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Avoid putting on the pounds during holidays
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Eggnog, turkey and stuffing, assorted pastries — the holidays are as much about the food and drink as they are about sharing good times together. So is it any wonder that many gain weight during the holiday season?
Researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases have found the average person gains a pound a year from holiday eating, which accumulates and can lead to health problems later in life. But there are some lucky few who seem impervious to the goodies, staying thin despite the extra holiday food. How do some seem to stay so thin all of the time?
According to Men’s Health expert and editor-in-chief David Zinczenko, who has spent more than 20 years interviewing all sorts of leading weight loss experts and reviewing various studies, “What separates the fit from the fat is a series of rules.”
These rules are easy to follow and they don’t require any special exercise equipment, crash dieting or subsisting solely on wood chips to keep fit. Here are some things to consider during the holidays and as you make healthy eating resolutions for the new year.
• Stop dieting. Some studies indicate that individuals who currently are on diets are more likely to gain weight in subsequent months or years. That’s because restriction of fat and caloric intake can affect muscle growth and bone density. Muscle burns calories very well, so you want to hold onto strong muscles. Also, carefully monitoring what you eat can lead to stress hormones flowing through the body. Hormones like cortisol have been linked to weight gain. So ease up on watching every bite of food you eat and you just may be happier — and thinner — for it.
• Choose high-protein foods. Protein fills the stomach and takes a longer time to digest in the body, which in turn helps you to burn calories. Selecting lean proteins — like turkey, chicken, lean beef and pork — can help you to feel fuller longer and reduces the chance you’ll nibble on fluff snacks during the day. When faced with holiday fare, choose protein sources to fill you up before indulging on other items.
• Fill up on fiber, too. Studies indicate that getting 25 grams of fiber, which easily is achieved by having three servings of fruits and vegetables, can boost fat-fighting efforts of the body by at least 30 percent. Many processed foods are increasing fiber content, but be sure to read labels. That fiber also may be accompanied by a lot of sugar and extra carbohydrates. Fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grain breads are easy ways to get a fiber boost.
• Engage in fun exercise. Many people equate staying thin to spending hours at the gym every day. But all it takes is about 20 to 30 minutes of any type of daily activity, whether that be chasing around the kids or playing fetch with a dog. The concept of losing weight just by doing enjoyable activities is known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT. So go for a bike ride and burn 200 calories in the process.
• Skip fat-free foods. It would seem foods that have no or low fat would be better for you, but fat actually is a necessity for the body — helping you to feel satiated. Eating a fat-free item could have you feeling hungry soon after and ready to snack later on. In addition, some fat-free items have extra sugar or preservatives for flavor, which can undermine weight-loss plans.
•  Don’t be a couch potato. Get up from that computer chair and cut down on television watching. A sedentary lifestyle easily can pack on the pounds. A study by researchers at the University of Vermont found overweight participants who cut their daily TV time in half (from an average of 5 hours to 2.5 hours) burned an extra 119 calories a day.
If you follow a few easy rules, there finally may be a way to stay thin without dieting, even during the holiday season.

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From the book 'Outliers' comes proof that good health is more than just genetics
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Friends Jim Young, left, Mike Natale, Jeff Natale and Ryan Kiernan were on Greenwich High School football team together and Jim and Mike were captains. Jim, who was the youngest in Sherry Young's family, was welcome in the homes of the other three boys who still had siblings around and grandparents near. - photo by Sherry Young
As I look back on my life and the lives of others, both personally and in the reading I have done, I am convinced of the necessity of positive human contact in our lives. We are doubly blessed when we are able to make good friends or are a part of a family where we are accepted and loved.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers tells of a time in the 1950s when Dr. Stewart Wolf met a physician who practiced in the area of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Roseto was settled by a group of Italian families from Roseto, Italy, who re-created their life again in America.

This was in the 1950s before drugs and measures to prevent heart disease became important. In their conversation the physician said, You know, Ive been practicing for 17 years. I get patients from all over, and I rarely find anyone from Roseto under the age of 65 with heart disease.

Wolf was surprised by these words as, It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.

Wolf enlisted the aid of a sociologist and friend John Bruhn to help him. They found, There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. They didnt have anyone on welfare. Then we looked at peptic ulcers. They didnt have any of those either. These people were dying of old age. Thats it.

They checked into diet, genetics and possibilities of something in the foothills of eastern Pennsylvania but nothing made sense.

What they found was that Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. (Researchers) learned about the extended family clans that underlay the towns social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What they found eventually convinced the medical establishment to look beyond the individual and understand the culture people are part of their friends, families and town they came from. They determined that the people we surround ourselves with and the values of the world we inhabit have a profound effect on who we are.

Likely, this study could have been done with other ethnicities. However, my family's experiences with the Italian families in Connecticut ring true to the study. Our hungry and growing sons, especially our youngest son, Jim, who was left home alone with two beady-eyed parents, all had some memorable experiences being fed and loved in the Cos Cob multigenerational families. Proof of the African proverb, It takes a village to raise a child.

We live in an age when the contact we have with people often is on the internet, and many of us live among strangers. Unless we make the effort to reach out, we will become isolated, especially as we age. The Rosetan study is proof that reaching out and communicating may be good for our health.
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