Healthy Tips for the Holidays!

Lights on Main Street, Salt Lake City

Starting this week, the holidays will be in full swing. This means a frantic time for millions of Americans with shopping, travel, holiday parties, and family get-togethers. It is also a time in which most Americans gain weight that is called holiday weight creep.

The average American gains between 5 to 10 pounds during the holiday season and very seldom loses it during the rest of the year. Why do we gain so much weight during the holidays? How can people enjoy the holiday treats and parties and not gain the extra weight?

Dr. Keith Kantor, a leading nutritionist and author of the book, The Green Box League of Nutritious Justice, prepared the following list of tips that can help us avoid the dreaded weight creep of the holidays yet still enjoy the parties and treats.

1. Cut down on saturated fat in creamy dressings by mixing in yogurt instead.
2. For a wonderful flavor enhancer, sprinkle roasted vegetables with vinegar or citrus juice. Add it at the last minute so the flavor is at its strongest.
3. Substitute chopped vegetables for some of the bread in your stuffing recipe, this will reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the stuffing therefore reducing the glycemic load.
4. Don’t starve yourself the day of the party so you can fill up on food that evening. If you eat healthy normal meals throughout the day, you’re much less likely to overeat at the party.
5. Remember: The point of holiday gatherings is to celebrate, not to eat. Mingle with friends and loved ones instead of hovering around the buffet table, grab a plate and walk away.
6. Don’t load up at the buffet table. Keep portion sizes small by putting your snacks on a small plate instead of a large one and limiting your trips to the buffet.
7. Prioritize your food choices, if you love sweet potato casserole take a serving of that but skip the stuffing if it is something that you don’t have to have.
8. Present food in various locations all over your home to encourage activities and mingling not just eating.
9. If you are going to drink alcohol alternate the beverages with water, this will keep you hydrated and may curb the increase in appetite from excessive alcohol.  
10. Make sure you include protein and vegetables as your appetizers and throughout the main meal.  The protein from meat and fiber from the vegetables will keep you feeling full and avoid bingeing on excessive sugars and carbohydrates.
11. When choosing cocktails, aim for non-calorie mixers like sparkling water with the juice or limes or lemons, rather than heavily sweetened juices or syrup based mixers.  
12. Remain active throughout the holidays, maintaining lean muscle mass from strength training and cardiovascular activity will help keep your metabolic rate (calories burned at rest) high to offset the extra calories from the holiday treats.

Dr. Keith Kantor

About Dr. Keith Kantor

Dr. Kantor has been an advocate of natural food and healthy living for 27 years.  In 1994 he was appointed CEO of Service Foods, Inc., the largest all natural food company of its kind in the United States.

He has a Master Degree in Nutrition Science and a Master in Business Administration; Ph.D. graduate of Corllins University, Nutritional Science; Doctorate of Science graduate of Corllins University, Naturopathic Medicine.  He also holds undergraduate degrees in Biology and Chemistry.

Dr. Kantor has been married for 37 years to Karen DeFiore Kantor. Karen is a registered nurse and is Director of Nursing for Services Foods, Green Box Foods, Blue Ribbon Foods and Southern Foods At Home. They have two children, Kimberly is the Director of Personal Training for Lifetime Fitness. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. Ryan received his undergraduate degree from Clemson University and his Master degree from the University of Georgia. He is currently employed with Bellomy Research in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as a research manager.

For more information go to http://www.drkeithkantor.com/

Young woman puts art skills to work to raise money for surgery

The high cost of surgery has one young woman working her creative juices to pay the bills.

Annelise Woodward will be having surgery December 1st and has been looking for innovative ways to pay her share of the surgery which will be amost $10,000. She is making and selling holiday greeting cards, which she hopes will raise about $1000. In addition, she has been putting her skills as a professional photographer to work to raise additional funds.

Friends and family have also been helping her out. An Internet friend Mandee held an online auction of handmade jewelry and art and crafts and was able to donate close to $600 for the surgery.  Mandee uses Instagram and Etsy to market her work under the name of cloudninedesignz.

Boyd and Annelise

Annelise's sister, Heather, set up an online fundraising page with the goal of raising $2000. To date people have contributed $1060.

Heather writes: "A few years ago Annelise and Boyd discovered they weren't able to conceive and/or maintain a pregnancy. This has been an extremely trying and harrowing experience for them both."

"After many tests," she continues, "fertility specialists have been able to discover that part of the problem is within Annelise's uterus. In order that she may be able to have a successful pregnancy she requires an operation, which has finally been booked for December 1st, this year."

"Although Annelise and Boyd have been working hard to save the money to pay down the deductible," she explains, "this is still an enormous financial burden -- especially for them both being recent graduates with the expense of student loans."

Annelise graduated from Boise State University in December 2013 and Boyd recently graduated with an accounting degree this summer. Boyd is taking the CPA exams and working part-time for Olive Gardens Restaurant.

Annelise got the idea for the greeting cards from an experience she had last February. "I did something special for my husband for Valentines. I made 14 cards."

"Each day from the 1st to the 14th I gave him a different card," she said. "I personalized them with things I love about him as well as things that are special to both of us. I then placed them in a different spot each day, for him to find before leaving for work. With each card I left a small gift or suggested a fun activity for us to do that evening. It made for a very enjoyable February."

"I did something similar for the holiday greeting cards," she said. "I designed the cards with the thought in mind that they could each be given to a different person or to one specific person for 12 days during the holiday season."

"My hope as I made these cards was that it would provide others a way of do the same thing for someone they love and in turn help me in my efforts to pay for some of my surgery."

With each pack of cards she is supplying a list of gifts and activity ideas that can be given with the cards.

While the many of the cards can be used for any religious celebration, others have a Christmas theme. Inside the cards are left blank so a person can write his or her own message. Each pack contains 12 different handmade cards and sells for $30 plus shipping of $5.50.

The cards can be ordered by contacting Annelise at her photography website at http://www.annelisewoodward.com/. Add to her fundraising page by clicking here.