Posted on December 01, 2023
FESTIVE TREATS, DON’T OVERINDULGE.
Category:Nutrition
Towards the end of last year, it was monumental as we oscillated from one party to another. Let’s talk about the Christmas festive season that’s around the corner again. To many people, it’s an exciting and best time of the year. It comes with getting long holidays from work, unwinding and dining with your old friends, travelling places for adventure, meeting friends and families to have moments before the New Year, gift exchanging but above all eating delicious meals cooked by your loved ones. Often, we eat and drink more than usual. Despite the different aroma overriding the surrounding from the pretty cooked food, don’t forget to take a mindful eating.
It is natural to lose track of what you’re eating or the much you’re consuming especially during seasons like this. Festive foods are bound to be heavy, spiced, greasy with high fat-content or even highly loaded with sugars. Also your usual routine of monitoring the calories consumed in a meal can fail because you’re uncomfortable and also surrounded by your relatives. Festive Season may be difficult to navigate through but don’t worry here are some simple tips to make sure you eat smartly throughout the season without any guilt!
- Practice the use of a hunger scale,
Write down in your food journal how you felt before eating that snack or food and how you felt afterwards. A hunger scale can be used from 1-10. Where 1 represents you’re very hungry and weak whereas 10 represents you’re so full and uncomfortable. Five and six represent satisfactorily full, feeling light and not very hungry.
- Practice self-care.
Always remember that just for the sake of not overeating you ought not to starve yourself. You must practice self-care and be kind to yourself. Do not make your body suffer. Starving yourself before meals will only make you overcompensate and eat even more. The key idea is to control how much you eat and enjoy the holiday treats in moderation. Do not be too strict with yourself!
- Learn to say “later” since “no” is impolite.
Often when you go visiting, the host might keep dishing up onto your plate while insisting you must eat more. If you feel you’re unable to say “no”, you can say “later” instead. This way your host might not press you to more food.
- Control your portions.
As with most diet tips, controlling your portions is one of the easiest and best hacks to staying healthy. Don’t fill up the plate not even the serving spoon all the way. Do not let your eyes be bigger than your stomach. It is rather better to eat on a small plate that makes you canny and make healthier quantities of food.
- Don’t drink – well, perhaps just one.
Alcohol has a tendency to increase your appetite. It also has a lot of calories which jeopardizes your weight management routine. Indeed, it makes you inevitably and uncontrollably out of diet. I don’t mean to be a fun-hater but it’s easier to eat healthy without alcohol! Water or less carbonated drinks can help quench your rising thirst.
- Eat slowly.
When you eat slowly, you can easily tell your stomach is full. This is because it takes some few minutes to register that you need any more food. Secondly, eating slowly can also improve your digestion. So, once you sit down with your plate this year, take time!