Guest Post: Avoiding Unnecessary Weight Gain During the Holidays

Holiday parties, coworkers in a baking frenzy, family feasts, and fancy holiday cocktails. Sounds like a recipe for weight gain, fatigue, and hangovers.

The number one new year's resolution is weight related, and only 39% actually achieve this goal!

The holidays do not have to be a time to undo the hard work you’ve built up throughout year. Depending on your usual habits, here are some relatively simple ways to keep yourself in check without feeling deprived during the holiday season.

Throughout the Season

You know that you’re likely to have a few more treats than usual late in the year so planning is key. Be meticulous with your daily meal plans by shopping from a list to avoid impulse buys. Invest in portable containers and keep the day’s meals in them so you will always be prepared, which will reduce the temptation to eat out or grab just one more sugar cookie.

Avoid highly processed foods or anything with added sodium. This will help to reduce inflammation and bloating and therefore make you feel better. When you know you’ve been eating well, the temptations are easier to resist.

Exercise daily. Even if it’s a 30 minute walk, get out and move. Your body will feel healthier and any extra calories burned will make up for the occasional Christmas cocktail.

Drink a lot of water. Water flushes toxins from your body, helps with cell regrowth, and reduces inflammation. A basic rule of thumb is to divide your weight in half and drink at least that many ounces every day.

Holiday Parties

Company parties, your best friend’s annual shindig, whatever it is, holiday events come with the season and generally include lots of sugars, fats, and calories. You don’t necessarily have to deprive yourself. It’s a great idea to bring along some of your own homemade goodies to a party, either something healthy, like a veggie plate, or a reduced calorie version of one of your favorite treats. Then, if you find your self tempted to overeat, snack on those items during the party.

Another surefire way to avoid overindulging is to have a filling snack or small meal beforehand. My preference is a quick Shakeology smoothie because the protein fills me up and the ingredients help to reduce cravings. Other great options are a piece of fruit and a small handful of nuts or veggies and hummus.

Consuming Alcohol

It seems like we get extra creative with our holiday drinks which usually means consuming more calories. Think eggnog, heavy cream, and Baileys. When you imbibe, stick to clear alcohol and low-sugar mixers like tonic water.

We all know how easy it is to fall into the trap of overeating during the holidays. After all, the season of cutting back spending, eating, and drinking immediately follows when January 1st rolls around, promising a year of change. By following these basic steps, you’re more likely to maintain your weight and feel better throughout the holiday season and enter the new year feeling motivated and healthy!

Christa McMahon is a health & fitness coach working independently with people who want to live healthier lives, lose weight, and get ripped, through practical goal setting and accountability. She is a Colorado native married to her high school sweetheart, living in Durango, CO. They enjoy spending time with their families, and taking advantage of the outdoor adventures in such a beautiful state. You can follow her on Facebook.

It's inevitable ... autumn has arrived

Where did the summer go? The speed at which my summer flew by was most likely directly related to having 3+ jobs and moving twice. Actually, I'm glad it's over! The hectic craziness that has been life for the past 6 months since I returned to Boston is finally winding down. Hence the long overdue update. Returning to the states was a tough adjustment. My time spent in Canada made the transition easier, but returning to Boston is always more of an adjustment that I expect. I'm not sure when the city I used to call home started feeling more like where I'm from instead. Nonetheless there have been lots of exciting developments in the past few months. I'm most excited about Yoga Teacher Training at The Yoga Loft in Wilmington. This awesome studio was on my list of places to check out and when I saw a LivingSocial deal I bought it. Two weeks later I was starting their ten month teacher training program. As some readers may know already, I debated doing my teacher training in India when I was traveling in Asia. Although a bit more pricy in the US, it's totally worth it. I don't know how I could have absorbed all of the information in the one month intensive course style most shalas in India opt for. Currently, I'm assisting occasional morning classes at the Yoga Loft, and loving it!

Vendors at the Boston Local Food Festival

Recently I attended the Boston Local Food Festival and the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. I was a vendor coordinator at the Local Food Fest and had a great time at both events!

