acetisulfame K, Saccharin (Sweet’N Low, SugarTwin), and Sucralose (Splenda) too.

7) Sulfur Dioxide

Sulfur Dioxide is a chemical compound with antimicrobial and antioxidants proprieties, used as a preservative for dried fruits such as dried apricot, raisins and prunes and added to fruit juices, cereal bars, breakfast cereal to prevent discoloration, ripening, and rotting.

Checking food labels for it, and for sulfites in general, with numbers in the range E220-228, is helpful; however, companies are required to list it only if there are more than 10 parts per million (ppm) in the finished product.

Whilst harmless to healthy persons when used in recommended concentrations, it can induce asthma and respiratory problem when ingested by sensitive subjects, even in high dilution.

It also destroys vitamins B1 and E.

8) Trans Fats

“Trans fats, or trans-unsaturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, are a type of unsaturated fat that occur in small amounts in nature, but became widely produced industrially from vegetable fats for use in margarine, snack food, packaged baked goods and frying fast food starting in the 1950s. Trans fat has been shown to consistently be associated, in an intake-dependent way, with increased risk of coronary artery disease, a leading cause of death in Western nations.”

As matter of facts, Trans fats have the power to increase LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, while decreasing the amount of HDL (the good one) in our bodies. Trans fat is abundant in fast food restaurants. Here is a list of health issues linked to a high consume of trans fats: Alzheimer’s disease, coronary artery disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, liver dysfunctions, infertility, depression, deficit in memory.

Keep them in mind while you’re enjoying your fries!

9) Sodium Benzoate

Sodium Benzoate is the sodium salt of benzoic acid and it’s famous for the anti-fungal proprieties.

Pick up a soda can and you’ll surely find it as an ingredient (E211). Indeed, it is heavily used by the soft drink industry, and not only in that. This chemical compound it is primarily added to acidic foods such as prickles, sauces, vinegars in order to enhance their flavor.

When mixed with ascorbic acid (well known as Vitamin C), Sodium Benzoate create an unfortunate side effect: it forms benzene known as a potent carcinogen, which contribute to the formation of many different types of cancer.

10) Potassium Bromate

Last but not least, Potassium Bromate, used in the Unites States, as a flours additive to improve elasticity and strength of the dough and allow it to rise higher.

In 1999, the International Agency on Research for Cancer declared that potassium bromate was a possible human carcinogen. Since that, it has been banned in a number of country including Europe and Canada, but not in the United Stated, where studies have found it in more that 86 baked goods found on supermarket shells.

Mistake #1 – Meal Skipping

Research has shown that those who skip breakfast actually weigh more than those who eat three meals a day. Skipping a meal usually causes you to eat more calories during the day, and skipping a meal also slows done your metabolism. Frequent meals control craving and binge eating. So aim to eat three (or more) meals a day.

Mistake #2 – Over-sized Portions

Just because restaurants load your plate with a mountain of food doesn’t mean you should eat that much at home for a normal meal. Remember that your stomach, like your heart, is the size of your fist. Don’t think you could fit much food into your fist? You’re right.

To eat a little less, use smaller plates and eat slower so you know when you’re full. As a little side hack for when your craving more food – you can pretty much eat as much veggies as you want. What I like to do is blend a variety of fruits and veggIes into a delicious healthy smoothie.

Mistake #3 – Blaming Your Genes

Many people give up on dieting or think there’s no hope when it comes to meeting their weight goals because of their genes. Just like you may share your father’s hair color or your mother’s eye color, there is a small chance you also share your parent’s body type.

However, this is no excuse for doing nothing about trying to lose weight. Stick to your diet and exercise plan and you should definitely see results.

Mistake #4 – Eating Without Thinking

It happens to everyone. You’re tired after a long day and you just want to snack in front of the television or read a good book. Unfortunately, mindlessly eating is often involved.

