Hi, Dr. Gundry here. It’s that time of the year again, the holiday eating season. You know what I’m talking about? The two months between Halloween and New Year’s when all hell breaks loose, not literally, of course, but between Thanksgiving work events, holiday parties, all that leftover Halloween candy, it’s easy to get thrown off course. In fact, the average American gains about five pounds this time of the year. And let’s be very honest, that much weight gain is caused by way more than Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, and a couple of holiday parties. Those don’t help, of course, but the way I see it, the true cause of that holiday eating season is as much mental as physical. What do I mean? We use those big eating days is an excuse to eat poorly the rest of the time. And worse, we tell ourselves it’s okay because we’ll make up for it in January with our New Year’s resolution to stop doing what you just did for the last two months.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
But here’s the thing, even if you eat a big Thanksgiving dinner and indulge a little during the holidays, you don’t have to fall into the winter weight gain trap. In fact, I always challenge my patients to lose five pounds between Halloween and New Year’s. And I’ve seen it time and time again. It’s completely possible. And today I want to invite you to take my winter weight loss challenge too. And to make it a little easier, I wanna share a few of my favorite tips for surviving the holiday eating season. First, keep checking back with me. I’ll be sharing wellness tips here on my YouTube channel on the Gundry MD blog and in the newsletter. So keep checking in and seeing what’s new from simple, festive, healthy recipes to tips for surviving that holiday party. I’ve got your back. Second, set healthy intentions each day. So maybe you over acknowledged a little at your office Christmas party, or maybe you went a little nuts with Thanksgiving leftovers.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Instead of turning that one meal binge into a ruined day and going for that second slice of pie, a late night snack and extra helping of leftovers the next day, accept it and move on. Even better. Make a commitment to making the next thing you eat or drink be healthy like a dark green salad or a of Vital Reds. Next up, I don’t not, I can’t. I’ve seen this one work firsthand on my wife Penny. She used to love bread. We both did. So when we decided to give it up years ago, she had a bit of a hard time. And the thing that worked for her was saying, I’m not a person who eats bread or I don’t eat bread. When someone offered it to her that way, she was focusing on her healthy intentions and not on feeling deprived. Speaking of feeling deprived before the Christmas party or dinner, have a handful of my famous nut mix and a glass of water.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Believe me, this trick works like a charm to reduce your desires for bad stuff once you’re at the party. Last but not least, fill your plate. The good news is the plant paradox plan isn’t designed to make you feel deprived. It’s there to help you live your healthiest life. And that means eating plenty of delicious food. I found one of the best ways to do this is to fill your plate when you’re out at a party, but do it the smart way. Load three quarters of your plate up with leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables. That other quarter of the plate is the perfect amount of space for any animal protein resistant starches or other indulgences. That way you’re not sitting there with an empty plate grumbling that you feel deprived. I think whether you’re trying my winter weight loss challenge or not, these tips will help you stay your healthiest during the holiday eating season. Oh, then one other thing. Just because it’s chilly outside doesn’t mean you get an excuse to stop exercising. Bundle up and take a walk or actually shovel snow by hand. Or do what I do and do squats while brushing your teeth. Or you can even do laps inside the mall. Think of it as multitasking, holiday shopping and exercise rolled into one. Most importantly, have a safe, healthy, happy holiday season. ’cause I’m Dr. Gundry, and I’m always looking out for you. Eat a truck before you <laugh>.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It works like a charm there. There will be no room for anything else really. <laugh>, welcome to the Dr. Gundry podcast and happy holidays. Yes, the holiday season is upon us and you deserve to enjoy it to your very best. But historically speaking, as you know, the average American gains five pounds, just five pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s every year. And you know that the holidays can wreak havoc on our health with the foods that we choose to eat. So that’s why weight gain is so common for most of us at this time of the year. But you don’t have to fall into the winter weight gain trap. So in just a minute, I’m gonna share my tips for enjoying the holiday season without sacrificing the lean healthy body you want in the process. So topic number one, what to do before the party. And you know, this may be my most important tip of this entire podcast.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
