Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 1994 — ʻAi pono, e ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ʻAi pono, e ola

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by Dr. Terry Shintani

7 tips for maintaining weight through the holidays

Can you believe it? It's almost time for the holidays again. Every year, it's a ehallenge for many people to main-

tain their weight, and ultimately their health, during this period of temptation,with parties and celebration at the office and at home. Since the holiday season starts with Halloween, I thought I'd share

some simple healthy tips for eating during the holidays, and what to do with the leftover candies that everyone brings to the office. (Isn't it funny how we bring our leftover candy to the office because it's bad for our kids — as if it wasn't bad for adults!) Here are some tips to help you maintain your good diet during through the holidays: 1. Snack wiselv: Sometimes the problem with snacking is simply not knowing what is in a snack and how mueh it really may affect you. Remember, fats make us fat. A healthy traditional Hawaiian diet only contains 10 percent fat, and roughly 22-25 grams of fat per day. Here are some examples — some of them may surprise you: Fat in homemade snacks may vary widely depending on the recipe. Notice how premium

iee cream is highest in fat, 61 percent, and 23 grams of fat per serving. Why not substitute frozen bananas processed

through a Champion juicer to create banana "iee cream" whieh is about 4 percent fat? While jelly beans and hard candy such as lollipops have no fat, whole foods such as apples and taro have four to five

times the bulk for a similar number of calories and thus will fill your stomach and keep you satisfied longer. 2. Plan your eating: It's very important to plan meals ahead of time during the holidays, to resist temptations such as office parties, treats at the office and well-meaning friends you might visit who offer you high-fat, high-sugar, refined flour goodies. Instead, you should already start planning what you're going to eat a week in advance. This is to be sure that you have the foods and ingredients you need, and to allow the time to shop for them. You should have a sense of what you're going to have eaeh day for at least your three meals, and some snacking ideas as well. 3. Eat extra well between parties and snacks: If you do eat at parties and decide to sample some of the

treats that are available, try to also make a commitment to eat extra well at other times. For example, if you eat some candy at the office one day, try to resolve to eat two meals of extra good quality. You might also decide to eat cooked oatmeal or some other hot cereal eaeh morning so that your stomach is full and you are less likely to sample a large quantity of treats. 4. Have healthy snacks available: One thing you ean do to help curb snacking is to have healthy snacks on hand to replace the candy and goodies at the office or at home. For examples: just think about how niee it could be to have a fruit basket around the office or a variety of sliced sweet potatoes of different eolors. Here are some tasty low-fat snacks you ean have around that will satisfy your cravings: sweet potato, taro, poi, fruit. dried fruit, pretzels, air-popped popcorn with moehi crunch. 5. Eat "5 a day." Eating "Five a day" refers to the National Cancer Institute's campaign to encourage people to eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruit per day. The holidays are a great time to start this practice because almost all vegetables and fruit have bulk and will fill up your stomach so that you ean be satisfied with fewer high-fat high sugar snacks. 6. Don't snack on an empty

stomach: One of the best tricks I know of to cut down on high-fat, highsugar foods, is to not snack on an empty stomach. Instead, have some of the foods mentioned above handy. If you're going somewhere where pupus or a party are anticipated, try eating a healthy, high-bulk, lowfa,t whole-food snack or meal before the event. 7. Keep goodies out of reach: One small thing you ean do that ean make a big difference is to simply keep your goodies out of reach and out of sight while you are at work. Some people

have candies on their desk or in their side drawer. They eat unconsciously while working and thus consume large volume of junk food. So keep these snacks out of sight, out of mind and where you have to get up and walk some distance so that the temptation is minimized. Dr. Shintani, physician and nutritionist, is director of preventive medicine at the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. A majority of their board of directors and clients are of Hawaiian ancestry.

DESSERTS Food Serving Cal Fatgm Fat% Ice Cream - Premium lcup(148gm) 349 23.7 61% Fudge Brownies 1 item (20gm) 95 65 7% Chocolate Chip 1 medium (lOgm) 46 2.6 51% Pumpkin Pie 1 slice (130) 275 15 49% Ice Cream - Reg lcup(133gm) 269 14.3 48% Snicker's 1 item (57gm) 270 13 43% Gingersnap Cookies 1 item (7gm) 35 1.6 41% M&M's Candy 1 package (45gm) 220 10 41% Apple Pie 1 slice (135gm) 323 13.6 38% White cake/Choc icing 1 slice (71gm) 271 11 37% Fruitcake 1 item (15gm) 57 2.3 36% Fig Bar litem(14gm) 53 0.9 15% Spongecake 1 slice (66gm) 188 3 14% Sherbert lcup(193gm) 270 3.8 13% Lollipop 1 item (28.4gm) 108 0 0% Jelly Beans 10 beans (28gm) 66 0 0% Apple litem(138gm) 81 0.5 6% Banana litem(114gm) 118 0.55 4% Taro 1 cup (104gm) 112 0.15 1% Sweet Potato lcup(114gm) 118 0.13 1%