With the winter holiday season nearing, some people are getting ready for holiday meals. 

Hudson French, freshman telecommunications major who plays first base for the National Club Baseball Association at Ball State, said he does his best to pay attention to what he eats. 

“It’s hard sometimes,” French said. “It's easy to stay in my room. It's easy to do classwork for hours. It's easy to get on a game for an hour just to escape a little bit, but I want to push myself to be more proactive in watching what I eat.”

To address similar concerns people in the Ball State community might have, Christy Tunnel, assistant clinical lecturer for nutrition and dietetics, shared tips for people to stay healthy during the holidays in a press release.

She first suggested to make sure holiday plates are filled with a majority of greens, vegetables and fruits while still leaving some room for indulgence.

“The holidays bring lots of gatherings and are often filled with high-sugar and high-fat foods,” Tunnel said. “The key is to fill your plate with enough healthy options to feel full yet still leave room for smaller servings of some decadent foods.”

When it comes to holiday snacks, she recommends consuming snacks that are healthy and homemade — listing vegetables, peanuts and dark chocolate as good alternatives.

“Feeling energized during the holidays is just as much about getting the right nutrients into your body as it is about keeping extra calories at bay,” Tunnel said.

In addition to tracking food and beverage intake and maintaining a fitness routine, she also recommends avoiding skipping or saving meals for later.

Skipping meals, Tunnel said, leads to binge eating because people often satisfy their hunger with sugars and fats. Instead, she recommends making regular meals close to a quarter smaller than normal to avoid cravings and leave room for more food later.

“If you’re eating on campus in one of the food courts, find a meal that you know is relatively healthy, and make that your go-to for when you’re stressed for time,” Tunnel said.

French said he doesn’t skip meals often, normally only skipping them before games, but now that he’s away from home at college, he’s more likely to skip regular meals to “savor the home-cooking more,” especially during the winter holidays.

Not everything he avoids is strictly because he wants to maintain shape, however. French said health problems in his family restrict his diet as well. 

“It is a combination of things — high blood pressure and stuff like that. Bread [and] carbs kind of run things up a little bit,” he said. “Recently, I’ve been trying to watch it more and understand how it works in the family.”

French said he has heard advice similar to Tunnel’s in the past and is willing to apply the tips.

“It sounds like everything I’ve been told as a child,” he said. “It’s definitely something I’d be down to try … because I feel that ultimately, it might just make me feel better.”

Contact Jaden Hasse with comments at jdhasse@bsu.edu or on Twitter @HasseJaden.

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