It’s preparing for the party that really is gonna make all the difference. So you don’t wanna fast all day because you know you’re gonna be gorging on foods that really you don’t have any other time of the year. What you really wanna do is, number one, eat something healthy before you get to the party, before you walk out the door. Now, I’ve told you before, grab a handful of nuts, whether they’re walnuts or macadamia nuts or pistachios, hazel nuts your choice. And know the mixed cocktail mix with the peanuts and cashews. Do not count as a healthy choice. Eat it before you get there. Don’t say, well, I know they’re gonna have handfuls of nuts, and I’ll just grab them when I get there because chances are, it’s gonna be that classic cocktail mix, which is quite deadly, not only because of the peanuts and cashews, but also because of all the really bad vegetable oils they’ve been cooked in.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Have yourself a half an avocado. It’s actually a great way to get full before you head to the party. I personally like a bunch of mima sticks dipped in guacamole. It’s gonna give you the crunch that you’re gonna crave when you go to the holiday party. So you won’t be tempted by that giant bowl of corn chips or potato chips. You’ll already have the crunch out of the way. The other thing to derive with before you get there is a stomach that’s full, quite frankly, of my favorite sparkling water sand pellegrino or sparkling water of your choice. And you know, my trick, put a little bit of balsamic vinegar in it. It’s gonna taste like a coke, but you’re gonna have all that nice bubbly fullness in your stomach before you get there. And that’s gonna really, really take the edge off of things before you get to the party.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
And it’s a trick that I use whenever I’m heading out for anybody’s house or any holiday party. And we certainly do get invited to our fair share of them. So topic number two, what do you eat once you get to party? Well, one of the first things you do, and I always look like somebody who’s almost cutting into line, as you know, a lot of these parties are buffets. A lot of them are bring your own, if it’s a bring your own dish, uh, penny and I always make something unique that nobody else is gonna try. And it usually ends up being kind of a big winner. For instance, uh, you’d be surprised how many times we’ll take a, a raw cole slaw as as a dish. And it’s not something that everybody brings and we make it quick. You can even buy coleslaw mix, uh, you know, the cabbage and a few raw carrots.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Make your own dressing. We actually make it out of avocados and guacamole. Uh, it’s really delicious and people are struck with how good it is. You don’t have that much time. Actually take guacamole and mix it with coleslaw mix and you’ll be shocked with how good it is and it’s gonna give people the crunch they’re looking for. But getting back to scanning the buffet table, what I’ll do is I’ll actually look, walk down from one end to the other and see what my obstacles are and see how I can actually fill up my plate with, you know, stuff that is gonna look like I’m stuffing myself. And it’s gonna look like I’m really enjoying whatever our host and hostess has put out. But I’ve filled my plate up with, you know, a lot of the vegetables. Um, and believe me, as you fill up with vegetables, you’re gonna find that you really don’t have any room for all the wonderful, awful stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Are there any foods you should never eat at a ho holiday party? Well, it’s actually most of them. Uh, but first of all, eggnog, one of my favorite, you know, holiday drinks is eggnog. Interestingly enough, I always blame getting sick at holiday parties on eggnog. And as it turns out, I was right because most egg nogs, number one, they’re buying at a store. Number two, there’s so much sugar content in eggnog. It’s unbelievable. Even if it was made with half and half, it’s most likely casein a one melt. So maybe there’s a really healthy egg in it, but that’s about it. If you want the eggnog, believe it or not, eat a hard boiled egg with a little of eggnog, spices, nutmeg, sprinkled on it, and you’ll actually be shocked with how good it tastes. And you’ll say, eh, yeah, that’s a pretty good, uh, replacement for eggnog.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So those are some of the tricks, which brings me to one of the tricks I talked about years ago with my wife, penny. She loves bread. I think if she could have any food in the world, it would be bread. And she knew, uh, from experience that bread didn’t love her. Uh, as you know, uh, we try to teach you how to eat foods you love, but love you back. So we decided to use a mantra for Penny. That bread was something she couldn’t have, but she was a person who doesn’t eat bread and she defined herself in this way. So no longer was, oh, I can’t have the thing I love. I’m a person who doesn’t eat bread. And to this day, it’s fascinating. Whenever a waiter comes over to a table, particularly at a restaurant we don’t know or has a great reputation for baked goods, she goes, no, I’m sorry.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Uh, you know, we don’t eat bread. And that’s, that’s it. And it’s worked for her. So go to the party with that intention. In in mind. I’m a person who doesn’t eat, uh, five pieces of cheesecake. Uh, it’s easy to say I’m a person who doesn’t eat fruitcake. Um, and <laugh>, that’s historian itself. Uh, but just start with that mantra. I’m a person who doesn’t eat this. I’m a person who used to eat a pound of m and ms. When I go to a party now and that pound is sitting there, I am a person who doesn’t eat peanut m and ms anymore. And it’s a whole lot easier rather than depriving myself, okay, it’s holiday season and it’s time to drink and that’s when things really start to get out of hand. Yes, alcohol is a great way to reduce inhibitions and it makes people social and people say the most fascinating things at holiday parties that the next day they wish they hadn’t said.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
