Binge eating at Christmas is as normal as being anxious at an interview for a desperately needed job. It takes a lot of discipline and self-restraint not to go on a spree of binge eating at Christmas.
The most susceptible days to gorging yourself with food at this period are these three days: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
So once every year, we are presented with three whole days of just stuffing ourselves silly with the variety of foods on offer.
And if you are from a large family, the food available would even be more varied. That translates into one thing: you’d have more dishes to chose from.
This yuletide, since I noticed some bits of unnecessary fats popping up in parts of my body, I decided to do some pre-Christmas stuff; this is to accommodate the large amount of food that would surely pass through my mouth over those 3 days.
First of all, I decided to increase my daily exercise routine to include intense aerobics to burn off excess fats.
Secondly, I decided to drastically cut down on my food intake one week prior to Christmas. So in the past one week, I have being subsisting only on breakfast.
However, experts warn that if you are intent on binge eating at Christmas, going on a diet is not such a hot idea. Because you might be tempted to over-eat to compensate for the days you starved yourself prior to Christmas.
So to avoid binge eating at Christmas, here are some workable strategies to follow.
Healthy breakfasts
Though I have already mentioned it, it is worth repeating that never skipping on your normal healthy breakfast is important during the Christmas period.
It is normal to want to avoid eating breakfast when there are so many things to eat home. But sticking to your regular breakfast routine would ensure the urge to start eating all sorts of Christmas goodies is minimized.
Eat a little of everything
The temptation to binge eating at Christmas becomes huge if you are faced with a lavish buffet of your favourite foods.
The dumb thing to do is to fill your plate with one food. Eat it up and then go back and try a different kind of food and so on.
The smart thing to do is to take just a small amount of the various foods your love at once. Just make sure you don’t heap your plate.
Again, just take small bit of your favourite foods. That way you get to eat all the things you love without over-doing it.
Low calorie foods
With low calorie foods, Binge eating on Christmas is allowed. That is, if the foods you are going to sent to your stomach are those ones low on calories.
We are talking veggies here mostly. Things like salads, coleslaw, fruits and the likes are the prime candidates.
If you love foods like that, you can eat as much as you like. Though you have to be careful not to consume too much of those processed cream dressings added to salads.
Too much creams might defeat your purpose; that is apart from possibly giving you stomach cramps the next day.
Drinks
Drinking at Christmas is hard to avoid. Whether it is alcoholic or just carbonated drinks, people consume a lot of them at Christmas.
I guess by now you don’t need anybody to tell you that taking too much carbonated or energy drinks are not good for your health.
As for those who prefer alcohol, taking too much at Christmas is also bad for you. Think of all the calories you’d be adding to your body with all those beers.
However, you can mitigate the effects of the drinks by drinking as much water as possible.
With a belly filled with water, you’d have little motivation to drink so much. And besides, water would help clean up your system after the binge eating you indulged in.
Go out from time to time
With so much food at home, the temptation to stay indoors and watch your favourite movies all day while eating these foods is high.
So it is a smart idea to leave the house and go somewhere. Visiting family and friends might expose you to more foods, but then, it is likely you won’t eat as much.
When you leave the house though, you can just stroll around the neighborhood taking in the sights and sounds with your partner, or go to some amusement park to see how others are spending Christmas and join in the fun if possible.
Exercises
If you are an exercise buff like me, you might find it difficult to stick to your routine at Christmas time.
This is the period to stick to your schedule as much as possible no matter how busy you think you are. After all, your exercise routine doesn’t take more than an hour of your time I am sure.
The benefits of exercises at this time cannot be stated enough. Even if you fail to do some of the things above to mitigate the effects of binge eating at Christmas, at least exercises would help you check any unwanted weight gain.
In the final analysis, adding on extra weight in a few days of mindless eating is what we are trying to avoid.
So just keep this in mind as you head into Christmas: binge eating at Christmas would have serious consequences on your weight and ultimately, your health.
Do tell us how you intend to avoid binge eating at Christmas in the comment section below. We would really love to know about your proven strategies.
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MERRY CHRISTMAS!
