6 tips to keep the holiday weight off

"FOOD IS MEDICINE" is the main tenet of the Institute for Functional Medicine. I truly believe this as I have cleaned up my diet over the last few months and have NEVER felt better in my life. I typically eat between 2-3 lbs of vegetables per day and have at least 4 servings of fruit. It's probably closer to 8 with my mondo-breakfast smoothie. Imagine my surprise when I dropped 15 lbs easily just by cleaning up my diet.

As we come close to the holiday season with all of the company, friend and family parties, it becomes very easy to pack on the POUNDS between Christmas and New Years and when New Years Day comes around, we feel a little guilty and get our much bigger butts into the gym. I actually read a statistic that most people gain between 5-8lbs during the holiday season. (HOLY SMOKES!!!)

Well, how about for 2011, you not even get to that point???? Below are 6 simple tips to keep the weight off and put you ahead of the "New Years Resolution" crowd in the gym.

1) Stick to the 90/10 rule with food. 90% of the time you want to eat WHOLE, UNPROCESSED FOOD and 10% of the time, go crazy and eat what you want. I do this on a weekly basis but some people have taken to mean it during every meal. Honestly, once you start to clean up your diet, you wont crave the foods that are not so good for you.

2) Go for the salad first. Challenge yourself to eat at least 2lbs of veggies per day.  Here are some GREAT Holiday salad ideas.

3) Have a great smoothie for breakfast with nuts or eggs. Go here for some good ideas. I use a healthy acai juice with no added sugar or preservatives

4) Go 90/10 rule with liquids. 90% of the time you want to drink WATER but the other 10% of the time live it up with GOOD QUALITY eggnog, wine, seasonal beer. Sodas and other sugar beverages are in general, CRAP, so unless there is a great holiday root beer float with eggnog ice cream you want to make, SKIP THEM!

5) Get at least 30-45 minutes of movement per day. That could be traditional gym exercise, walking, jogging, swimming, Yoga class. If you want to stimulate your digestion, go for a walk after a big meal instead of falling asleep. You will get some fresh air as well as getting your body moving.  Check out my quick hitter circuit video below.

6) Invest and take good vitamin supplements like a multi-vitamin, Vitamin D (to boost immunity), Probiotics (to improve digestion), Fish Oil (for the cellular maintenance), Magnesium (the "relaxation" mineral) and a Vitamin B complex (to improve brain function). For more info go to Dr. Mark Hymans' great post on supporting your immune system during the winter which includes great info on supplements and vitamins.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Will