Now you may think that since it’s not on a plate it doesn’t matter, but every bite you take counts. When it comes to a successful diet, make rules for appropriate times to eat. And don’t always feel the need to eat when relaxing.

Mistake #5 – Eliminating All Treats

Guess what?

Here’s some great news – you don’t have to stop having treats! Ya! You see, dieters often become over-zealous in their plan and completely rid the house of all the food they enjoy, whether chips, sweets, or snacks.

This commitment may last a few days until they can’t tolerate it any longer and over-indulge on what they deprived themselves of. A better plan is to allow yourself a treat every once in a while.

Have you heard people say this about “off-limit” foods? It’s usually said with a proud, almost defiant, air and possibly a smirk. Have you embraced the thinking behind it? It’s a common School of Thought.

Here’s a bit of information that some people won’t want, but I invite you to stay with me.

I’m not one of the folks who believe that enjoying a food – one that, ideally, we’d avoid – will prevent the negative consequences of that food. Yet I’ve heard this so-called school of ‘thought’ too often. I feel compelled to address it, particularly at this time of year.

Naturally, it’s counterproductive to eat an off-limit food and feel guilty about it – either while eating it or afterward. What I question is the wisdom of having the food.

Everyone gets to decide what she or he will do when it comes to nutrition. Of course, not everyone makes the wisest decision. Some people are unaware of what junk foods do to them. And some people eat junky foods knowing what they do, but not wanting to give up the foods.

What About Eating Everything in Moderation?

Another school of thought is “everything in moderation.” As I’ve maintained for years, not everyone can achieve moderation around all foods – and certain foods can cause big trouble. Those who don’t understand food addictions (or who may not be ready to face their own) tend to talk about moderation.

But when it comes to addictive substances like alcohol and sugar, there’s no such thing as One-And-Done.

The consequences will happen. Those might include:

• cravings later on or for several days
• increased appetite for several days
• changes in food preferences that lead to continued junk-outs
• negative effects on mood
• inability to focus
• fog-brain, and more.

Someone who has been trying to quit sugar but is still early in the process is typically in a fragile state. The consequences are more likely – and likely to be more severe.

It’s not helpful to be surrounded by people who encourage trying everything in moderation or just enjoying a food to make it all okay.

Is There a Plan That Will Work?

So many delicious foods are around at holiday time, I’m not telling you not to enjoy the season!

But setting boundaries is a more helpful – and absolutely acceptable – strategy, no matter what you’ve heard about enjoyment. Know in advance what you won’t eat, shouldn’t eat, can’t eat, refuse to eat. Then stick with that plan, no matter what. Savor the many, many other foods.

Believe me, if simply enjoying a food did the trick, I’d be ‘enjoying’ all kinds of sugar right now and getting into all kinds of trouble.

Maybe this enjoyment thing is another loophole that people look for in the sugar journey, but I’ll continue to maintain that, truly, there’s no loophole.

General sayings and quotes are pervasive within the fitness community. Some do a great job of giving the public some guidance, while some in my humble opinion lead to more confusion. I address one of these sayings in this article which has to do with nutrition being the key to fitness success for everyone.

The real answer is one that will irk some.

It depends:

Without a doubt, for some people, eating a diet which includes plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits, lean cuts of meat and poultry and healthy fats from oils, legumes and nuts. But for others, consuming a diet which is less “healthy” by nutritional standard, but exercising 5 to 7 days per week, produces the exact results they wish to achieve.

The point is, every one of us should be eating as healthy a diet as we can for general health, to try to stave off any dis-ease, and for optimal performance. The degree to which the diet or exercise becomes the primary focus of a person’s plan is really a matter of experimentation to find the right balance between the two long-term.

