健康生活:節日保持健康的9個小貼士

1. Keep the focus on fun, not food

關注節日樂趣，而不是美食

Most holidays are associated with certain foods. Christmas at your house might not be the same without your aunt's green bean casserole, but that doesn't mean food has to be the main focus. Instead, throw yourself into the other rituals a holiday brings, whether it's caroling or tree trimming.

大部分的節日都和某些美食聯繫在一起。如果少了阿姨做的砂鍋青豆，你的聖誕節也許會有些不同。但這並不意味着美食必須是主要的關注點。相反，你應該投入到節日的其他儀式中去，不管是唱聖誕頌歌還是裝飾聖誕樹。

2. Modify your eating times so that they jive with your relatives.

少吃多餐，與家人同樂

Do your in-laws' meal schedules fly in the face of yours? Here's how to compromise: Say they wake up later than you do and serve a late breakfast at 10:30. Then they skip lunch and serve dinner at 3 p.m. To keep your blood sugar steady without overdoing it on calories, have an early-morning snack (such as a piece of whole-grain toast) before your relatives rise and shine. Their late breakfast will count as your "real" breakfast, plus some of your lunch. Enjoy the 3 p.m. meal — but don't overdo it! — and have a small snack at around 8 p.m.

你親友的進餐時間和你的相沖突嗎？這裏有一種折衷的辦法：比如他們起牀比你晚，10點半纔開始吃早餐。之後他們不吃午餐，下午3點再開始吃大餐。爲了讓你的血糖濃度保持穩定，不至於卡路里超標，在你的親戚們起牀之前先來點兒早間零食（比如一片全麥吐司）。他們遲來的早餐纔算是你真正的早餐加部分午餐。好好享受下午3點的大餐吧，但別撐着自己！到了晚上8點的時候再吃點小零食。

3. Cut down your own Christmas tree.

自己動手砍伐聖誕樹

Rather than buying a tree from a roadside lot where the trees have been drying out for weeks, visit a tree farm that allows you to cut your own. It will be fresher and probably less expensive than they are at the lot. You'll burn off calories and combat some of the blood-sugar effects of the sugar cookie you snuck by traipsing around the grounds in search of just the right tree. And your family will have one more fond holiday memory to look back on.

與其在路邊攤買一棵乾枯了好幾周的聖誕樹，不如去一個允許採伐的林場自己砍一棵。這會比路邊攤買的更加有生氣，也許還更便宜。你會消耗掉不少卡路里，爲了尋找聖誕樹而閒逛時吃掉的甜餅乾帶來的血糖增高也會有所下降。而你的家人會擁有一段更加值得回憶的聖誕記憶。

4. Indulge in only the most special holiday treats.

只在最特別的節日大餐裏一飽口福

Skip the store-bought cookies, but do save some calories in your "budget" to sample treats that are homemade and special to your family, such as your wife's special cake. Training yourself what to indulge in and what to skip is much like budgeting your mad money: Do you want to blow it on garbage that you can buy anywhere or on a very special, one-of-a-kind souvenir? Just don't completely deprive yourself on festive days — your willpower will eventually snap, and you'll end up overeating.

別再吃那些商店買來的餅乾了，但是在你的“胃口預算”裏爲那些對你的家庭來說有特別意義的家庭大餐留一些卡路里額度，比如說你妻子特製的愛心蛋糕。訓練自己什麼可以放開吃，什麼不該吃，這就好像爲你的零花錢做一個預算：你是想買一件到處都可以買到的破爛貨還是想買一樣非常特別，獨一無二的紀念品？不要指望在節日裏完全管住嘴，——那樣的話你的意志力會慢慢消退，最後反倒會吃得更多。

5. Make the change!

讓改變發生！

The habit: Staying physically active during the holidays.

習慣：在假日期間一直保持身體活躍。

The result: Gaining less weight over the years.

結果：幾年裏體重上升緩慢

The proof: A study conducted by the U.S. government found adults gained, on average, more than a pound of body weight during the winter holidays — and that they were not at all likely to shed that weight the following year. (That may not sound like a lot now, but it means having to buy roomier pants after a few Christmases pass.) The good news is that the people who reported the most physical activity through the holiday season showed the least weight gain. Some even managed to lose weight.

