A Healthy Food that Can Make You Fat! Well, at least once a year.

As a fitness professional one of discussions I frequently have with clients members and seminar participants is better food choices; what’s considered healthy and what should be left alone. (at least kept in moderation)

Thanksgiving is over and everyone is getting back to some kind of normal schedule before we hit Christmas and the New Year.

The week after Thanksgiving I always get comments about eating too much “Turkey” for Thanksgiving and that is the cause of weight gain and fat.

Now, for 364 days per year, I tell folks it’s okay to eat turkey. Turkey is a great source of protein and low in fat. But, I must have missed something. Because a lot, I mean a lot of people tell me that they ate too much of this secret fat gainer and that’s why their pants don’t fit right now.

I don’t want to cause you more pain by breaking this lie that seems to occur every year for many of you, but it’s not the turkey. It was everything else you ate in addition to the lean protein, low fat turkey… unless you covered and smothered it in thick gravy and breading.

You know, the turkey isn’t alone in the bad wrap from Thanksgiving dinner. I hear well meaning; seemingly educated people throw around vegetables with such allegations too.

Sweet potatoes and corn for instance are a great starchy carbohydrates packed with vitamins and nutrients the body can use in a fight against weight gain.

Green beans, broccoli (how could you accuse broccoli) and other greens are also on the list of dinners, but are also to blame for weight and fat gain.

Why?

It’s not the foods that are fatting; it’s all the crap we cook with that make it fatting!

Duh!

How much butter, cream and hydrogenated oils can you use in one meal to screw up everything you put in your mouth?

Apparently lots!

Add stuffing, dinner rolls and any other processed wheat products and you’re off to “Holiday Weight Gain 2011!”

Wait, we haven’t even had a second or third helping.

And desert is still to come.

Please don’t get me wrong, all the added butter and blah, blah, blah… (fill in the blank) makes everything taste great, but we can’t over do it if we’re to see long term goals reached.

We also can’t blame food for the reason we are getting fatter and fatter every year if “WE” are the ones cooking the food.

When we add in holiday parties, dinners and get togethers over the next 30 days, missing regularly scheduled workouts will add to the poundage.

In short, try alternatives for all the fatting additives. Replace butter, cream and shortening with steamed veggies.

Rather than shoveling food onto your plate in a huge mound, use tablespoon sizes and if you want more, don’t go for another mound. (just another tablespoon or two)

I’ve put together a holiday report called, “How to Gain 10-15 Pounds Faster than You did Last Year!” Yeah, you read that right.

It’s a spoof on the traditional trainer/client, please don’t over eat and follow these tips to get you through, nonsense.

It’s a fun way to look at some of the behaviors and routine changes we have during the holidays.

You can grab a copy here.

Have a great holiday season!

Start Strong, Finish Stronger!
Nathan

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