How To Have A Healthy Christmas
The festive season is upon us and that can sometimes mean overindulgence. There are even more tempting and delicious treat foods around at this time of year and it can be challenging to strike a balance between enjoying these foods and having a healthy lifestyle. My aim today is to provide you with some tips that might make your Christmas parties a little easier to navigate.
-Your goal over Christmas should be to maintain weight rather than to lose weight. If you are committed to looking after your health over Christmas, you need to be prepared to say no to an extra slice of cake or glass of champagne. This isn't always an easy task but if you prepare yourself mentally it can help.
- Before going to your Christmas party, have a healthy snack or small meal. This will help you resist the urge to eat all of the snacks that come out before the main meal. Choose foods that will fill you up like some unsalted nuts or a piece of fruit.
-If you are going to have a treat make sure it is something you really enjoy. Take the time to appreciate the flavour. No need to feel guilty afterwards, just ensure you choose healthy foods for the rest of the day.
-Continue to exercise over the Christmas period. This will help to balance out any extra kilojoules you have eaten.
-Drink alcohol responsibly. Liquid kilojoules are easily consumed. Try to alternate your alcoholic beverages with water. You might find it helpful to decide how many drinks you are going to have at the function before you arrive, that way you can spread your drinks throughout the night. The Australian Alcohol Guidelines suggest men should limit their alcohol consumption to no more than 6 alcoholic beverages on any 1 day. The recommendations for females is no more than 4 alcoholic beverages on any 1 day (click here for more information).
-Avoid sugar sweetened drinks like juice and soft drinks. These are packed with sugar and can easily tip you over your kilojoule budget for the day. As an alternative try adding fruit to soda water or brewing your own ice tea.
-If you are in charge of bringing a dish to the Christmas party, why not make it a healthy one. You will be doing everyone a favour to keep their waist lines from expanding.
-When filling your plate, portion it out so that you have 1/2 a plate of vegetables, 1/4 plate of meat and 1/4 plate of grains (rice, pasta) or potato.
Don't let one unhealthy meal ruin your week! If you overindulge simply let it go and get back on track with some healthy foods at the next meal time.
Enjoy your weekend!
Bridge
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