Holiday Bingeing.. How to avoid weight gain

HOLIDAY SEASON= TIMES OF JOY, celebrations, parties, huge holiday feasts with family and friends, and let’s not forget, HOLIDAY TREATS GALORE!!
Gaining some weight during the holiday season – equals almost inevitable if not careful!
In this blog, I’m going to share with you some tips on how to avoid gaining excess weight during the holiday season, and how to maintain any hard-earned progress you may have already made, without completely depriving yourself.

What actually causes the Holiday Weight Gain?
Stating the obvious without being too complex, a couple of reasons one may gain weight during holiday periods are, “consistent overindulging”, (especially of high processed, sugary food and drink), and not being active, (living sedentary lifestyles).

This doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself, because who or what would that be good for? There is no fun in the festivity if you only allow yourself to watch from a distance. But, if you consistently go way above your daily needs for maintenance, (especially sugary, processed foods) you will, evidently gain weight.
That being said, one must remember that just a small percentage of the weight gained during the holidays is actually fat.
You also gain:
● Muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbs)
● Water
● Food weight

So keeping this in mind – Don’t get your knickers in a knot over a few kilos gained.
Just make sure you create long-term habits!

Feed Your Soul
It can become overwhelming with constant new fad diets, all claiming to make you lose weight fast. But you’re almost always focusing on what you can’t have, have to have, counting and weighing, or drinking something horrible. And at the end of it all, most of the time even more weight comes back, and even faster than you lost it. You become miserable from depriving yourself of a happy balance. There is a tendency for this type of person to fall so seriously into diets and nutrition plans that their entire perspective on food is warped.
This kind of behaviour, or relationship with food, may cause one to be worried about overeating for a couple of days during the holidays.
However, if you give your soul some more food than what your body needs and you are mentally okay with that and don’t feel guilt, you can, in fact…
Leverage The Binge!
Yes, that’s right – use the indulgence as leverage. Think of the binge as an abundance of energy to stay active over the holidays.When you are actively out in nature, it does amazing things for your happy hormones, and your soul. This makes you less likely to binge on junk food.

Tips For Controlling The Holiday Binge

If you have issues with self-control, bingeing while on holidays can get seriously out of hand…
True this may be, there are ways to manage your cravings!
Check out these tips below
● Eat a diversity of vegetables
The human stomach was made to digest almost anything and everything, but nevertheless, the nutrients in wholefoods are essential for our cell health, and ultimately our overall well being.
Different nutrients get chemically digested in different parts of the digestive system, and delivered to different areas of the body, feeding every cell in your body to maintain normal, healthy function.
For this reason, eating a variety of colourful vegetables, and fruit each meal, may help to improve overall digestion and gut health. Plus, your microbiome loves diversity. This is how we thrive.

Simply – Whatever holiday food you are eating, make sure to back it up with a colourful plate of wholefoods. Try a new vegetable that you’ve never had, or haven’t had for a while.
● Take the time to chew your food slowly to help with digestion, as that will ease the work of your stomach and liver.

● Eat plenty of protein, good fats and resistant starch (complex carbs)
If you want to avoid overeating, you NEED to be satiated so you are less likely to think about food.
This is possible, but only through quality proteins and fats, mainly from animal sources.
Even though animal sources do provide proteins and fats that are satiating… something even more satiating, that produces a more lasting elevation in energy is……

● Cold Potatoes!
Yes, you heard it here first – If the festive dinner table has potatoes to offer, don’t be afraid to add them to your plate. However, cold potatoes are what make them a complex carb, so let them cool down and eat them cold. In doing so, you will increase satiety, (as they digest more slowly than simple carbs) , raise blood glucose levels producing longer lasting energy, and increase insulin sensitivity, decrease the hunger producing hormones, and make you far less likely to overeat and gain excess weight as an end result.
● Spend time in the sun and in nature
Especially if you have a sedentary lifestyle, a desk job, or working from a home office. It is absolutely essential that you make the time and effort to get out into nature. This is how we get a lot of our essential vitamins and minerals. It is also how some of our happy hormones are produced. This is why grounding is said to uplift any mood. And it is true…. It really does. Next time you are feeling depressed, anxious, or lacking motivation, push yourself a little, to get out in nature. Take your shoes off and connect to the earth. I guarantee your mood will lift, even if only a bit.
When you are feeling more grounded, you are happier, which leads to more energy, which leads to being more active. Turning this into a healthy habit, will help to reduce the chances of holiday weight gain.

To Sum It All Up
Managing your holiday eating habits doesn’t have to be difficult, nor do you have to gain excess weight.
Just remember to stay active, stay mindful, don’t deprive yourself, eat lots of colourful wholefoods, get outside and smell the roses, be joyous and in good spirits. If you happen to eat more food than normal – Don’t feel guilty! Use that energy!