Vegetarian Eating Tips for the Holidays!
The holiday season is just as much about the food as it is about being with friends and family and just because you are eating vegetarian or vegan doesn’t mean you have to eat bland food and miss out on the wonderful fall/winter delectable dishes.
Let’s have fun this holiday season!
The holidays used to be a bitter sweet time for me. I was excited to be with friends and family and I wanted to look great in my holiday outfit.
But after a couple of parties and a couple weeks into the holiday season, tons of cakes and cookies around my work place and over indulgence, I start gaining weight, looking bloated, puffy and I would be down on myself for doing that to myself.
I have changed this around and created a plan of success I will share with you. Today, I want to share 3 of my top 9 tips, and next week I’ll be adding a new bonus to the Easy Veggie Meal Plans, “My 20 Favorite Holiday Vegetarian Recipes”!
Thanks to these recipes, I now enjoy the holidays, I don’t gain weight, and I look and feel great at parties – and you can too.
This will be the year you break the cycle of splurge, gain weight, feel disgusting, and recommit at New Years and try and work off the extra 5-10 lbs. you gained over the holidays. 
Why go through all that agony and put your body through that? It’s not worth it. This year you’ll be guilt free, have fun, and look great.
By the way, I’d love to hear your holiday eating tips for avoiding the holiday weight gain.
What tips do you have to lose fat over the holidays?
Here are mine…
Tip #1 – Use Fiber to Fill Up Before Holiday High-Calorie Parties
There is a simple natural supplement that will help you feel satisfied before you go to a party. It is not a stimulant that stresses your adrenal glands; it’s not a chemical that will mess with your hormones.
Psyllium husk/fiber is a fiber you drink with water and it expands in your stomach giving you a full feeling. It is an insoluble fiber and basically has no calories. Put 1 teaspoon in water or apple juice, mix quickly and drink before it expands. Be sure to drink plenty of water with it.
If you are feeling sluggish, tired, getting sick, low energy or bloated, Psyllium fiber will help you snap out of it quickly and you will have way more energy.
Take 1 teaspoon of psyllium husk twice a day morning and night with lots of water. This is amazingly helpful in pulling toxins and excess cholesterol out of your body.
Tip #2 – Plan your Cheat Meal
Going to a party on the weekend may be the perfect opportunity to exercise your one cheat meal for the week. 
Having one free “eat whatever you want” meal a week gives you something to look forward to during the week. Have fun and enjoy yourself at the parties.
But what if you have two or more parties to go to in one week?
This is where you use these techniques to keep you on the weight loss track. If you have too many cheat days in a week than your not following a weight loss plan. So use the following technique to stay on track!
Tip #3 – Help the Host
Before I go to a party or a get together for the holidays, I would let the host know I was vegan. This way if the host chose to, they would make some vegan dishes.
I don’t expect it but sometimes they are interested to try new recipes.
What I typically do is ask the host in a polite and courteous way if I can bring 1 or 2 vegan dishes to share.
That way there’s food I can eat and I can share new dishes with everyone! Bringing a couple of dishes gives you plenty of options to choose from and enjoy the get together. And the host is happy that there is more food for the guests!
When people try the vegan dishes, they are surprised how good they taste.
Everyone wants to know how they taste so good if it’s vegan or raw. Like it can’t taste good because it’s vegan! Ha! It blows their mind. Oh, I don’t tell them it’s raw or vegan until after they taste it, it’s my little secret.
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I hope those tips help you stick to your veggie meal plan over the holidays, and next week I’ll show you 20 amazing vegetarian recipes that you can put together to dazzle any holiday party. 
Here’s to living the easy veggie lifestyle,
Kardena Pauza
Author, Easy Veggie Meal Plans
Not really a tip but a question. How do you not come off sounding like the food police? I try to never comment on what others are eating or bring, like up to the family cabin to share. My husband and I have made a slow progression from eating as little processed as possible thru local, local and organic, to mostly vegetarian, to now trying to become vegan. And the family notices and makes little comments, not mean but in a teasing way. Sometimes the comments are good, like when my brother-in-law stated he wanted to eat more like me but never could give up steaks on the grill at the lake, mushroom just don’t make the grade.But a nephew once called me the food nazi when I pointed out to him how much sugar was in his energy drink. He was starting weight training and seemed interested in these things. I am afraid that vegan may be the tipping point.
Hi Rangrant,
Great question. As you can see, people really do notice what you are doing and it reminds them of what they know they SHOULD be doing. You are being an example and that can be confronting to people, but not your fault. I make comments when people ask me why I don’t eat this or that but only when they ask. About the young boy, you are meerly educating him about what he doesn’t know he’s putting in his body. “Just trying to help him out.”
What you could do is give him the info about how it’s bad for him AND then give him a solution that will help him reach his goals of looking like a stud.
For example- Try something healthier for true energy that won’t make you break out or stop your heart (teenagers are the fastest growing population that are dropping dead on the field from excess caffeine mixed with high pressure sports, school pressures, late nights studying, etc.). Make sure and drink loads of water, dehydration is the number one cause of low energy. And give him more healthy ideas.
The conversation at parties get togethers always, and I mean always, turns to health, weight loss, regenerating illness, etc…. It’s something everyone has personal experience in and usually is a big concern for people and they have lots of questions for me. I realized I can’t help someone unless they really really really want to help themselves.
Be the light,
Kardena