As we are still in the thick of the holiday hot zone, I wanted to provide four tips to help you minimize holiday body fat gain. First I have to mention two standard tips that you need to use as a part of your holiday game plan foundation:
Standard Tip #1: Stick to a steady fitness regimen. Momentum is a precious thing and you don’t want to have to rebuild it in January. Stick to your guns on the workouts even if the diet isn’t great because of the holiday festivities.
Standard Tip #2: Keep it to a HoliDAY…..a DAY not a HoliWEEK. Take your day and enjoy it and then get back to your normal regimen with the food.
Now on to these body fat specific tips! These all deal with insulin sensitivity which is really the key to adding lean muscle tissue vs body fat when extra calories are being consumed.
Tip #1: Add Cinnamon to your largest holiday meals. Cinnamon helps with your insulin response in a positive way. This means that it will help make sure that those extra calories are given a chance to be stored as lean muscle (if you are working out regularly) and not body fat. Here is a great article that discusses this more in depth: http://idealbite.com/cinnamon-for-weight-loss/. I add cinnamon to any food that I can. It is great in protein shakes and protein pudding!
Tip #2: Increase your fish oil consumption. Over the years I have blogged quite a bit about the benefits of fish oil and I will continue to sing the fish oil praises here today! I would recommend ramping up your fish oil intake ASAP. This tip isn’t quite the same as Tip #1 because you want to build up the fish oil, specifically the omega-3’s in your system. The average recommended dosage for fish oil is usually around 2 grams per day. Fish oil can lower your blood pressure and thin your blood so it is always a good idea to work with your doctor before increasing your dose. If you aren’t currently taking any fish oil I would start at the 2 grams per day dose for the first week and then add one gram per week until you are at 4 grams. You want to spread out your dosage throughout the day if possible. I think that many of you will see a big difference after a month at this dosage. I have used up to 10 grams per day with no ill effects other than a nice body fat loss. Here is a great article that dives a little deeper with the fish oil facts: http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/964/Five_Reasons_Fish_Oil_Will_Make_You_Stronger_Leane.aspx
Tip #3: Take Apple Cider Vinegar before your largest meals. Apple Cider Vinegar has many positive benefits and here we are using it for it’s insulin sensitivity boost. So again like Cinnamon and fish oil, you can take this before your big meal and it will assist in avoiding fat storage. Here is an awesome article that discusses the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/tip-use-vinegar-to-get-lean-build-muscle
Tip #4: Get in a hard workout before the big meal. Working out, and specifically strength training, will prime your body to better handle calories that are consumed in the post workout window (generally about 1-3 hours post exercise depending on your fitness level). I think that there is a positive mental effect here as well. After you have an awesome workout most people tend to not eat as bad as they normally would have. You have done something healthy to kick off your day and that positive momentum carries forward for a lot of folks. You need to shoot for 30-90 minutes of tough fitness time to pull this off. Going for a leisurely stroll isn’t going to have the same impact on your insulin sensitivity.
Now let’s take the info above and create a plan of action for a day where you are going to tear it up at the table. Let’s say that you have a 12 noon Holiday meal planned:
Step 1: Wake up and eat a healthy (low carb) meal. Focus on protein and healthy fats. Get some veggies in there if possible. A perfect idea would be to scramble up some omega 3 enriched eggs with some veggies. I would recommend consuming a dose of your preferred fish oil as well.
Step 2: Hit the gym hard for 30-90 mins. You will want to time your workout so that you will finish around 10am-11am.
Step 3: Make an insulin sensitivity cocktail by brewing up some green tea and adding in 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and cinnamon to taste. Sip on this about 30-45 minutes before your big meal.
Step 4: Consume your big meal…..then pass out on the couch.
Step 5: When you wake up try to knock out another insulin sensitivity cocktail (see step 3).
Step 6: If you eat another meal try to focus on protein and veggies as much as possible.
Step 7: Shift back to your normal dietary game plan the next day.
Here is one last bonus tip: Try to focus on your friends and family and not so much about the food. When you make that shift the holidays become a lot more meaningful and you don’t have the extra LBS to deal with as a nice bonus! I have been on a “cheat free” streak that is now at over 450 consecutive days and I don’t really miss the bad food at this point. This is my second holiday season on the streak and I am really enjoying the added focus with interacting with my family and watching my kids freak out about each special holiday moment. I don’t miss out on anything because I’m not all bloated and passed out on the couch….haha!
I hope that you have found this information helpful and I hope that you continue to have a happy and healthy holiday season!
Adam
