Nov. 19--Yes, you can win skirmishes in the Holiday Battle of the Bulge, the weight warfare that begins with Thanksgiving and blasts through Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza and the New Year with forks a blazin'.
The experts tell us that before each encounter with a calorie-laden holiday temptress, chant these three words: plate size, portion size, exercise.
Or these three words: moderation, moderation, moderation.
Such common sense advice can work, insist those trained in nutrition. Don't become a food casualty who will gain from 1 to 7 pounds this holiday season, as is the American tendency.
"Most people aren't going to alter their family recipes, and they aren't going to give up their traditional holiday foods," said Janis Jacobi, registered dietician at Hancock Medical Center. "This may be the one time of year when you get to eat Grandma's turkey stuffing and gravy, or that pecan pie made with Karo syrup.
"You do not want to deprive yourself of all the comfort and memories associated with traditional family foods, but what you can do is set a strategy: portion size, portion size, portion side.
"Eat what you want but in small amounts."
Jacobi joins two other Coast registered dieticians with advice on how to strategize the holiday season. The others are Julie Appel of Memorial Hospital at Gulfport and Lauren Thompson of Singing River Health System in Jackson County.
The strategy that Jacobi talks about is also what Appel calls a "game plan" and Thompson calls simply "moderation."
Adds Thompson, "If you mess up on 'moderation' in one meal, that won't break up your eating plan. Just put it behind you and start over with the next meal. You have three chances a day to make good choices.
"Having a plan, thinking about where you will be and what kind of food will be there will help so that you can balance rich foods with lean meats and vegetables."
And this from Appel, "In your game plan if there are certain holiday foods that you know you want, concentrate on those. Choose them over something like mashed potatoes that you can have any time of year. But you can't have that oyster dressing year-round, so eat that instead."
Each of these dieticians punctuates their statements with ". . . and eat small portions."
They offer such tricks as using smaller plates so that portions appear larger. They suggest when eating salad dressings and gravy, to use the tried-and-true Weight Watcher's trick of having the sauce on the side and dipping your fork in it so you get the taste but not excessive calories.
They stress that once you've eaten, movement is important. Don't become a lump in a chair. Get the metabolism going by playing games, romping with pets, going for a walk after, standing and washing dishes. Those exercises, no matter how moderate, are vital to keeping over-indulgence from resulting in extra pounds.
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