Sugar-Smart Ways to Make Your Holidays Healthier

11 strategies to control weight, improve health, and still relish the sweetness of the season

Christmas treats are going to tempt you at every turn, but there are steps you can take to resist the urge.Dean Drobot/Shutterstock

At this time of year, we’re bombarded with the sights and smells of addictive sugary foods and beverages. Gingerbread, candied yams, and egg nog beckon at every turn. Sooner or later, someone is going to put a platter of Christmas cookies in your face.

If we aren’t careful, one sugar-loaded indulgence can lead to another—and another. Some of us give into sugar for the whole season and end up sicker and heavier just as the New Year is beginning.

More than 50 percent of Americans are estimated to be prediabetic or diabetic. Research in 2016 using a risk test found that more than 60 percent of Americans older than age 40 and about 80 percent of Americans older than age 60 are at high risk for prediabetes, and many of these high-risk individuals will have prediabetes when tested. Being insulin resistant, which is at the core of having prediabetes, significantly increases the risk of not just obesity and Type 2 diabetes but also cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer, dementia, and depression.

Keeping this information in mind, most of us should limit our sugar intake. We may know this, but practically speaking, it’s not easy to avoid sugar during the holidays. The constant presence of these treats can wear down our resistance.

Guidelines to Keep in Mind

To stay committed, keep reminding yourself that avoiding sugars and other blood-sugar-spiking refined carbohydrates is one of the most important things you can do to promote good health and prevent many degenerative diseases. Also know that the more you minimize sugar during the holiday season, the better your energy levels and mood will be—and the better your clothes will fit in January!

To that end, here are 11 sugar-smart ways to make your holidays healthier.

Focus your intention on the health, mood, and weight control benefits you’ll receive from these sugar-smart tips.

Eat Nutritionally Satisfying Meals

Eat regular, balanced, sugar-free meals based on whole foods each day. This means protein, non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli and asparagus, and good fats, such as nuts and seeds, olive oil, and coconut oil. Routinely consuming these types of meals leads to balanced blood sugar levels, which in turn leads to better concentration, better mood, and greater energy and stamina. Eating well is the key to removing the need or temptation to grab something sweet for quick energy.

Don’t Skip Meals, Even on Holidays

Adults who skip breakfast eat significantly more carbohydrates, added sugars, fat, and calories during lunch, dinner, and snacks than those who eat breakfast.

Choose Your Carbs Wisely

Whenever possible, opt for non-starchy vegetables and low-glycemic index foods, such as unsweetened nuts or beans—carbohydrates that have less of an impact on blood sugar levels—rather than grains, such as rice and most types of bread, which have higher glycemic indexes and spike blood sugar levels.

Set Goals for the Season

Ask yourself: Will you stay true to a sugar-free diet throughout the season? Or will you decide to splurge on a dessert on Christmas, Hanukkah, and/or New Year’s?

The occasional dessert isn’t a serious issue if it’s done with intention and you do so in moderation. But if you choose to stick to a sugar-free diet during the holidays, your indulgence could be something simple with no added sugar, such as buying fresh berries and topping them with unsweetened whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon or pan-fried apples with cinnamon and cottage cheese. These satisfying desserts will fulfill your sweet tooth without compromising your health or putting you on the blood sugar rollercoaster

If you find yourself in a position in which you need to decline desserts at the table, be polite and complimentary. Say, “It looks wonderful, but I have to avoid sugar for health reasons,” then change the subject, and focus on the connection and conversation you have with others.

If a Holiday Dessert Is Important to You, Plan for It

One good way to handle the dessert issue is to make it yourself. By doing that, you can control the type and amount of sweetener and flour used and include superfood ingredients to make it tastier, more nutritious, and healthier for your body. Depending on the diet you eat, you may want to sweeten the treat with stevia, monk fruit sweetener, 100 percent maple syrup, honey, yacón syrup, xylitol, or erythritol.

And when you allow yourself a sweet indulgence, eat it slowly and savor it. Doing that can help you recognize that you feel full and want to stop eating it before you overeat it and consume too much sugar and too many calories.

Fiber It Up

Eating fiber, such as apples, nuts, or beans, helps make you feel full longer, as well as promotes regular, proper bowel movements. Fiber also holds down the blood sugar response. Either include a fiber-rich ingredient in a dessert you make, or eat fiber-rich vegetables in a balanced meal before you eat dessert.

Experiment With Spices

Vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cardamom can make a dish taste sweeter, give you the flavors and aromas of the holidays, and help satisfy your sweet tooth without adding any sugar.

Ditch Sweetened Drinks

Beverages that have added sugar or other sweeteners include soft drinks, tonic water, fruit punch, sweetened coffee drinks, and sweetened teas (both iced and hot).

As a category, these beverages are the single largest source of calories and added sugar in the American diet, and consuming them wreaks havoc with blood sugar levels and appetite control.

People who drink sugary beverages don’t feel as full as if they had eaten the same calories from solid food, and research indicates that they also don’t compensate for the high caloric content of these beverages by eating less food.

To prevent beverages from being a diet saboteur for you, adopt the habit of drinking calorie-free sparkling mineral water, your best bet at holiday meals. Also, opt for unsweetened coffee or tea or for extra flavor without extra added sugar, add half and half or unsweetened nondairy creamers, such as unsweetened coconut milk, unsweetened vanilla NutPods, or Califia Farms Unsweetened Almond Creamer.

Treat Your Sweet Yuletide Drink as a Dessert

Sometimes you just can’t refuse a yuletide drink. With sugar-laden hot chocolate or eggnog, try making it less sweet by thinning it with water or unsweetened coconut milk. Savor it and sip it slowly, then choose the rest of the carbs you eat that day carefully.

Manage Your Stress, and Get Enough Rest

Numerous studies have shown that we eat more sugar, fat, or both when under physical or emotional distress or when we haven’t gotten enough sleep.

To be successful in limiting sugar intake, it’s important to regularly practice stress reduction techniques and to get enough z’s. If you need extra incentive to limit your sugar intake, just know that a 2016 study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that consuming more sugar can wreck your sleep: it’s linked to more restless, disrupted sleep.

If You Slip Up, Just Move On

If you get into a situation in which you end up eating too much sugar, focus on getting back on track at your next meal. Don’t beat yourself up. The key is to get yourself off the sugar rollercoaster: Eat high-quality protein, such as meat, an egg, or cheese, to stabilize blood sugar levels and quell sugar cravings, and return to a sugar-free lifestyle as soon as possible.