But the important thing is, you’ve got to be realizing that even though alcohol does decrease your soc social inhibitions and makes you a much more friendly person, it also decreases your inhibitions on going for the foods that you’ve already decided you’re not gonna do. So are there safe ones to drink? Are there not safe ones to drink? First of all, interestingly enough, there are some studies that suggest that red wine and also champagne, particularly what’s called non dosage champagne, where there’s no sugar added and straight alcohol. Now, be it gin bourbon, whiskey scotch, uh, please, no vodka or tequila that’s colored, uh, may not break ketosis. And there’s actually some exciting work done by some of the founders of Dry Farm Wines that they’ve drunk their red wine and, uh, did not break their ketosis. I’ve experimented with that myself. And I can drink red wine, particularly from Italy and France, and I don’t break a ketosis fast, which is fun.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Fact, now that’s not a license to say Dr. Gundry says that I will stay in ketosis if I drink red wine. Believe me, if you drink a bottle of red wine, the odds are you will break your ketosis <laugh>. So that’s not a license to drink. Number two, take a trip tip from my father. My, my father arose to executive vice president of Mutual of Oma Insurance Companies in Omaha. And he was constantly, constantly at cocktail parties and he had to have his wits about him. So he would meet the bartender at whatever function he was. He would order himself a gin and tonic and he would take that gin and tonic back to the bar tender and the rest of the night he would be having a gin and tonic that had no gin in it. And it looked exactly like what he did the rest of the night.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
And he appeared to be the jovial fine person he was, but he never got inebriated like most of the people he was with. Uh, I learned this trick from him as an undergraduate at Yale. Uh, fun fact, I had a bet with my father that I would not drink, smoke or choke for four years at Yale. And if I accomplished that, which I did, uh, I would get a car, uh, which I did. And uh, how did I do it? Well, quite frankly, when you go to all these mixers, you, I would get a ginger ale in a glass without ice and ginger ale and a glass without ice looks like a beer. Now warning, do not do this at home. Chugging a ginger ale is one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my life. Um, go ahead, try it. Uh, so I learned from my father that you can appear to be drinking alcohol and not drink alcohol.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
And I think that’s the point to take away. The other point to take away is, as silly as it seems, dilute your alcohol with ice cubes or with sparkling water. Make a spritzer and make a point of it saying it’s the holidays. I want a holiday spritzer, can I have some sparkling water in my wine? There’s always ways around this and if you do drink, please don’t drive. There’s plenty of Ubers and Lyfts out there now and don’t get on the road please. Okay, what are you gonna do before you go to bed? First of all, please, please, please, please try to stay up rather than gr crashing into bed. So many studies show that if you go to bed on a full stomach, you’re gonna have really impaired sleep. You’re probably gonna get some heartburn that you wish you hadn’t done and you’re gonna regret it in the morning.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Now when I stay up, what you do is get yourself a pair of blue blocking glasses. They are ubiquitous. Now you can get ’em on Amazon or wherever you want to go for about $10 block blue light. That way you can watch your favorite TV show or you can read a book. You can be on your Kindle and it won’t impact you going to sleep. There’s more and more and more really important research coming out that even brief exposures to blue light before you go to bed is gonna impact your sleep pattern. So, but stay up and don’t just crash into bed. The next thing, if you screwed up and before you go to bed, say, okay, I screwed up and I’m not gonna do this again. Because usually you notice you’re gonna feel bad before you go to bed. And almost certainly you’re gonna feel bad when you wake up and make the intention, you know, okay, that’s it.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I did it. It’s outta my system. That doesn’t mean that the rest of this holiday season because I screwed up once or maybe twice, I’m just gonna blow the whole thing. You know, once you fall off the horse, as I tell all my patients that just get right back on it doesn’t mean that you’re a failure and this whole holiday season is down the drain. Just get back on the horse. Uh, one day’s not gonna make that big a difference. Okay, so that’s it for holidays. Now people are always asking me about what kind of supplements to take, particularly around the holiday season, the holiday season, you’re going to be exposed to a lot of different individuals in close personal contact. And the best thing I can tell you to do is make sure you’re taking vitamin D three. Be conscientious about taking vitamin D three.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
