Anupama Menon
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With the holidays in tow, the highlight for many during this season is gathering with family and friends and enjoying your favorite holiday treats. Cookies, candied jams, and pies can often be found at every turn when attending holiday festivities. Here are some tips that will help you to enjoy your holiday to the fullest while not increasing your waistline.
Eat Before Heading Out
First, it is best that you eat something before heading out to visits, trips or family dinners. By doing so, you will no longer be tempted to eat a lot or overindulge since you have already eaten. Skipping meals is not a good idea either, because you will only be forced to eat more later, by force of hunger, not by will. And when at the party, you can still have your salads, a wee bit of protein and lime water.
Plan which parties you want to let yourself go, pick 2-3 occasions and then stick to your decision to stay good otherwise. You behave and your body behaves!!
Avoid Skipping Meals
Don’t skip meals, especially breakfast! Even though it can be tempting to skip certain meals, believing that it will make up for the treats you consumed the previous day. This effort will merely be counterproductive yielding no real results. Skipping meals have no make-up value!!
Drink In Moderation
It is best to regulate alcohol and areated drinks or packaged juices as these will just add empty calories to the ones you have already consumed!
Be Active
Let your fitness routine be your festive partner! Find time for exercise, and if you don’t, simply walk more. Park your car some distance away from the store or just use the stairs!
Set Realistic Goals
The idea is to not gain any weight. You may have worked hard on your exercise and food to look and feel better and to enjoy the season ever some more! The effort hence should be to not throw the blanket on your insistent efforts of the past few months. So don’t aim to lose weight, just persevere to maintain the numbers on the scale!
Similarly, do not aim to over exercise. At a busy time even ½ hour to 40 minutes a day proves to be a useful tool to off-set the extra calories consumed.
Enjoy Yourself
Also make sure to set realistic food consumption rules! Trying to restrain yourself totally from some rich and heart desiring foods will only make you crave more and finally give in. Feel free to enjoy the treats that you really love, but in moderate portions.
Drink A Lot Of Water
Water can satiate your appetite, improve your digestion and keep you hydrated at all times. Vegetable infusions (water infused with amla/cucumber/lime/mint) are great thirst quenchers and also may help to keep the body in an alkaline state if had regularly.
Eat Less And More Often
Distribute your meals evenly throughout the day, and do not eat everything at once. Instead of having 2 enormous meals, have 5 small ones. Eat your dinner early (before 7:30pm) and allow a good 2 hours of tummy rest before you hit the sack
Enjoy What You Eat
Enjoy what you eat! During the festive season we tend to eat excessively in a short span of time and land up feeling too full, uncomfortable and bloated. Eat what you love slowly and chew thoroughly. This will keep a check on your food portions and prevent overeating.
Soup is a great hunger-buster. Make it your mid-morning and/or mid afternoon snack of choice instead of coffee/tea and a cookie.
Fruit yoghurts are bursting with sugar. ½ a cup yoghurt with cut fruit (and a few nuts or seeds) make for a great snack!
Almond milk, coconut water, smoothies must replace fizzy drinks!
A multi vitamin and mineral supplement is a good shout out, especially at this time of the year.
Festivities add a zing to life, do not be afraid to eat during these seasons. Practice moderations, it’s a life skill that will always stand you in good stead!
