FOOD TIPS FOR CHRISTMAS
One of the main problems during these parties is the increase in palatability in food. Consuming more hyper-palatable foods, including ultra-processed such as typical Christmas sweets, is a risk to our health and performance goals.
What we can do?
1. Enjoy, but with control! It is not necessary to obsess, parties have to be enjoyed (but with head always). On days with special meals or dinners, do not forbid yourself to eat some chocolate, polvorón or nougat. Now, that does not mean eating 10 of each. The fact of knowing how to enjoy things in their proper measure is precisely that, it has to be something sporadic and controlled.
2. Do not prolong parties! It is important to know how to say not only HOW MUCH, but also WHEN. In special meals you can make some hatch, eat some sweets… but in those meals! What we cannot do is being from day 24 to day 6 eating sweets as if every day were a celebration. Enjoy those extra appetizers just enough and only on the special days.
3. Do not over buy! We all know (and many of us include ourselves) people who, from the 24th to the 6th, their house looks like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. But just enough for people you will share the important meals with. Moreover, the ideal is that you buy it the day closest to the party. A good idea is that each assistant brings something to the party and then takes it away instead that only one person buys everything.
*At Christmas we also find another problem apart from sweets, and it is usually the excess of food. At those days, due to various factors, our satiety mechanisms are altered. This means that our body will not warn the brain to say that we are already full, and, therefore, we will overeat. Options?
4. Prioritize protein! An interesting way to eat less is to include protein as a first course in our meals. This will ensure that you have a good protein intake during these holidays when carbohydrates and fate are usually more abundant. In addition, protein is very satiating, so you will fill up more before you get to next dishes and therefore, you will eat less.
5. Do not cheat by going to meals hungry! Many people do not eat anything to arrive hungry to celebrations and devastate. It may work in some cases, but in most cases will not. Remember that satiety takes a while to arrive. If you are hungry and there are very palatable foods, you will surely end up overeating before you are satiated. It is better to eat something before in order not to arrive starved and devastate as the Cookie Monster.
6. Eat slowly! As we have said, satiety takes a while to arrive. Imagine if you also eat fast (which usually happens if we are in company and talking). By chewing food well before swallowing it, you will give your satiety mechanism time to activate and give you the necessary stop so that, in the case you continue eating, you will do it due to gluttony. Learn to enjoy food, savour it, and chew it well.
7. Say no! The moment you are full and want to continue eating, that will be for gluttony. At that time, you must learn to say that up to here, no more. The same when a family member or friend insists you: if you think that you have already eaten enough, stop. It is not mandatory to eat everything that is on the table, everything that you have bought or everything that others have brought.
8. Behave on the days you do not celebrate. The days that are not celebrations, focus on quality, take the opportunity to eat healthier. Moreover, although today we focus on food, we should also mention the importance of moving and training. Even if you reduce the frequency and/or the volume, even you slow down a bit, train, but above all, move.