Carole Carson, author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction has been called “An Apostle for Fitness” by the Wall Street Journal. In addition she is the coach for the AARP Fat 2 Fit online community. She has a tip to keep you from packing on the holiday pounds.
Over the holidays you are bound to visit friends and family. These visits will tempt you with an array of party food promising to add on unneeded pounds. It can be difficult to resist the temptation of all the high fat but delicious food you will face this season. We either give ourselves a pass because it isn’t every day we eat gingerbread men or we limit ourselves to watercress and ruin the Christmas spirit with grumpy attitudes all day. In answer to this Carole Carson says:
Eat nothing except what you can put on a fork.
The idea is to eat only what you can eat sitting down with utensils. This should prevent mindless snacking on appetizers or sweets. Carole Carson warns that you can easily consume 600-800 calories snacking on appetizers while singing Silent Night and conversing with your great Aunt Gertrude.
So what you do think of this little tip? While I understand the spirit of it and agree that a culprit of holiday pounds comes from mindless eating, I think she underestimates what I can put on a fork.
Let’s face it, we spend time sitting and talking at our holiday parties. Much of the high calorie and high fat eating is done at the table. Yes, you can avoid additional calories by not munching on appetizers or mini cupcakes before sitting down for a meal.
Let’s see what can be put on a fork but still be detrimental to your diet:
Cheesecake
Mashed potatoes made with cream cheese, heavy cream and sour cream.
Dark Chocolate Cake
Stuffing
Holiday Pies
That’s just off the top of my head. Yes, please be aware of your holiday mindless munching. However, I am not convinced that one will be prevented from eating mindlessly with a fork. Overall, please take care and limit your portions.