How To Make Healthy Decisions Over The Festive Period
Christmas and New Years are pretty much synonymous with food. Tins of biscuits, boxes of sweets, and cheese boards and crackers line the cupboards and fridges of Ireland from December 1st it would seem.
This excess of food in your home, plus the endless amounts of Christmas and New Year’s parties makes for inescapable eating and drinking, (sure how could you resist the canapes and mulled wine?!) makes it easy to pile on a few pounds.
Whilst there’s nothing wrong with a little gain over the festive period (it’s somewhat expected), there are ways you can prevent any potential gain that’ll affect your health and lifestyle:
Start At The Beginning
Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Over the holiday season it’s important to get in a wholesome, healthy breakfast. If you’re heading into work, there’ll usually be a tin of festive sweets or biscuits hanging about, or a coworker brandishing some form of homemade baked good. These can be tempting, but with a full belly from your breakfast it’ll be easier to resist temptation!
Keep a Cap on Your Alcohol Intake
Alcohol is full of empty calories, so at Christmas time when alcohol seems to be on a constant flow it’s important to be conscious of your intake. People often adopt the attitude of skipping meals in order to consume more alcohol. However, alcohol does not contain any of the nutrients offered by food. Thus making this method null and void as you are only going to gain weight from over consumption of alcohol.
Stay Hydrated
Keeping in theme with party season, whilst it’s always important to stay hydrated all year round, with parties and flowing alcohol keeping your water levels topped up is even more important. Break up drinks with a glass of water, and if you are particularly conscious of gaining weight over christmas, don’t mix your alcohol with sugary drinks.
Reduce Snacking Opportunities
Christmas and leftovers go hand in hand, making snacking very easy. If you’re one to wander to the fridge in search of snacks due to boredom, it’s important to adopt an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude. When finished with any meals, wrap up your leftovers and hide them. Might sound extreme, but we’ve probably all found ourselves picking at the Christmas ham at midnight when it’s just been left on a shelf in the fridge. If you’re a keen snacker, it might be wise to hide your leftovers from yourself!
Beware of the Buffet
A lot of Christmas and New Years do’s tend to have a buffet laden with foods that aren’t too kind on our waistlines. When navigating the buffet, fill at least half your plate with any fruit and veggies on offer in order to reduce any over indulgence!