Guilt Free feasting
Wow, as I sat down to write this I realised we’ve been contributing to Society for a year now! It’s great to be able to share our knowledge and experience, so thank you Society Team.
Now, it won’t have escaped your notice that it’s that time of year again, and after the last couple of Christmases it’s no surprise everyone is getting in on the festive active early. Back over in the UK we saw mince pies and Christmas puddings on the shelves in September. By the time you’re reading this we’ll be in the final run up to Christmas and delicious temptations will be everywhere. So, we thought it would be useful to give you some guidance on enjoying the festive period without getting the gift no one wants - a larger waistline…
The popular myth is that the average person piles on five to seven pounds of weight over the festive holidays, but a more scientific approach found that in fact the average weight gain was a far more negligible pound, give or take.
What tends to happen is that combination of rich foods we don’t normally eat, alcohol and far too much sugar leaves us feeling bloated and out of sorts as our digestion and insulin levels are disrupted.
Sugar is high in calories, highly addictive (once we have some we crave more) and consuming even moderate amounts regularly can lead to you becoming more insulin resistant (meaning you’re more prone to laying down body fat), and it’s inflammatory in the body.
The problem is, it’s in everything, particularly our festive food and drink. One example are the festive drinks big coffee chains offer. They’re delicious, but some have more calories than a portion of Christmas pudding! As for the sugar… the Starbuck’s Toffee Nut and Egg Nog lattes contain a whopping 32 grams each, that’s around 8 teaspoons and already over your total daily recommended allowance.
So, tip one is to check the sugar in your food, aim to minimise it, and keep these festive hot beverages to a minimum.
As a guide anything over 21.5% sugar is considered a high sugar food, anything less than 5% is low sugar, and we should aim not to consume more than around 24 grams a day total for women and 36 grams a day for men.
Let’s talk about the obvious festive treat, booze. A large proportion of most alcoholic drinks is sugar, mixers too. Alcohol also disrupts our metabolism as our body favours metabolising the alcohol as a priority over food. Aside from that the alcohol also makes us crave salty and sugary carbohydrates, during drinking (as it stimulates our hunger hormone grehlin (I always refer to it as the hunger gremlin!) and when we’re recovering the next day.
With that in mind aim for beverages lower in sugar: dry white wines, dry sparkling wines, clear spirits with diet tonic or soda water with a squeeze of lime all have less calories and less sugar than beers and cocktails. There are also now some great low and no alcohol spirits on the market, which give you the taste without the downsides. Of course cerveza sin is available everywhere too.
Another tip is to moderate your eating on the days when you’re not celebrating. A Christmas morning breakfast, followed by traditional lunch, plus snacks, drinks, chocolates and left overs is going to put you in a massive calorie surplus for the day. Rebalance by dropping your calories the day before and after so that your lessening the impact of that overindulgence on your waist line.
The penultimate tip is this: don’t neglect your movement. It’s so easy to sit around during this time but we’re fortunate to live in this wonderful climate. Get out and go for walks, if you’re daring enough take a swim, if you’re into the gym, do some short workouts.
You’ll feel lots better for it and if you do let yourself sit around, you could well add more than that average pound.
A final word, remember to enjoy yourself, it’s only once a year after all. Merry Christmas!
Top Tips
Watch the sugar
Moderate alcohol and try low and no alcohol alternatives
Balance your calories out by moderating either side of splurge days
Get outside and move your body
Have fun!