The Christmas holidays are a real challenge for those who are following a diet or for those who simply do not want to gain more weight. But, how to enjoy family gatherings, business dinners and hangouts with friends without having to find three extra kilos in January? Do you sacrifice and give it all up or do you blow off steam by stuffing yourself and forwarding the date with the scale to the New Year?
How to control anxiety and not gain weight at Christmas
For many people, family gatherings are a time of stress. Families are an important field of energy and people who are also pure energy move in that system. When these energies are in conflict, you perceive a physical discomfort that may be signaling an emotional discomfort. The psychologist Edi Salvadori gives us some tips to relax before and during Christmas gatherings :
Before leaving home, take a deep breath to rebalance body, mind, spirit and emotions. It is a very old method that will help you relax and perceive negative stimuli less.
It also helps to do an hour of sports or yoga before lunch, to empty your mind and get rid of stress. Stress can affect your metabolism and fluid retention, so less stress is better for your body.
If at any point during the meal you feel threatened or under pressure, go to a quiet place for a few minutes, sit down, relax your legs and arms and focus on your breathing, drawing the air through your chest and diaphragm and imagining push the air down. You must feel the breath that enters, expands and leaves to lower the level of anxiety and emotional stress.
How to control the urge to eat at Christmas
If you are following a regimen, it is better to abandon it during the three or four days of the holidays than to have to follow it to the letter with a lot of frustration. This clearly does not mean forgetting a healthy diet during the 15 days between the holidays: during the week try to follow your diet or your usual eating style, eat a lot of vegetables and drink a lot of water to purify the body.
From here, Marta Acarida from the Barcelona Nutritionists center and collaborator of Manzanaroja , gives us 10 tips for not gaining weight at Christmas:
Do not leave home fasting , you run the risk of starting to snack on chips and chorizo waiting for dinner to start. Make a healthy snack, for example, an apple or yogurt and drink an infusion to relax, so you will arrive at dinner time without being too hungry.
Choose a strategic place, away from the buffet. If you stand there to chat, you might eat a lot without even realizing it. But if that is the position you have chosen, our advice is to get a small plate and fill it with healthy food such as vegetables, anchovies, salmon or ham. Finally, never try to stop your desire to snack on something because in the end the only thing you can achieve is that, after a while, you throw yourself fully into all the dishes.
Chew slowly , you will eat less and digestion will be much better. This advice is not only applicable on these Christmas dates, but you should do it whenever you sit down in front of a plate of food.
Control the portions: the ideal dish is made up of a half portion of vegetables, 1 quarter of protein and 1 quarter of cereals. Also, avoid repeating and enjoy that dessert that you love, but try to take a small piece. The secret is to eat a little of everything, without overdoing it.
Be careful with the seasonings! If you like salmon, avoid butter. In general, choose less greasy dishes or try to drain excess fat. Opt for seafood and/or fish dishes, reduce the portions of meat that are usually fattier and opt for sea bream or turkey instead.
The champagne, carefully . A glass of wine or champagne provides between 70 and 80 calories and hardly any nutrients. Between one glass and another, drink water, it is a very effective method to feel more satiated and eliminate toxins.
Try to live those moments intensely. When you eat, don’t talk, and when you talk, don’t eat! Are you hungry? Sit down and eat calmly, enjoying those delicacies. And while you talk, enjoy the conversation, looking into the eyes of your family member or friend. The memory of that night will be much more satisfying and without regrets.
Don’t keep leftovers from dinner at home if you’re the hostess. Do a good deed: give them away to a soup kitchen and thus avoid having another binge the next day.
During the party, move! Don’t sit all the time, get up and socialize with the other guests, even strangers. Focus on people more than food. Do you know that with only 17 steps you reactivate your circulation? And if you dance, dance until the end! Movement will help you burn calories, making it easier to keep the weight off.
Treat yourself! It is totally normal to give yourself some “excess” like having a little nougat, eating a portion of roscoe, but the most important thing is to pay attention to what you eat. To limit sweets, eat more fruit or push dessert time away for snack time and remember “fasting the day after is not a solution.”
Now you have all the tools to enjoy Christmas without feeling guilty and without gaining weight. The rules are relaxation, socializing and eating a bit of everything without going overboard.
