Let’s admit it; Christmas nutrition has always been a nightmare for health enthusiasts.
Trying to eat healthy foods during Christmas can be extremely hard. There is so much sugar-filled food to eat. The time between Halloween and New Year’s Eve is the bane of everyone trying to follow a healthy diet.
How can you even resist all those delicacies? Can you even enjoy Christmas without indulging your sweet tooth?
Resisting all those urges can be very difficult, and it can detract from the overall fun and what Christmas is supposed to be about.
However, it isn’t impossible to have some fun without ruining all the hard work you’ve been doing to maintain a healthy diet.
If you plan out things beforehand and set up realistic goals and expectations, you’ll be able to have a lovely Christmas while still eating healthy and delicious food!
Additionally, you can use this period to exercise even more.
You can circumvent the issue of eating sugary delicacies by exercising and burning any excess calories, so you don’t gain too much weight. For this, I highly recommend cardio exercises, such as running.
In this Christmas nutrition guide, we’ll give you 20 health tips on how you can maintain a healthy weight without during Christmas. Without further ado, let us take a look at what you can do.
Christmas Nutrition: At Christmas Parties
Whether you’re going to a sit-down family dinner or full-on buffet-style office parties, any Christmas season gathering is bound to be full of tempting foods and delicious dishes and snacks.
Such a display of delicious food in such abundance can make even the calmest and collected people weak at their knees.
Eat Before Heading Out
While you might think that skipping meals is a good way to help you reserve calories, more often than not, it ends up having the opposite effect. By starving yourself during the day, you’re much more likely to overeat.
We recommend eating breakfast and lunch, so you don’t find yourself starving by the time dinner time comes.
Eating a light snack just before you go to a social gathering will help you eat less.
Some parties might not have a full meal.
If that’s the case, it would be better to eat a healthy dinner beforehand that’s full of protein so you wouldn’t fall into the trap of eating finger food and ruining your diet.
Consider the Different Options
It’s smart to scout out your options when it comes to the foods put on offer. Make sure you know the healthy options and avoid your biggest weaknesses.
Plan out your evening accordingly and try to eat low-calorie foods such as fruits, vegetables, and salsa.
Remember, No Grazing
Grazing can easily lead to you overeating and gaining weight. Make sure to eat protein-full foods, so you don’t fill yourself with high-calorie foods that don’t satiate you.
Another tip is if you’re in a buffet or bust, make sure you fill your plate and step away from the table as soon as you have what you need. The longer you stay there, the harder it will become to resist grazing.
You can also use smaller plates so you limit your serving size and make it even harder to overeat since you won’t be able to fit too much on your plate (well, without having everyone weirdly look at you, that is).
The Slower, The Better
Eating slowly not only prevents you from choking on your food, but it can also be a very effective way to eat less.
That is because your brain only gets the signal that you’re full after 20 minutes of eating. By eating slower, you’ll find yourself having eaten less by the time your brain will have gotten the signal.
Savoring every bite of your food and appreciating it is a smart and simple way to avoid overeating.
Brew Your Own Health Food
If you find an opportunity to contribute to the buffet with a dish, make sure you bring your favorite healthy food.
Homemade food is always better and healthier than processed food.
In buffets, healthy foods can be quite refreshing among the endless sea of high-calorie foods and finger foods in general.
Beware of Booze
Alcoholic drinks are notorious sources of empty calories. They’re among the most detrimental beverages in any diet out there.
The most prominent beverages at Christmas are probably Courvoisier punches. Make sure you avoid them and keep yourself in check.
Indulging in alcoholic beverages not only nets you empty calories but increases your likelihood of overeating by removing your inhibitions.
Decide About Dessert
Dessert is inevitable. You can’t really avoid it. In most cases, it’s the focal point of the food experience, the climax, and the inescapable conclusion to the meal.
Make sure you don’t eat overly sugary foods and try sticking to low-calorie vegetables and broth-base soups, which will give you more breathing room when it comes to eating dessert.
End with a Mint
Mint and gum are very effective at limiting your appetite. By eating a mint, you’re much less likely to eat afterward.
Make sure you end your meal with a mint not only to freshen your breath but also to mark the end of your meal.
Keep Your Distance
Keeping your distance and making sure the food is not within your hand’s reach can help you resist overeating.
Don’t stay close to the table, or your appetite will get the best of you, and you’ll find yourself reaching for food nonstop.
Dance and Move Around
Moving and dancing can be a great way to burn some of those extra calories you’re bound to have eaten during dinner. In fact, taking walks in between dinner and dessert can help a lot.
Christmas Nutrition: On the Home Front
Christmas parties aren’t the only place where you might betray your healthy diet. During the Christmas season, you need to always be on guard.
There are many foods and new temptations that come with Christmas, and you need to keep yourself in check.
Here’s how you can keep your Christmas nutrition healthy at home:
Choose Your Indulgences
Make sure you don’t have any unhealthy foods or guilty culinary pleasures lying around, so you don’t find yourself chipping away at them at your weakest moments.
Cutting down on unhealthy foods can help you maintain a healthy weight during the Christmas season.
Christmas Nutrition: Bakers Beware
There are so many Christmas themed delicacies and recipes that you can prepare.
Make sure you share whatever you cook with your friends, family, neighbors, coworker, etc., while keeping a day’s worth of treats for yourself.
Keep Energizers on You
You might find yourself running more errands than usual. It can be hard to free up the time to eat a proper meal or refill your energy.
By keeping a bag of dried fruit or nuts, you can keep your energy levels up while you’re busy.
Eat a Lot of Fruits and Vegetables
Adding fruits (such as bananas and oranges) and vegetables to your plate is a great way of adding a unique flavor to your dish and eating healthy food.
They will also sustain you for longer and will keep your overeating urges at bay.
Do Not Skip Meals
There seems to be a common misconception that skipping meals is a good way of reserving calories.
This is a common and dangerous mistake since it almost always leads to overeating come dinner time.
There’s also the fact that you’ll spend your day feeling drained. Make sure you have a healthy breakfast and lunch.
Keep Track of Your Sugar Intake
It’s easy to forget yourself and take a deep dive into those sweet treats. Cookies, chocolate, pies, etc.
Overindulging in those treats can destroy all that you have worked for during the year and will not do you any favors in the long term. More likely than not, you will have regretted eating all those sweets.
While Christmas has many sweet treats and delicious foods, you need to be mindful of how much you eat, so don’t gain excess weight.
Enjoy Dessert, But Not Too Much
This is similar to the last tip. However, desserts, even at home, are notorious for how much sugary treats they have.
From cakes and chocolate to pies and cookies, they have it all. Feel free to enjoy your dessert, but make sure you don’t lose yourself and overeat.
Christmas Nutrition: Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated is an important part of your Christmas Nutrition diet plan. Drink water to maintain your energy levels. In some cases, dehydration can lead to you eating more, which can be detrimental to your diet.
Don’t Fall into a Food Coma
While it can be hard to overpower that feeling, the hardest part is always getting up. Once you get up, go for a short walk to reinvigorate yourself. Taking 15-minute walks helps with stabilizing blood sugar levels and easing digestion.
Christmas Nutrition: Don’t Feel Guilty!
One of the most dangerous traps you can fall into is guilt, while following your Christmas Nutrition diet plan.
If you happen to eat more than what you had planned during the holiday, don’t feel too bad about it.
Beating yourself over it won’t help you fix anything and is more likely to lure you into a vicious cycle that will probably end up with you gaining more weight.
If you feel like you’ve eaten too much during the holiday, do more exercise to make up for the extra calories you consumed, and be happy that you enjoyed those foods instead of feeling guilty.