9 Healthy Eating Tips To Make Festive Feasting Healthy, This Year!
Special foods lovingly prepared for family and friends are an essential element of every joyful occasion. People get together over food, and no celebration is complete without it. Is the guilt of overindulgence stopping you from savoring this season festivity? If you whispered yes, here's a complete guide help you feast with eat foods that drinks this festive season. Read on...
A diverse diet is mandatory to maintain a healthy gut microbiome. A high-fiber diet consisting of fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains in particular affects the type and amount of microbiota in the intestines. So, this festive season, indulge in the foods of festivals with a diverse diet including protein, carbohydrate, fats, and fiber. Simply make deliberate decisions to maintain the balance.
How to Eat Right During the Festive Season?
Don’t fret over festival feasts, all you need is to make the right choices to eat and enjoy the festivity without any guilt. We have jotted a few tips to help you make healthy feasting choices:
1) Drink Water and Not soda
Drink plenty of water to detoxify your system and stop indigestion. More toxins will be flushed out if you drink more water. Avoid sugar-sweetened beverages; choose to have water over alcohol, punch, soft drinks and fruit juice. Don't drink your calories is a straightforward tip to follow if you want to reduce your calorie consumption.
Drinking a couple glasses of water instead of a bottle of soda, juice, or an alcoholic beverage is always the right choice. Flavor your water with a few slices of cucumber or any fruit like apples or oranges with a dice of chopped mint leaves instead grabbing a cocktail.
2) Choose Healthy, Wholesome Snack Alternatives
Festivities call for special dishes. But, as a healthier option, favorite recipes can be made healthier by making small changes like substituting fruit salad for a sweet dish, preparing brown rice instead of white, and use jaggery instead of white sugar to sweeten your desserts. If you are the host, serve healthier options like vegetable chop sticks and dips, fruit salad, and fruit kebabs instead of high-calorie food.
Meat and fish are frequently served as the main meal at dinner gatherings. Salmon and mackerel, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids and beneficial for the heart, are examples of fatty fish that you may add in your dinner. Fatty fish are meals that help you burn fat.
If you are the host, suggest more wholesome options. Serve veggies first. Consume fiber-rich carbs like whole-grain bread and brown rice.
3) Control Your Portion Size
During festivities, people tend to overindulge. It might be difficult to fully forego sweets and savory dishes when friends and family ask you to events. Hence, when it comes to consuming your favorite festival foods, moderation is crucial. Portion management might assist you in limiting your calorie consumption. Fill the dish with smaller servings and avoid refilling it.
4) Avoid Fried and Processed Food Options
A little bit of fried food will not cause any harm. Limitation and finding balance are the keys. Make sure the oil isn't reused for frying; use traditional home ghee or a fresh batch of olive oil each time. Avoid meals and sauces that are processed, packaged, or rich in salt.
You have no control over how much salt, sugar, and fat are in processed foods, but you do have control over what you buy. Examining food labels may help you pick between processed foods and keep track of the fat, salt, and sugar amounts.
5) Keep Alcohol Intake in Limits
Alcohol is frequently present at every social gathering and celebration. You may feel compelled to drink at social events around the holidays, but it is OK to reject without offering a reason. At times when you can’t resist, reduce the amount of alcohol you consume over the holiday period. Choose versions of your favourite drinks that contain less alcohol, such as light beer, a low-alcohol-content wine, or create a wine spritzer using half wine, half mineral water.
6) Practice Mindful Eating
Festivals might cause you to eat out frequently. Always eat a moderate-sized meal before going out to avoid overindulging while eating out. Also, before stepping out, make sure you've consumed a sufficient quantity of fiber and protein.
7) Don't Stress or Fret Over Get-Together Gossips
Keeping up with the holiday commitments may be tough as it involves shopping, house cleaning, decorations, and special meal preparation. With stress, cortisol hormone is secreted. Chronically elevated cortisol levels have been associated with increased food intake. Furthermore, a stressed lifestyle may increase desires for junk food. Hence, it's critical to manage stress in general, especially over the holidays, when you may be busy and surrounded by harmful foods. There are several strategies that can assist you relieve stress like exercise, meditation, yoga, and deep breathing.
8) Don’t Skip Your Workouts
You must exercise to maintain your energy and develop your resistance to illnesses. Increase your physical activity to help balance off the surplus energy consumed during festival season. Increasing your physical activity, such as walking, cleaning, dancing, and running, as well as participating in some sports, would be a great method to burn off some of those extra kilojoules gained.
9) Take a Good Night Sleep
Sleep deprivation, which is typical during the holidays, may cause weight gain. Sleep deprivation not only raises hunger hormone levels, resulting in increased calorie consumption, but also affects the body’s metabolism. The result is unused energy is stored in the body as “fat”. Additionally, insufficient sleep can lead to a rise in the hormones cortisol and insulin, both of which promote the accumulation of fat. Hence, if you are having plenty of late-night parties, make sure that you do make up for lost sleep by napping and resting for at least 7 hours a day.
Conclusion
Festivals give us the opportunity for social interaction and to celebrate with our loved ones. With celebration, there is always chances of overindulgence. Hence, it is important to hydrate and sleep well, which in turn help your digestive system. Including probiotic-rich foods such as yoghurt and fermented rice, as well as high-protein and fiber foods that limit your weight gain. Exercise and limit alcohol intake to enjoy the festival season with zero guilt.
You can consult our healthcare Specialist at Ask a Doctor, 24x7 and discuss weight loss management such as calorie reduction through good meal planning, increased physical activity, counselling, and prescription medications.
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Disclaimer: Information provided on this page is not intended to substitute for proper medical advice provided by your healthcare professional. This is only for informational purposes.
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