#FitU with Phindi Gule: Healthy Diet options for the festive season
The festive season is upon us and for most people, their diet goes out the window. During this time of the year, overindulgence is a norm. During this week’s edition of #FitU, listen as I talk about how one can eat and drink whilst still being conscious of a healthy eating plan.
Christmas drinks, office parties, end-of-year farewells, and family get-togethers fill our December calendar. It's a time to connect with family and friends and there's food in abundance whether it's finger foods, buffets or those deadly Christmas gifts like chocolate.
The festive season is hardly a time to be trying to shed excess kilos. Be realistic. A more achievable goal is to keep your weight stable over the festive season and simply not put on any.
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So while no one can eat healthily during the festive season, I've come up with 5 tips to help you not end up looking like Santa by the end of 2017.
1. Limit the pig outs!
Keep those wildly-overindulgent days to a minimum, say three days – the day you finish up at work, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. After all, you still need to have fun.
2. Be selective
Eat, drink and be wary at those Christmas temptations. Decide what you absolutely must have and what you can leave out. Don't use it as an excuse to eat as much as you can or get 'your money's worth'.
READ: FitU with Phindi Gule: Staying Healthy during the holidays
3. Avoid too much alcohol
Alcohol is packed with kilojoules (calories) and loosens your inhibitions, so you eat things you normally wouldn't like party pies or fried onion rings.
Dilute wine and spirits with ice and mineral water, order light beer instead of full-strength, or intersperse a juice or sparkling mineral water between regular drinks.
Don't forget the non-alcoholic options – sparkling mineral water, non-alcoholic punch, lime and soda, and iced tea. Have these if you're the host.
And have something to eat before you drink to slow the absorption of alcohol into your system.
4. Keep moving
Keep up your exercise to counter the food. Visit the gym (usually half-empty at this time of year), take up swimming or go for a brisk walk after dinner in the cool of the evening. Walk the dog and try to get enough sleep.
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5. Don't eat your way through two big meals a day
Unless you are an iron man in training, it's a sure way to pile on the weight. If you must attend two functions, eat lightly or skip a course.