Introduction
Holiday overeating is an almost inevitable consequence of the tradition of filling the festive table with diverse, high-calorie dishes. The pleasure of savoring appetizing dishes is temporary, but the effects of overindulgence remain long-term.
Consumption of various foods during the holiday season is not just a harmless indulgence but a real threat to health.
Indigestion, flatulence, and abdominal distension are three immediate symptoms of overeating, which can cause marked physical discomfort[1].
Moreover, studies show that large festive meals significantly increase the risk of heart attacks[2], biliary crisis, or dangerous dizziness.
The number of calories ingested at a single festive holiday meal can reach 4500 calories and 229 grams of fat, which can translate into an avalanche of food the body is forced to manage.
This explains the alarming increase in cases of indigestion, food poisoning, and other emergencies of this type recorded by hospitals around the holidays.
When the brain feels an excess of food intake, the intestinal system secretes a hormone that causes nausea.
However, this natural self-protection mechanism can be triggered with delay, increasing the risk of various physiological problems already mentioned.
If you want to avoid indigestion this year as much as possible and the few pounds gained in record time over the holidays, choose a smarter strategy to enjoy the goodies of Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Check out this list of best healthy holiday tips and tricks gathered in this article.
9 Healthy Tips For The Holiday Season
Avoiding overeating is a psychological challenge, so the strategy should initially start with a well-developed mental plan that leads to appropriate behavior. Stay relaxed and fit this Christmas with these healthy holiday tips.
1. Eat In Moderation
One mistake many people make starts with an unrealistic premise, whereby they forbid themselves to eat appetizing food to avoid an eating disorder with consequences already experienced in the past years.
From a psychological point of view, deprivation of favorite foods leads to even greater vulnerability to overeating, with temptation increasing in direct proportion to the inversion of discipline[3].
This is one of the best healthy Christmas tips: eat everything in moderation! Tasting a little of your favorite food and limiting your food intake through self-control eliminates the risk of committing food abuse and is a comfortable compromise for the psyche and digestible for the body.
2. Be Aware Of The Effects Of The Food Consumed
Eating too much or too little are relative terms, which can mean different things to different people. And not infrequently, a seemingly easy-to-digest dish hides a discrete calorie-laden face. To avoid this pitfall, choose your favorite holiday dishes and look for nutritional information about them.
Healthy Tips For The Holiday Season: know how much of certain festive dishes to consume to keep your digestive health intact. You might be amazed at how much fat and sugar a single slice of pie can provide!
3. Prepare The Body Beforehand
Another way you can avoid the negative effects of holiday overeating is to prepare your body before the lavish feast you are about to partake in (sometimes it is difficult to refuse your host’s pleas for another slice of cake).
Healthy Holiday Tips And Tricks from nutritionists:
- Reduce your daily calorie intake by about 100 kcal 3-5 days before the big meal.
- Do more exercise beforehand, moderately increasing the physical effort you normally exert.
4. Try The 50% Rule At The Restaurant
Among our top healthy holiday tips, we give you the 50% rule at the restaurant. This strategy can also be applied to the rest of the year, to keep your body weight in ideal parameters.
If you are going to eat out for Christmas or New Year’s Eve, try dividing the portion on your plate in half so that you can eat one part immediately and the other part you can take home to go or share with another person.
You will be surprised to find that only 50% of what you have been served in a restaurant is more than enough to satisfy your appetite and you will better understand why you have felt bad in the past when you finish all the food on your plate.
5. Keep Away From Non-Stop Snacking
With many bowls of snacks around at a holiday party, it can be difficult to carefully control how much you eat during the feast.
Healthy Christmas Tips to stay on track:
- Put all the appetizers and snacks on a separate plate before enjoying them, then move away from the buffet or the area where they are located.
- Concentrate on conversations with the other people at the table instead of focusing on the food.
- Don’t forget to limit alcohol consumption and drink plenty of water between meals!
6. Choose The Right Drinks
Many types of drinks can contain at least as many calories as an aperitif or a main course[4]. Avoid drinking different alcoholic cocktails, sweet wine, fizzy juices, or mixed fruit juices. Combined with the calories from foods, drinks add up to significant caloric excess.
Healthy Holiday Tips to stay sober:
- Make it a rule not to consume alcohol on an empty stomach, as it will be quickly absorbed by the body and will significantly increase your appetite.
- Before drinking a glass of wine, eat a small snack rich in protein (nuts, peanuts, cheese, salmon, etc.), which will help reduce the rate of alcohol absorption.
7. Relax And Have Some Real Fun
Remember that the holidays aren’t just about eating. Enjoy the presents, the atmosphere, the TV shows, the decorations, the carols, and the family traditions. Only when you look at the holidays as 10 days to indulge in all your food pleasures are you really in danger.
Healthy Tips For The Holiday Season for a get-together at home:
- Plan to visit your friends and relatives so you don’t get bored.
- Play cards or rummy after lunch, decorate the tree, go for a walk on Christmas Day, or play with the kids.
8. Don’t Forget To Move
Movement is essential for maintaining optimal health. Studies show that most people tend to add in some additional pounds during the wintertime celebrations[5].
Check out these healthy holiday tips and tricks to stay fit:
- Run for 15 minutes and you’ll use up everything you added to your Christmas meal!
- Try not to give up your exercise routine completely even if you are very busy. It’s better to reduce the duration or frequency than not do them at all.
- Do light exercise throughout the day to burn calories without wasting a lot of time all at once.
- Enjoy your Christmas shopping, knowing that you’re burning a lot of calories. Easy walks consume 300 calories per hour.
- If it snows, go for a walk or play in the snow. Go skiing or skating, make a snowman, it will burn a lot of calories.
9. Avoid Stress
According to the American Psychological Association, stress is one of the main reasons for eating too much or too often during the holidays.
This year, reflect upon one of our healthy holiday tips: Managing stress by accepting it as part of your life. If you think you don’t have to stress, you’ll be worse off. And don’t expect others to be perfect.
The perfect Christmas only exists in movies, created by directors and models, probably in August! Real families fight, burn food, have relatives who fall asleep snoring in front of the TV, and the tree isn’t exactly perfect.
Don’t burden yourself with things that don’t matter. You can’t create perfect memories, the memories that remain are from spontaneous events when you feel good. So do the best you can with the time and energy you have and put aside the guilt of not being Wonder Woman or Superman. Relax and enjoy every moment.
Take into consideration these healthy tips for the holiday season and you’ll have a more peaceful Christmas!
Conclusion
Make up your mind this holiday, no matter what occurred in the past, you should maintain your weight. Have a positive, determined attitude.
Start practicing these healthy holiday tips to stay in shape and make it a point to have fun every day but stick to your goals.
Imagine how good you’ll feel when you see that you haven’t gained any weight towards the end of the year and you can continue your diet.
