5 Tricks to Avoid Extra Holiday Calories
Updated: Oct. 04, 2018
Don’t wait until the new year to work off those extra holiday calories. Avoid overeating with these simple and easy-to-follow guidelines.
1. Don’t Skip Meals
Saving space in your belly for a huge Christmas dinner is a bad way to prevent overindulging. In fact, it can have the very opposite effect. According to Canada’s Food Guide, skipping meals, which makes us extremely hungry throughout the day, only encourages us to pack in more calories when we finally sit down for a meal. Your body has become so desperate for food that you eat quicker and unknowingly take in more than you would have had you spaced out your meals throughout the day.
2. Drink Water
Drinking two glasses of water is an age-old technique to fill you up that works. Drinking two glasses of water prior to your meal means your stomach will start off more full, so you won’t feel the need to overeat.
3. Limit Meat
Canada’s Food Guide recommends that we eat no more than 75g (2-1/2 oz.) of lean meat per serving, which is about the size of a deck of cards. Then fill up on fresh legumes instead. Raw veggies are healthier and contain way less calories that meat products.
4. Put Leftovers Away Immediately
Leaving food lying around makes it far too easy to nibble on tasty leftovers after a big meal. If everyone has eaten, take your leftovers and put them away immediately. If you want to leave something on the table for your guests to snack on, try fresh fruit or nuts.
5. Eat a Healthy Dessert
The holidays almost always mean finishing off with dessert. To satisfy your sweet tooth, opt for a fresh fruit salad instead of Grandma’s homemade apple pie. Health Canada also recommends freezing yogurt in a popsicle tray over ice cream. You can also add cinnamon to your yogurt or fruit bowl for added sweetness, and less extra calories.
