The Jewish Home | APRIL 28, 2022
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Health & F tness
Getting Back on Track After the Holidays by Aliza beer MS, rD, cDN
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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home
P
esach is an incredible holiday, filled with family, memories, and great food. Holidays are a difficult time to stick to healthy eating and exercise. Our routines are “invaded” by non-stop food and limited ability to stay active. If you couldn’t stick to clean eating over Pesach, don’t give up hope. Instead of feeling disappointed, give yourself a little grace to get back into your routine. With these tips, you’ll feel like yourself in no time! 1. Don’t bring the holiday home with you: When Pesach is over, we need to leave all the snacks and desserts behind and settle back into our regular routines. A great tip is that if the food isn’t in your home, you are less likely to eat it. Instead of surrounding yourself with temptations, pack up all the food that isn’t the healthiest and consider donating it to a food bank. 2. Focus on the positive: Instead of fixating on giving up the French fries, sugar, or white flour, focus on the healthy and delicious foods you can eat. Spring is here, and there are so many delicious fruits like peaches, plums, nectarines, watermelon, and papaya. It is also a great time to make fresh, vibrant salads. Spring and summer allow you to be more creative with your foods and prepare meals that include lots of crisp produce. Realigning your brain will make the next few weeks significantly more feasible. 3. Get organized: First thing’s first,
start preparing for the new week. This can include compiling a grocery list, a meal plan, or a workout schedule. This will ensure that you are prepared to have a successful week and get back on track. Your week will be much easier when there’s a thought-out game plan for meals and fitness. Meal plans and grocery lists should include a lot of fresh produce, lean proteins, and whole grains. If jumping back into your usual exercise routine sounds difficult, start with something small and attainable and move up from there. 4. Set yourself up for success: Having a refrigerator stocked with nutritious foods will set you up for a productive few weeks getting back into your normal routine. Making an online grocery order, if available, is a great way to ensure you have everything you need, while resisting the temptation to buy unhealthy foods while you’re in the grocery store. If you prefer to do your grocery shopping in-person, go with a list so you stick to it and avoid buying unnecessary foods. Great foods to stock up on include cut up fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. 5. Get moving: Getting back into a normal exercise schedule after the holidays is important for feeling like yourself. Remember, don’t think of this a punishment for the food you’ve eaten over the holiday – look at it as an opportunity to feel energized. Find exercises you enjoy to elevate your heart rate, improve digestion, boost your mood, and
aid in weight management. 6. Spring is officially here, and it’s a great time of year to start a workout routine, start walking, or begin biking. To start a routine that is realistic to maintain, begin slowly. Aiming to get in some movement for 20 minutes each day is a great steppingstone to incorporating exercise into your lifestyle. 7. Hydrate: Increasing your water intake over the next few weeks will help curb hunger and flush out all the food you ate over Pesach. Ditch the soda and aim for plain water or fruit-infused water if it is difficult for you to drink enough throughout the day. Buying a fun water bottle with drinking goals on it or setting an alarm every hour reminding you to drink are a few ways to keep you hydrated. 8. Stick to simple, clean foods: Following the holidays, aim to cook simple, plain foods, void of sauces, sugar, and other additives. Open your spice drawer and get creative by using different spices to make your meals flavorful and different. People usually gravitate toward coating their foods in sauces because they think it’s a quick and easy way to make a tasty meal. Spice combinations, though, are just as quick and flavorful, and you aren’t eating extra calories that you don’t need. Prepare breakfasts like yogurt and berries, smoothies, or eggs. Snacks should include fresh fruits and vegetables, and lunches should be a salad, a tuna sandwich on whole- grain bread,
or a vegetable-based soup. Dinner is usually the meal where people consume the most unnecessary additives. Fire up your grill and make some grilled vegetables, chicken or fish, and a whole-grain carb like a sweet potato. 9. Try for more fish dinners: If the majority of your meals have been meat over the last two weeks, it’s time to focus on incorporating fish-based meals. Fish is easy to prepare and cooks very quickly. Fish is low-calorie and also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which help keep you full and satiated. A study done on the benefits of fish found that eating fish can also promote faster weight loss. There are so many types of fish to try and many different ways to prepare them. Salmon, tuna, halibut, sea bream, bronzini, and tilapia are a few of my favorites. If you aren’t a fish person, maybe start with trying to have salmon or tuna once a week. If you don’t enjoy a classic piece of fish, perhaps think about preparing it differently. There are a multitude of spice blends made specifically for fish and cooking methods include poached, grilled, baked, and broiled fish. Burgers are a great way to start introducing fish into your diet. Most local grocery stores sell tuna and salmon burgers without added flours or starches, or you can even make your own and store them in the freezer for easier use. 10. Challenge yourself to eat nothing from a bag for a week: After Pesach, a holiday filled with snacks and processed
