TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Whether it is Christmas sweets or Grandma’s pumpkin pie, there are many temptations over the holiday season.
Karissa Lawlyes, a personal trainer at Anytime Fitness, said eating treats over the holidays does not have to be bad for your health.
“Focus on portion sizes,” Lawlyes said. “You can always eat multiple times as long as the portion sizes are not enough to make you sick.”
Sarah James, a dietician and owner of Nutrition to Grow, said she understands it can be easy to get excited about the amazing food.
“The reason we eat well most of the days of the year is to enjoy a holiday,” James said.
Lawlyes said the consequences of continually over eating can be long term and detrimental.
“You end up over eating and continue to overeat and gain weight,” Lawlyes said. “And high blood pressure, high cholesterol, everything like that.”
James said there are also affects on your mental health.
“We know that food affects our mood,” James said. “So, if we are consuming foods that are higher in fat, especially in saturated fat, then we do know it kind of brings our mood down.”
Both Lawlyes and James said it is important to also implement physical activities into the holidays. James said this can be accomplished by creating fun competitions like seeing who gets more steps during the day.
“If you set a plan and you stick with your plan, we usually always feel pretty good about that, right?” said James. “So, if we have kind of some guidelines that we put for ourselves in place and we stick to that, I think that will ultimately make you feel pretty good.”