Next week I start up glassblowing again at the NOCA Glass School. It's been years since I've done any hotshop work but I'm psyched to start again. In Taiwan, I focused on drawing and painting because instruction and materials were so affordable there, and I was never able to make a connection with or even locate any local glassblowers. I'm hoping that once the crazy hectic schedule that took over my summer slows down I'll have more time to work on some of my unfinished pieces from Taiwan. Also on the list is a visit to Paint Bar! Has anyone been there?

Oh, and I can't forget to mention that I just started listening to my first audio book! This was the obvious solution to being bored an average of two hours a day sitting in traffic and having no time to read. I'm listening to Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall. Although I'll probably always prefer the old fashioned method of reading books with actual pages you can turn I will take listening to an audio book any day over the radio. Born to Run is totally inspiring, it was recommended multiple times after I'd mentioned to both avid runners and readers that I liked Murakami's memior What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.  I started listening 3 days ago, I'm already about 3/4 of the way through. Which do you prefer, ebooks, audio books, or good old paperbacks?

During Nicole's birthday celebration we saw Mighty Mystic, local reggae artist :) 

Community Supported Agriculture

This spring, one of the items on my to-do list for preparing to move to Boston was to find a CSA. I knew it might be too late once I was back and wanted to make sure it got done. In PEI we joined a veggie box program with a local organic farm and it was great. Crystal Green Farms has a flexible system, where they email you the contents of your box the day before and a list of possible substitutions if you don't want or need everything that's offered. We really liked that eggs were included too. I think the rural community of PEI allows programs like this to be more flexible and less structured, because I was completely overwhelmed the first few times I started looking into signing up for a CSA in Massachusetts. One big issue was that the pickup windows were often short and during weekday hours which would be impossible with my work schedule. There were very few that offered weekend pickups. We used to get our veggie box on Saturday mornings at the farmer's market, which could not have been more convenient because we were there doing shopping for the week already.

I finally decided on Red Fire Farm in Granby, MA. I found them through the Clover Food Lab site. It got off to a rough start, due to delayed opening of the Clover site in Burlington and shortly after the restaurant being shut down as a result of Salmonella! Luckily, I was able to switch to another site which turned out to be much more convenient anyways. One advantage of picking up directly from a RRF site (vs. at Clover Food Lab), is that you have more flexibility with produce. For example, maybe you don't want 8 ears of corn, so you only take 6 and there is extra eggplant to make up for it. At Clover, the boxes were always pre-made. I have photographed quite a bit of the recipes I've made, but these will have to wait for another post. A friend who writes Hugging Trees and Shelling Peas has been much better at updating weekly recipes.

Having a CSA is great, you can save money, save time on grocery shopping, and have fun experimenting with new foods. It's a major motivator to eat healthy as well. Some things to ask yourself when singing up:

How far am I willing to drive to pick up my share each week? I recommend choosing a site within 30 minutes of your home or work.

What day/time will consistently be convenient for me? Some farms are very flexible, and will allow you to change your pickup site if something comes up.

Am I willing to experiment with new produce? Picky eaters beware! You will probably not receive tomatoes every week. There will be a lot of greens in the beginning. RFF has a great resource of recipes to help you figure out what to do with your produce. Like Kale Chips!

Each of these sites allows you to search by zip code to find places in your area. Many farms in the western part of the state offer metro pickups in and around the Boston area. Some farms even offer winter and deep winter shares on a bi weekly basis.

MASSGROWN Map

Local Harvest Map

Farm Fresh Map

Weddings, Reunions, & Birthdays!

Arriving in North America marked the end of summer and the beginning of a hectic travel schedule that lasts until the holidays.  The first stop was home, but only for 2 days to quickly get my stuff together and drive to Maine with my parents.  Next stop Canada!  I decided that a change of scenery in North America wouldn't be too bad and will be living in Summerside, Prince Edward Island until May. (See my last post if this is news.) I had about two weeks to find an apartment and get things set up in PEI and then I was off to Kathryn's wedding in Atlanta for a mini Italia reunion!  The wedding was beautiful, it was at Serenbe, an intentional, sustainable, community outside the city.  All of the weekend events took place within Serenbe, and I can't think of a single thing that could have been improved.  The food was local, organic, and delicious!  Kathryn's ceremony was outside in a small clearing among tall trees and the reception close by under a huge tent.  Luckily, most of the girls were able to make it to the rehearsal dinner too and we even had a day in downtown Atlanta to explore. While in the city we ate at The Terrace, also a farm to table establishment in the Ellis hotel.  The food there was fantastic as well, not to mention the breezy view of the neighborhood.  It's located not far from the Centennial Olympic Park.

