- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- recipes today articles
- recipes today q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Winter Waistlines
Three Experts Share Healthy Eating Strategies
By Kelly Burgess
(Booklocker.com, 2002), have some very specific recommendations that will help keep you fit, healthy and, hopefully, help you maintain your weight during the winter season.
Woodward-Lopez is highly respected for her expertise in the area of weight and genetics. She feels that many people think of themselves as overweight simply because they don't fit our society's idea of what is attractive based upon the preternaturally skinny people we see on television. Here are her healthy eating tips:
- Be realistic about your body size. If you've been dieting and exercising for years and years to get rid of those hips that are just like your mother's or grandmother's, maybe it's time to just accept and celebrate where those hips come from.
- Live an overall life of healthy eating and physical activity. This can be started at any time, holiday or no. "If everyone in the United States ate well and became more physically active, we would all be more healthy," Woodward-Lopez says.
- Turn off the TV. Not only will it give you time to get out with your kids and ride bikes, take a walk, or, depending upon your geographic location, play in the snow, you won't get the negative images that make you think that you just don't look good enough.
Laboranti is a young woman who is already making a name for herself as a dietician with a very straightforward approach to healthy eating – especially as it relates to women and an overall healthy diet. Here are her tips to avoid falling into some common eating traps:
- Again, Laboranti stresses the importance of not dieting during the holidays. There simply are too many temptations for anyone to realistically set weight loss goals during winter celebrations. "Planning to maintain your weight by eating moderately will keep you from feeling as if you have 'failed' if you don't lose weight," Laboranti says. "There are too many wonderful emotions associated with the holidays to ruin them with self-imposed guilt."