It's the Holidays, Say "Yes" to Dessert

Let me start off stating that I'm not going to tell you to throw your tentative plan to survive holiday weight gain in the trash and eat an entire pumpkin pie in one sitting. What I am going to tell you is that you need to allow yourself to have dessert over the holidays. 

Numerous studies show that restrictive dieting leads to binge eating. If you tell yourself "I'm not going to eat any sweets or desserts", you're eventually going to find yourself in your kitchen late at night with a can of whip cream and the apple pie that was meant for tomorrow's holiday party...and you're probably not going to share.

So what do you do? This is where understanding the food you eat in regards to  calories, nutrients, and portions. This would allow you to look at your daily macronutrient goals and plan to make room for dessert. This is a learned skill that you can develop on your own or more quickly with the help of a nutrition coach. 

For now, let's look at the basics you can apply starting today. First, pick your battles. Decide which holiday events you want to be able to enjoy dessert at. Again, eating a cookie 1-2 times a week won't make you fat, but cookies every day will. When you go to dinner or an event, make sure to eat a healthy meal before hand or focus on eating healthy foods before going to dessert. This will prevent you from filling up on a half dozen cookies and a slice of pecan pie.

Now on to dessert. I did a quick Google search of the "top ten holiday desserts" and some of the lists included up to 50 different items. I'm going to stick to a list my five favorite holiday desserts I expect to see. For each dessert I'll provide nutrition information from the MyFitnessPal app and also try to convey what a portion size actually looks like, because who even knows what 4 oz of cheesecake is? 

If you download the MyFitnessPal app, or any other food tracking app, you can do this same thing to help you track what you eat. This is something I mentioned in my previous holiday blog. Recipes vary, but you can at least find an estimate of what you are eating. You'll be amazed how small an actual portion is and how many calories it may have.

5. Christmas Cookies

Nutrition Info: 125cal, 20g carbs, 5g fat, 2g protein per serving.

Serving Size: 1 cookie (28g), one cookie would be slightly smaller than the palm of your hand and about 1/4" thick.

You can find these everywhere and anywhere appearing as different holiday shapes such as Christmas trees and candy canes. They're usually of the sugar cookie, shortbread, or gingerbread variety. What's devious is the serving size of the cookie. One cookie is not going to satisfy your appetite. This is why it's important to eat a healthy meal beforehand.

4. Yule Log Cake

Nutrition Info: 340cal, 41g carbs, 20g fat, 3g protein per serving.

Serving Size: 1 slice (1/10 of cake), one slice would be the width of your thumb

Also known as a Bûche de Noël cake, it's a decadent French cake you can find at a lot of upscale grocers like Wegman's or Whole Foods. Traditionally, it's a chocolate sponge cake filled with mascarpone whipped cream, rolled up, then covered in a whipped chocolate ganache. My mom always loved chocolate, so these sometimes made it into our house over the holidays.

3. Peppermint Bark

Nutrition Info: 240cal, 24g carbs, 16g fat, 1g protein per serving.

Serving Size: 4 squares, this is based off Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark Squares. Each square being 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" or the length of your thumb squared.

This is one of my low key favorite desserts I think a lot of people overlook. The cool feeling of peppermint with chocolate and bits of candy cane essentially fills your mouth with the holidays. There were a lot of different varieties, so I went with the nutrition above. For your best estimate, those four squares would be the size of your palm. 

2. Apple Pie

Nutrition Info: 320cal, 39g carbs, 26g fat, 1g protein per serving.

Serving Size: 1 slice (1/10 of pie), which leads to the question "Who is cutting a pie into ten slices?". Not this guy.

Based on the serving size I would double those macros when looking at apple pie, and I didn't even include the vanilla ice cream with whipped cream! This is a classic for the holidays, especially if you know someone who can make one from scratch. You probably shouldn't be eating this more than twice over the holidays unless you're really making room in your daily caloric intake.

1. Pumpkin Pie

Nutrition Info: 320cal, 42g carbs, 14.6g fat, 6g protein per serving.

Serving Size: 1 slice (1/8 of pie), which appears better to me than the apple pie, but still doesn't take into account the whipped cream.

No one will ever convince me that there is a better pie than pumpkin pie. To make myself feel better about it, I'll probably look up the many health benefits of eating pumpkin. Again, remember that recipes vary and adding ice cream or anything else on top will add to calories and macros.

Conclusion

It's fine to enjoy the occasional dessert over the holidays. Filling up with healthy foods before heading to the dessert table will help keep your appetite in check. Using an app like MyFitnessPal can help you know what you are eating and how much of it you should eat. 

If you're looking for 1-on-1 nutrition advice, I'm a Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach with two additional nutrition certifications. I can help you navigate the holidays and beyond. Email me at sean@sgrcoach.com or visit my website sgrcoach.com for more information.

Finally, if you've never used an online trainer or nutrition coach but want to learn more you can click here to sign-up for a free 14-day trial with me. You'll get fitness tips, nutrition advice, and two weeks of free workouts.