證據：一項美國政府主持的研究發現，成年人在冬季假期裏平均體重增長超過1磅——而且他們在第二年完全不可能把這部分體重減掉。（聽起來好像1磅並不多，但這意味着再過幾個聖誕節，你就得買寬鬆的褲子了。）好消息是在假期做運動最多的人體重增長的最少。有些人的體重甚至還得到了減輕。

6. Stock the freezer with healthy meals.

在冰箱裏儲存健康食品

Everyone's overly busy during the holidays, and most of us want to spend our time shopping, decorating, or seeing friends and family, which leaves less time to cook healthy meals. Take defensive action several weeks ahead of time by cooking meals intended specifically for the freezer. You'll be thankful later when you can pop one of the meals into the oven or microwave and turn your attention instead to writing out holiday cards with a personal message in each.

每個人在節日裏都非常忙碌，我們大部分人都想把時間花在購物、裝飾房屋或者走親訪友上，這讓我們沒多少時間來烹製健康餐。對策是提前幾周時間專門爲冰箱的庫存準備食物。當你發現只需要把做好的食物放進烤箱或者微波爐就可以解決一餐飯，而節省下來的時間你可以用來給每個人的節日賀卡上寫點賀詞，你會感激你之前的準備工作。

7. Pour the gravy and sauces lightly.

少放點肉汁和調味醬

You may not be able to control what's being served at a holiday meal, but you can make the turkey, roast beef, and even mashed potatoes and stuffing much healthier by foregoing the sauce or gravy or spooning on just a small amount.

你也許不能控制一道節日大餐會上些什麼菜，但你可以沾取少量的調味醬、肉汁或者湯汁，這會讓火雞、烤牛肉甚至土豆泥和其他餡料更加健康。

8. Take the focus off food and drinks this holiday season by embracing a project that will have lasting meaning: Organizing your family photos.

通過參與一項有深遠意義的計劃來轉移節日裏對飲食的注意，比如整理你的家庭照片

What household doesn't have a mountain of snapshots that need to be sorted? Dispensing with this source of clutter will be stress relief in itself, but you also will get an emotional lift when you glimpse the photos again. (Plus, what better holiday gift to give yourself or someone you love than a gorgeous album filled with family memories?) If you don't already have a photo organization system, try this: Find a shoebox or another box that's the right width to accommodate snapshots. Use cardboard rectangles as dividers between categories of photos. (You can also buy photo boxes with these dividers.) Write a category label across the top of each divider ("Martha," "Christmas," "Family," and "Pets," for instance). As you go through each envelope of photos, slide the very best into an album, file other photos you want to keep into the appropriate category in your shoebox, and throw out the rest.

有哪個家庭不是有一大堆的拍立得相片需要歸類呢？清理這種東西本身就可以釋放壓力，而且當你再次看到這些照片時會收穫一種情感上的鼓舞。（另外，無論是送給自己還是你愛的人，還有什麼節日禮物比一本滿載家庭回憶的精美相冊更好呢？）如果你還沒有一個照片整理辦法，可以試試這個：找一個鞋盒或者其他可以放下拍立得相片的盒子。用長方形的硬紙板作爲分隔欄把不同類的照片分開。（你也可以購買帶有分隔欄的照片盒。）在每個分隔欄的頂端寫一個類目標籤（比如“瑪莎”、“聖誕”、“家庭”和“寵物”）。瀏覽每一個信封裏的照片時，把最好的那些收入相冊，把其他想保留的照片按照合適的分類放入鞋盒，剩下的可以處理掉。

9. Toast the new year with just one glass of bubbly.

爲新年乾杯時只喝一杯啤酒

You may be celebrating, but that doesn't mean that you should send your meal plan (and your judgment) on holiday. Alcohol can interfere with your blood sugar by slowing the release of glucose into the bloodstream; it also contain a lot of calories — 89 calories per glass of white wine or champagne, 55 calories in a shot of vodka, and 170 calories in a pint of stout beer. What's more, alcohol breaks down your inhibitions and judgment, which makes you that much less likely to resist the junk foods that you would otherwise be able to pass up.

你可以慶祝，但這並不意味着你要在節日裏打亂自己的飲食計劃（還有你的決定）。酒精會通過減緩向血液轉換葡萄糖而影響你的血糖；而且酒精還包含了大量的卡路里——每杯白葡萄酒或香檳含有89卡路里，一斟伏特加含有55卡路里，而一品脫的黑啤酒的卡路里含量則高達170。此外，酒精會減弱你的控制力和判斷力，這會讓你更加難以抗拒那些你本可以放棄的垃圾食品。