If Penny and I know we’re going on an airplane, we double, triple, quadruple the vitamin D that we normally take. And I can tell you it makes a huge difference in preventing flu viruses, colds, ’cause you’re gonna be in close personal contact. If you wanna add some vitamin C to your regimen, just remember that vitamin C is water soluble and it only lasts for about two or three hours in your system. So easy fun thing to do is buy some chewable vitamin C tablets. Please get the sugar free kind that don’t have sucralose and chew about four during the day every four to six hours. And it’s another great trick for the holidays and it really works. So those are my supplement tips for the holidays. Okay, we’ve got an audience question. One of my favorite parts of the show Audience question comes from Heaven sent Travel on Instagram asks, what brand of cereal do you recommend?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Well, first of all, stay out of the cereal aisle. Almost all cereals if you’ve, if you’ve noticed, even some of the organic ones are filled with glyphosate, better known as Roundup, and they have no business going in. You or your children. Most cereals are very heavy sugar-laden products. Be careful about the grain-free cereals in general because most of them have sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, lots of sugar from honey. So try to stay away from those. There are alternatives. If you love oatmeal, you can’t resist oatmeal. You can make millet oatmeal or sorghum oatmeal that will give you absolutely the texture and the flavor you’re looking for, but won’t contain those harmful grains. So militant sorghum is always an option. Also, there are some coconut flake based cereals out there. Thrive Market for instance, carries one that are really pretty safe. They still have a little more sugar content than I like, but they’re loaded with healthy fiber from coconut.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And as you know, I’m a huge fan of coconut. So there are alternatives. But the takeaway is breakfast is really one of the least important meals for you to think about. Your ancestors never ate breakfast ’cause there wasn’t any breakfast. So those are my tips. So thanks. That’s a great question, Turkey. Now the ones to avoid at all costs are the ones that have been injected with water and or oils. And quite frankly, that’s most of the turkeys that you’re going to pick up frozen at your grocery store for a really good price. The infamous Butterball is one such one. We have very good friend who’s a cardiologist who will only eat a butterball Turkey and don’t do that. Please. How do you find a safe Turkey? Well, as you know, you are what you eat, but you are what the thing you’re eating ate.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
And the more you can look for a pasture raised Turkey that was fed the right things, the better off you’re going to be. Eating Turkey or a holiday meal should be a celebration for you and your family and it should be a celebration for your body. So why not give your body the best that you can give it? As you know, I am a big fan of Farmer dan@lectinlightchicken.com. I have no commercial arrangement with him. I get my Thanksgiving Turkey from Farmer Dan, and he raises ’em and they’re fantastic. They actually taste like a Turkey. They are pasture raised and they are fed lectin free food if you can’t do that, ’cause farmer Dan doesn’t have a lot to go around. There are other great producers, primal pastors in Temecula, California near me. Bunch of great kids who do a really good job of doing very much the same thing.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
And I’m a huge fan of theirs as well. Not completely lectin free, but they’re corn and soy free. So look for primal pastures. They ship to a lot of places now, farmer Dan ships all over the United States. Look for heritage turkeys. Mary’s makes heritage or heirloom turkeys while not perfect, they go a long way to meeting your needs. Diet used to be a pretty good company. They got bought. Uh, you can do better. So look for if you want a commercially available one, look for the Mary’s heritage or heirloom Turkey varieties. Now, if you wanna learn how to cut and carve a Turkey like a pro, check out my video demo on my YouTube channel. Now take it from a heart surgeon. You can carve a Turkey like a pro mashed potatoes. Oh my gosh, what’s the holidays without mashed potatoes? Well, mashed potatoes have a lot of bad things going for them.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
First of all, potatoes are part of the nightshade family, and even if you peel them, they are loaded with lectins. Number two, sadly, as you learned in gut check, many of us react to a different lectin in potatoes. That’s called an aquaporin. And aquaporins can’t be pressure cooked out aquaporins cause leaky gut, leaky brain. And if that sounds good for you, just keep eating your mashed potatoes. Plus think about what you’re putting in the mashed potatoes. You are putting usually butter and milk or cream. And sadly, it’s from our cows that have a one casein, which is lectin like compound. So you’re basically eating a delicious lectin balm. On the other hand, it’s easy to make swabs. First of all, mashed sweet potatoes or yams and fun trick. Use olive oil instead of butter, but use a two cream if you must. Roasted Parmesan mash cauliflower dish, which I featured in my plant Paradox book comes from the James Beard Award-winning chef Jimmy Schmidt.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