The key is long-term

Listen, it is difficult to eat meticulously 100% of the time for most people. Long-term health is not about exercise vs. nutrition, it’s about making consistent choices which promote well-being and optimum performance. Work is going to get in the way sometimes. School will get in the way. The kids may get in the way. There are many, many factors which will come up that have the potential to knock you off balance on occasion. The goal is though, to try to make sure that 90% of your meals are contain the foods we talked about above, and to take it easy on yourself when you have to eat a meal which isn’t quite so nutritious.

If you focus on this and not whether exercise or nutrition should consume your energy and focus, you’ll generally achieve any goals you may have and live a healthier lifestyle.Begin by getting in plenty of vegetables with each meal. Colors matter! So, try to get in all the colors of the rainbow maybe not each day, but certainly each week. The colors of fruits and vegetables come from specific phytochemicals and phytonutrients which not only give the food its color, but also provide us with nutrients and intermediaries to serve as catalyst to many bodily functions.

Whether you are a Vegan or not is a matter of personal choice form most people. There can be food allergies and intolerance to both meats and certain vegetables and seeds and nuts. You do though, want to make sure you are getting in enough protein over the course of the day to satisfy you unique bodily needs primarily from whole fresh foods, and secondarily from protein supplements if you are unable to get them in via whole fresh sources.

Also get in healthy small amounts healthy fats and drink plenty of water and non-sugary drinks and you’ll do quite well.

If you are doing all of this and weight loss is still a problem, then further digging into the proper amounts of foods being consumed and possibly hormone dysfunction may need investigation.

Experiment and find the right balance for you.

Food labels can help us make better health decisions. But yet, most people seldom give them much attention in any respect. Whether you’re attempting to shed weight, or just wash your diet, in case you’re not reading the food labels in the shop you can not possibly know just what you’re putting into your system. You are basically flying blind!

Here’s how reading food labels can impact your health in a positive way.

It’ll Give You the Information You Need To Make Smart Choices

If you are like most people if you do examine food labels the very first thing that you likely listen to is how many calories listed. But calories are really all about circumstance and do not tell the entire story. You have to be paying attention to the serving size these calories are predicated on. A fast glance at the food label of a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream recorded at 270 calories may not seem like very much. But that is not the entire story! The Serving Size is really 1/2 cup and also for 4 servings. This means that you’ll just eliminate consuming 270 calories should you restrict yourself to just 1/4th of the pint. Yes, that also means that one night once you opted to complete a whole pint in once you ate over 1000 calories!

Food Labels Help You Hit Nutritional goals

Many Americans are not getting numerous crucial nutrients that they want. Among the most typical reasons why is simply because plenty of people don’t have any idea what exactly they are eating. As an instance, are you getting enough fiber in your daily diet? Many Americans aren’t. 1 way to change this is to first determine how much fiber you are already eating daily and subsequently adjusting your diet plan so. Begin with assessing the quantity of fiber to the food labels of everything you are already eating. When you’ve figured out exactly what your present average daily consumption is, you may start selecting foods with high fiber content to raise this figure.

Whilst food labels may supply you with lots of the info you want to make healthy food selections, it may frequently be beneficial to utilize an expert to help you ascertain what nutritional targets you need to try for. Why don’t you operate with a free gym trainer and think of a strategy together? If it sounds like something which may assist you.

Healthy eating means eating a variety of foods that give you the nutrients you need to maintain your health, feel good and have energy, these nutrients include protein, carbohydrates, fat, water, vitamins, and minerals. Nutrition is important for everyone however we sometimes often slip into an unhealthy eating faze, we all do it. It can often depend on the type of work you do, family life or the lifestyle choices you are making.

Most people can improve their health by achieving long-term changes in the balance of foods that they eat.

Some individuals have additional nutritional needs, such as people with certain illnesses, on medication, in long term care such as the very elderly and children aged under 5. If there are any concerns a GP, dietitian or practice nurse should always be consulted.