The weekend in Atlanta ended quickly.  I'm looking forward to seeing the girls again in February, this time in Boston for Meg's wedding!  I'll be celebrating my birthday that weekend as well so it's likely to be just as hectic.  My Dad's 75th birthday is coming up soon, and I'll have a few weeks at home for the festivities.  Then I'm back in Canada for two weeks, followed by a visit to Kaohsiung for three weeks and then back to Lexington again for Thanksgiving!

Ubud, Bali: Health Mecca

I arrived in Bali at the end of June.  I was on a late flight coming in and didn't arrive in Ubud until about 1am.  I was lucky to find On's Bed & Breakfast at that hour and I ended up staying there for the duration of my time in Ubud. The owners were sweet, and super helpful with everything.  One of them even brought me to the local banjar to ask for my mysteriously missing package in the mail, but I digress... I can easily say this is one of the most unique places I have visited.  I was a bit skeptical at first when I saw the Ashtanga Center was in a inland city (I was expecting the beach) and wondered if there was going to be anything going on there at all.  I had no idea! Ubud has everything and anything you could imagine and the food is amazing!  Organic, vegetarian, vegan, raw, and gluten free dishes are standard in many restaurants - it is so easy to be healthy here.  There are endless options for every type of yoga and massage you can think of, and various other alternative healing therapies readily available from singing circles to writing groups.


I started yoga the next day despite my late arrival.  Little did I know I was in for another surprise.  I've been practicing standard Vinyassa flow yoga since college and though I was well prepared for my one month intensive practice.  Well, it could have been worse (if I had never done any yoga at all!)  It turned out to be exactly what I was looking for, which was to learn the skills neccesary to develop an everyday self practice.  Funny thing was I did not realize that Mysore style Ashtanga was a self led class. Probably should have done a bit more reading on this before I showed up but luckily I landed in the right place :)

As you can see, (we didn't) they are
already trying to eat the seat!

I had quite the scooter experience in Ubud.  First, let me explain about riding a scooter in Asia, whatever you do don't think about what you are doing!  This is the #1 reason foreigners get into accidents.  Because everyone else on the road is thinking about everything and anything but driving.  Especially in Bali, where you frequently see someone eating, talking on their cell phone, and carrying a baby all while operating a two wheeled vehicle. And if you are lucky there will be 2-3 passengers.  Did I mention they drive on the wrong side of the road as well?  If you are going to overcome the challenge of riding a scooter in Bali, keep this advice in mind: drive slow, trust your instinct (unless it's telling you to stay to the right!) and never forget that the larger (more dangerous) vehicle and/or driver always have the right of way!  Anyways, my scooter story has nothing to do with driving because I wasn't even on it when this incident occurred.  I was staying near the Sacred Monkey Forest, a popular tourist spot in Ubud and had to drive through the foot path on my way in and out of town.  On the way, I saw my yogi friend Sue and stopped to say hello.  

Now, I know you that if you dont want trouble with monkeys you dont feed them but in this instance I chose to ignore my better instincts and decided that we had strength in numbers. (Yea right there were two of us and dozens of them!) As soon as I reached for the bag containing the rest of my fruit salad lunch they were all over the place.  Our reaction was scream, laugh, and take pictures, in that order.  Until we wanted to get going and realized the monkeys were really interested in my scooter, in fact they started baring their teeth at us when we tried to even get close to it.  Then one ran off with the helmet.  And then we realized they were eating the seat cushion. Now I know why people put bricks on their seats when they park in here. And WHY didn't the scooter rental guy tell me this! After a lot more screaming, running away, and enlisting the help of some foreign males (the Balinese were too busy laughing to help) we did regain possession of the scooter and helmet, minus the half eaten seat cushion. The scooter company was not happy with us.