It’s absolutely fabulous. And also look for it on my Instagram. You’re gonna love this recipe. My family can’t go without it on the holidays. Next up, green bean casserole. Oh my gosh, I had so many green bean casserole growing up. I I, if I ever see it again, I, I just can’t stand it. I know it’s a holiday tradition, but think about it, what’s in it? First of all, green beans are loaded with lectins. Sorry folks. They are the fried onions in the package. They’re usually made with bad oils like palm oil. And spoiler alert, they’re coated with wheat with flour, the mushroom soup. I’m gonna read you the label from Campbell’s mushroom Soup. You’re gonna love this. Number one ingredient, water mushrooms. Oh, good vegetable oil, corn and or soybean oil. Oops. These are toxic Omega six fats and they’re loaded with lectins cream, eh?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Okay, but it’s a wrong cream modified corn starch. That’s actually another name for sugar wheat flour. Oops. You don’t want that salt modified milk ingredients. Now think about that for a minute. What the heck is a modified milk ingredient? That’s laboratory chemistry 1 0 1. If somebody’s modifying something you don’t want it in your body. Soy protein. Oops, monosodium glutamate. That’s MSGA neurotoxin tomato paste, another lectin flavor and dehydrated garlic. Well, the last one is actually really good for you, but my point is this has nothing but mushrooms and dehydrated garlic, good for you and everything else is a disaster. So why would you give that to your body for a holiday treat? How about some swaps? Well, it’s easy to make a roasted mushroom and asparagus dish. I am a huge fan of roasted Brussels sprouts. And if you must have a casserole, swap out the beans for asparagus and use a healthy canned mushroom soup like uh, Pacific Foods makes a good one.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And use crush plantain chip as a topping. You’ll get all the casserole things you want, but something that’ll be good for you rather than bad for you. Plus asparagus is loaded with one of my favorite prebiotic fiber inulin. So you’ll actually have something that’s good for you rather than bad for you. I’ll link recipes in the YouTube description below and in the show notes on the block, or check out my Thanksgiving salad recipe on the Gundry MD blog. It’s gorgeous and good for you. And if you’re sensitive to kale, swap it out for arugula. Now before we continue, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe. Next up, cranberry dressing.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Kick the canned jelled cranberry to the curb. Why Two words? Corn syrup. Most brands use a lot of sugar to make this, and it’s usually one of the worst forms of sugar corn syrup. Eat this instead. Make your own. It is not hard. And you can find frozen and cranberries and they’re readily available and cheap. And this time of year fresh cranberries are available. Just check out Claudia’s sugar, sugar-free recipe in the notes. Pumpkin pie. Who doesn’t love pumpkin pie? I love it, but I don’t eat it. Why? First of all, pumpkin is part of the squash family. And I’m sad to say pumpkin is loaded with lectins. Yes, you can cook it and diminish the amount of lectins, but let’s not forget that the pumpkin flesh is mainly sugar. And do you really want extra sugar in that holiday meal? Finally, it’s sitting on a crust, usually made from wheat flour.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Even worse, a lot of the times it’s whole wheat flour, which is a double mammy. So lose the pumpkin pie. What can you use as a substitute? Well, sweet potato pie gives you really all the flavor you’re looking for in pumpkins without the lectins. And you can get a nut crust that will really make that sweet potato pie a huge benefit for you and your gut if you have to get a gluten-free crust. But please watch the ingredient list. So many of these have corn or brown rice flour as their ingredients, and those are no-nos in terms of your health. Now you can pressure cook the pumpkin to destroy the lectins, but just remember it’s still mainly sugar. If you want, check out my recipe for sweet potato pie and lectin-free crust on the gundry md.com blog. Just type in sweet potato pie and you’ll be ready for the holidays.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
So the holidays are always associated with drinking. And here’s my first word of advice. If you don’t drink, don’t start. The holidays are not time to tempt fate, but if you do drink, there’s some very interesting things that you should know. First of all, drink champagne. There are the grapes that go into champagne. Have some important polyphenols that have actually been shown to potentially improve memory in champagne drinkers. Number two, if you’re gonna drink wine, choose red wine over white wine. White wine has far more sugar. Red wine has two important compounds, resveratrol and cetin that actually improve brain health and are very potent antioxidants. Number three, if you’re going to drink spirits used age spirits, that is the darker spirits that have been in wood. It turns out there are polyphenols in wood that are extracted by the alcohol, and the alcohol is actually a vehicle to get polyphenols into you unaged clear spirits like vodka or gin to try to stay away from.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dr. Gundry Podcast. If you did, please share this with family and friends. You never know how one of these health tips can completely transform someone’s life when you take the time to share it with them. There’s also the Dr. Gundry Podcast YouTube channel, where we have tens of thousands of free health insights that can help you and your loved ones live a long, vital life. Let’s do this together.