Practical Tips:

• Where possible go for wholemeal or wholegrain bread, pasta and cereals, to increase your fibre intake.
• Choosing beans and pulses adds variety and fibre to the diet and they can be used to make more expensive ingredients such as meat and poultry go further.
• Avoid having fried starchy foods too often such as chips and where possible go for healthy alternatives such as baked potatoes or oven chips.
• Avoid adding too much fat to starchy foods for example, adding butter to potatoes or having thickly spread butter or margarine on bread.
• Avoid adding rich sauces and dressings such as cream or cheese sauce on pasta go for a lower calorie version when possible.
• When increasing fibre in the diet increase your fluid intake by drinking plenty of water to avoid getting constipation and dehydration.

How to eat healthy?

• Eat these foods more often:
• vegetables (especially ones that are dark green or orange)
• fruit, whole grains (like barley, brown rice, oats, quinoa, and wild rice)
  lower-fat milk (skim, 1% or 2% milk) and milk alternatives like fortified soy beverages
  fish such as herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, and trout for omega 3 oils
  lean meat (skin removed and fat trimmed)
  meat alternatives (like beans, lentils and tofu)

Follow these simple and easy to remember steps to help you eat healthy:

• eat the recommended foods for your age, sex and activity levels.
• read food labels when shopping, compare and choose healthier foods
• limit foods and drinks that are high in calories, fat, sugar and sodium
• use an ‘Eat Well Plate’ for guidance and to help you remember the proportion of each food group in a healthy meal

Happy Healthy Eating!

Will you be visiting your family for the holidays? Do you have any concerns that you’ll fall back into old, familiar eating patterns that work against you and sabotage your health?

Most people say their stress climbs during the holidays, and weight gain is one of the stresses. The food and alcohol that are everywhere during the holidays can too easily become part of the coping strategies used for dealing with the other stresses: long lines, crowds, expenses, family conflicts, and so on.

What did food patterns look like in your early family years? Family patterns may affect your eating behaviors during your family visits this holiday season and add to your stress.

In many families, eating is part of the family dynamic, but in some families it’s the major part. Overeating is accepted, expected and encouraged – and overweight is simply ignored.

In other families, food involves power games and control issues:

• who can get whom to eat what (and how much)
• who can get whom to gain weight during the visit
• who pushes others to eat dessert just to feel better about eating it her- or himself.

Sometimes one family member is the “food pusher”; sometimes there’s group pressure.

All of this is rather crazy stuff, but it can affect us. And some folks appear to have few defenses against these behaviors. Here are a few strategies to help.

One-Meal Strategies

If you’re visiting for only one meal, eat healthful foods before you go. It will be easier to turn down unhealthful items if you’re not starving, or even not very hungry.

Even better, eat protein before you go. That will stabilize your brain chemistry so you can avoid temptations and stay in control with ease.

Work out before you go. It’s a reminder of who you are now, and another way to stay on track. Why undo the benefits of your workout by overeating unhealthful foods?

Bring a healthy dish with you – even if you’re not asked. Heck, ESPECIALLY if you’re not asked. Take food you’d feel good about making a focus of your meal, and bring plenty for everyone.

Organize a group walk after the meal, even if there’s initial resistance. The walk will help you, and turning it into a family event will make it social. It needn’t involve every family member. When you return, it will be easier to make wise decisions about further eating.

Extended-Stay Strategies

If you’re visiting for a few days, take healthful foods with you and eat them as snacks or part of your meals during the visit.

Take along some reminders of your present life. Stay connected in a few ways to your present life to remind yourself that you’re no longer the child who grew up in that toxic food environment.

If you’re asked to help with meal preparation, use that perfect opportunity to make something healthy and delicious for everybody.

Find ways to work out while you’re there. Even a 10-minute workout can help if you do intense intervals.

Follow the other suggestions above, as well.

Does this mean you can’t indulge at all for the holidays? Obviously not, but be in control. If you do indulge, be sure you have decided when to do so, what you’ll eat, and how much. Have a plan – and follow it – for getting back on track, preferably right after your indulgence.