A hidden gem in Paris

If there is one thing the French are great at it's cooking (and eating!).  There are many places in Paris where you can enjoy traditional French cuisine, especially at the sidewalk cafes.  But my favorite place we ate all week was at L'Entrecôte near the Champs-Élysées.  When we mentioned we were heading to the area for dinner our apartment manager tipped us off about this place.  She warned us to arrive before 8:30pm.  We arrived at 7:30 and were promptly seated.  Shortly after a waitress dressed in the traditional french attire of black and white asked us how we would like our steak cooked and brought us salads of greens and walnuts.  They are so well known for their contre-filet that they don't even present a menu.  And just when you think it's over they refill your plate with another serving!  If you find yourself in Paris craving a steak this place is not to be missed.  Just don't tell too many people ... the line was around the block by the time we left.

On a side note, I am a big supporter of the vegetarian lifestyle and think meat should be eaten sparingly, but I don't feel bad about a changing it up every once in awhile either.  Think of it as being a Flexitarian.  Good for your health, good for the planet, and good karma :)

Check out the website of L'Entrecôte by clicking here.

Insider tip: Locals know to eat at the one on Rue Marbeuf.

Another delicacy I couldn't get enough of.
I made sure to try as many varieties of Macaroons as possible!

Great museums, long lines

Paris is of course, amazing.  There are so many beautiful historical buildings that have been very well kept up and the museums are fantastic. Unsurprisingly I have been eating way too much bread and pastries!  But, the lines!  If you visit Paris be prepared, you will wait in line for everything.  To buy a drink, to use the toilet, and for every museum and tourist attraction you visit.  The French do not rush.  That said, there are a few things you can do to avoid wasting too much time getting tired in the sun.  Did I mention you'll be waiting in all these lines in the sun?  First, get there early, as in before they open.  Second, consider buying either the Museum Pass or the Paris Pass, the latter of which we had.  These passes wont get you out of every line but they do help a lot and are a pretty good value if you use them in enough places.

View from the Luxumberg Gardens, taken this afternoon.

Dinner Friday night, near our apartment.

We've been here for 10 days and have seen a lot of the city.  Today we walked around the 6th arrondissement and ate lots of delicious food there.  Asia has really rubbed off on me because I always find myself wanting to take pictures of food now when I travel.  Tomorrow is our last full day in the city so we'll try to squeeze in the last few things we'd like to do. We have been very lucky with the weather here - lots of sun all week so far!

A few more suggestions if you'll be traveling in the area.  Say hello!  This is a big one here and if you can manage a few words of French when you greet someone your service will improve 200%.  Also, don't miss the Musée de l'Orangerie.  They have two large oval rooms containing Monet's beautiful water lily paintings.

My Mom and I before the tour of Opéra Garnier.

Leaving Taiwan was a bit of a mad rush the last day, because although I was very organized and started preparing to leave more than a month ahead I seriously underestimated the amount of things I had to wrap up before departing.  And in the end I missed my flight and wasn't allowed to bring any luggage on the plane!  So, I'll be going back for a visit in the fall to collect my tax refund and the rest of my stuff.

After Paris, I'm heading to the Visayas which will mark the beginning of a four month backpacking trip around Asia.  Two summers ago I did a similar trip but did not have time to visit all the countries on my list.  This time around I'll be heading to the Philippines, Singapore, Bali, Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and finally India.  Im looking forward to diving the South Pacific, yoga in Bali, and volunteering at Navdanya near the Himalayas in northern India.

Under the Tuscan Sun

When we left Rome we rented a car to drive through Tuscany to our apartment in Loro Ciuffenna.  It was a charming town with the typical small, winding, Italian streets.  We stayed there for a week and took day trips to Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Cortona, Castelina and the Chianti area.  Between the steep hills, our standard car and the occasionally inaccurate maps I think we did pretty good navigating our way around Tuscany.

I was very excited to visit Florence again, and it was the first time I had been back since studying there in college.  Firenze has always been one of my favorite cities because it is not too large and very easy to walk around. Kindof like Boston! :)  I took my parents to the sandwich shop that used to know my roommates and I by name because we ate there so often and the panini were just as delicious as I remembered.

Here I am on the Ponte Vecchio, down the street from where I used to live.

