Brenda Lipp Clear Path Therapies

Q: With so many treats and buffets around during the holidays how can I avoid overindulging?
A: Try eating about 20 to 60 minutes before going to the party. You don’t need to eat a full-course meal either. Try some “power” snacks that help stabilize blood sugar and keep you from losing control. Good pre-party choices include a protein/fat mix, like a handful or two of nuts and/or seeds, an avocado or three to five ounces of meat combined with a watery carbohydrate such as baby carrots, cucumber or celery. Eating soup just before a party is great, too. If you don’t have time to eat before the party then drink about 20 ounces of water 10 to 15 minutes beforehand.

Q: When it comes to desserts, are some options better than others?
A: Next to eating from the fruit platter, the best choices are dense items like fruit pies and nut and fruit cake (Christmas cake) as they are more nutritious and filling than creamy, whipped desserts and cakes that are light and airy but filled with more calories, fat and sugar. Also, be careful with the chocolate bon-bons — it’s almost impossible to stop eating them once you’ve started and they’re high-calorie/low-volume items. After eating your pre-buffet snack or your buffet main-course, wait about 15 minutes to allow the hunger mechanism to shut off before digging into the desserts. A little taste of something sweet may be all you want if you give your body some time to register that it’s full.

Q: How can I make all this food less of a burden on my body?
A: Combining food appropriately can help offset the enormous drain that the digestive system experiences when several different types of food are eaten at once. We’ve all heard people say, “I just can’t eat the way that I use to.” And there is good reason for this. Our bodies make less of the enzymes needed to digest foods as we age. We have to give our bodies a break and that’s where food combining comes in. Food combining at its simplest goes like this: Avoid eating animal protein with starches. You can eat watery vegetables with animal protein or with higher starch foods. You can eat vegetable protein with starches. Food combining and/or taking digestive enzymes may reduce the gas, bloating and digestive sludge that occurs with eating party foods. Additionally, after a feast, it is a good idea to spend the next day or so eating pure, basic, simple foods to help rest your system and allow it to do a mini-detoxification.