Medicine

My Pre-Holiday Diet

Do you gain weight or worry about weight gain over the holidays? I do, and it’s been on my mind heavy this year, especially with the virus. My family and I always eat large meals for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, so I’ve definitely experienced holiday weight gain over the years followed by the infamous New Year’s weight loss resolutions. Not to mention, many of us including myself have already gained weight due to being stuck at home for most of 2020 because of COVID and not visiting the gym as much as we use to. 

This year, I decided to take a proactive approach to my weight gain instead of my normal post-holiday diet and New Year’s weight loss resolution. I decided to lose some weight before the holidays so that when I gain during the holidays, the gain balances out with the loss. So for example, if I lose 5 pounds before the holidays, I can gain 5 pounds during the holidays and still be at my same normal weight. 

My diet isn’t too strict or structured. I really created this myself based off of my prior knowledge of good, healthy eating habits I’ve picked up from doing countless other diets (keto, Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, etc.). My diet essentially consists of a light breakfast, a green smoothie for lunch, a healthy dinner that’s light on the carbs, and snacks if I get hungry throughout the day. 

Breakfast 

For the most part, I’ve been enjoying a banana with peanut butter or apple with peanut butter. Not only is this quick, easy, and requires no cooking, but it’s also healthy. It supplies you with a protein (the peanut butter) and a healthy carb (banana or apple). Your options really are limitless. The key is having 1 serving of a carb and 1 serving of protein. Below are some other healthy carb and protein options. This list is not exhaustive, but can spark some ideas for you. Choose any combo that you’d enjoy. 

  • Carb: any fruit (strawberries, cranberries, grapes), 100% whole wheat bread, whole grain crackers, oatmeal. 
  • Protein: plain, nonfat Greek yogurt, eggs, cheese, lean turkey breast, almond butter, low fat ham, nuts, protein shake (watch the calories and sugar).

Lunch 

The famous Green Smoothie! I learned of this smoothie from @TheMattieJames who learned of it from @ReeseWitherspoon who learned of it from @KerryWashington . Tale of the traveling smoothie, right!? It’s full of leafy greens and fruit, and it truly tastes good! You can’t really taste the greens. It tastes like banana and peanut butter to me. 

If you’re the kind of person that needs to actually chew on something for your meals, no worries. Check out my snack list below and pair this smoothie with a serving of a healthy snack, fruit, or veggie.  

You can have this for breakfast or lunch, but since I have it for lunch, I add more protein to make sure I’m full. What I truly love about the smoothie is not having the added calories that you would have if you ate them. For example, if I ate them as a salad, I’d add plenty of salad dressing. If I cooked them, I’d cook with olive oil or light butter. Just more unnecessary calories.  Below is my recipe (my slight variation) and a video of me making it! Now that I’m on Week 2 of this smoothie, I’m mixing it up a little bit by swapping the lemon and pear for strawberries and kiwi just so I can have some variation.

Recipe: 

  • ½ cup spinach
  • 1 – 1 ½ heads romaine lettuce 
  • ½ cup coconut water (no sugar added) 
  • 1 banana
  • 1 apple 
  • 1 pear
  • 1 lemon 
  • 2-3 tablespoons peanut butter 
  • 2 servings protein powder
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla flavor  

Dinner

While on this diet, dinner is obviously my favorite meal of the day since it’s most involved and decadent! I have been sticking with seafood, veggies, dairy, and little carbs. For example, my first dinner was this Mediterranean Shrimp, which I highly recommend! Too good and easy to make! I did not serve this with any bread. Another dinner I cooked was grilled tilapia with sautéed mushrooms, sautéed bell peppers, and a sautéed broccoli spinach mix. I’ve also ate out for dinner at Taziki’s, during which I ordered the Grilled Shrimp Kebobs Greek Salad. 

Snacks 

I do not let myself get hungry or starving and you shouldn’t either on any diet. Some healthy snacks I enjoy whenever I’m hungry or have a sweet tooth include: nuts, cocoa covered almonds, unsweetened applesauce, light string cheese, peanut butter, fruit, and gummy vitamins.  

Exercise

Since COVID, I have been majorly slacking with working out, but I started back! I workout using FitOn on my iPad and walk on my treadmill 3x/week. 

I hope this was helpful, and I hope you enjoy the smoothie! 

Happy holidays and stay safe!

Margaret Nicole

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