We have eaten at some incredible restaurants while we’ve been here.  I had been expecting the food to be more expensive (it costs about $1.30 dollar to buy 1 Euro) but most of out dinners have averaged between 50EU and 80EU for the three of us.  At home, I dislike eating out mainly because I am quite picky when it comes to where I will eat.  I prefer restaurants that cook with local products; which is nearly impossible to find at home and I don’t like spending $30 for an entrée, which eliminates most of the choices.  There has not been one dish I have eaten here that was subpar and I have also mostly been eating vegetarian dishes!  *With some exceptions, more on this later.  The food has been fantastic, and most of the menus actually indicated the few items that are not locally sourced versus an American meal, which is usually entirely comprised of food flown in all over the world.  I have to say you can really taste the difference; the food here tastes fresh as if it had just been picked from someone’s garden (it probably was). 

I waited an extra 15 minutes for this chocolate souffle because it was home made and it was well worth it :D

Hopefully the local food movement will take off in the Boston area sometime soon.  Until then I will have to stick with The Independent (my current favorite restaurant – located in Union Square).  Some of you may wonder, why eat vegetarian in Italy of all places?!  I’m not completely abstaining from meat, but I am trying to reduce my consumption as much as possible in an effort to start eating a healthier diet.  I recently finished reading In Defense of Food by Michal Pollen, which I highly recommend; and it has really impacted my outlook on food.

Tomorrow is our last day in Italy.  It has been a great vacation, but I am already thinking of all the things I have to do in the next 5 days to prepare for Taiwan.  When I arrive in Kaohsiung next weekend I will be very busy searching for an apartment, working out the details with my job, and buying a bike to get around.

I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to return to Italy (it’s my third time here).  I can still confidently say this is my favorite country, and every time I visit I find more reasons why.  My top two right now are the food and the people.  But I think those are probably the reasons why I like every country I visit J who would want to visit someplace with bad food and unfriendly people?  Oh, wait that’s America! Haha jk ... well sortof ;)

Did you know you can click on any images in the blog to see a larger version?

Weekend Road Trips

Now that I've started subbing full time I have been really busy with work but I have been having a lot of fun and the teaching schedule isn't so bad because I never have to work on the weekends.  The weekend before last the four of us went to Guanziling.  It's a town a few hours north of Kaohsiung in the mountains known for it's muddy hot springs.  It happens to be one of the most famous hot spring sites in Taiwan because it releases methane, which has been burning consistently for about three centuries.  The ride up there was beautiful and we stayed in a hot spring hotel where our bath water came directly from the spring. We stopped to check out some temples as well and ate in Tainan on the way back to Kaohsiung.  I pretty much love eating at the markets in every country and Taiwan is no exception!

A popular ice dessert - it was delicious!

Last weekend Danielle and I took the train to  Hualien, and then went on to Toroko National Park.  Anthony and Ryan took the week off of work and rode their bikes across the central cross-island highway to get there.  It ended up raining all weekend, and we were camping but Toroko was so beautiful I didnt even care :)

Wearing our safety helmets: (falling rocks actually hit us)

Here we are walking in a section of the old road called the Tunnel of Nine Turns.  The road through the park (part of the central cross island highway) is insane.  It was the first roadway connecting the west and east coast of the island, finished in 1960.  It was made completely by hand (with only pick axes) and surprisingly only a few hundred people died during the construction (I would have guessed many more!).  Many of the men working on the road were former soldiers and they refer the construction as a war they were fighting because it was such a demanding job.   Pictures do not to the park justice!

Last week we had Wednesday off for Dragon Boat Festival.  The holiday celebrates the life of the famous Chinese scholar Qu Yuan and is celebrated in many parts of Asia.  We watched the dragon boat races and walked around the Love River area.  It was nice to have a day off in the middle of the week :D

I'll  be uploading the majority of my pictures to a picasa album before I leave and will post a link when it's finished.  I have about two more weeks of subbing and then Kathyrn comes and we'll start traveling.  Im ridiculously excited to travel again!  We'll fly into Malaysia and will work our way north to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam from there.  After she leaves I'll have another two weeks and plan on checking out Singapore as well :)  Then it's back to the states for Christa's wedding in Colorado!