Christmas Party Eating Tips🎄

With the holidays coming up, it can be a very hard time for those who are trying to keep fit! Especially during parties with foods that you can never resist! In fact, with just some dietary knowledge, maintaining weight during this season can be easy!

Don’t Starve Yourself Before Party

It is common knowledge that party foods are in general higher in calories. So many people try to reduce their intake beforehand, or even skip meals. This actually makes portion control even more difficult. With the consumption of more high calorie food, overall energy intake will very likely increase. The best way is to just eat normally, or take some fruit before going to a party, so as to prevent binge-eating.

Prioritize High Fibre & High Protein Foods

The order of food intake also affects satiety. Foods rich in fibre and protein can reduce stomach emptying, giving us more satiety. It is recommended to eat seafood, roasted turkey and salad first, or drinking some hot soup, and then foods like pasta, pizza and cake etc. You will find yourself more easily controlling the portion.

Choose Your Drinks Wisely

• Always choose sugar free or drinks with low calories such as lemon tea , lemonade and coffee.
• If drinking alcohol, the World Health Organization suggests to limit to 2 drinks or less in one day for men, and 1 drink or less in a day for women. (*1 drink = 280ml beer/ 125ml red & white wine/ 25ml spirit).
• Also follow these 2 rules for alcohol.
  • Avoid those with sugar. For example cocktails, fruit wines with juice in it and umeshu. Apart from calories from alcohol, it gives you calories from sugar as well. 150ml of umeshu contains nearly 300 kcal. Wine, champagne and beer does not contain sugar, thus being relatively low in calories.
  • Choose those with lower alcohol concentration. Every 1g of alcohol contains 7 kcal. Higher the alcohol concentration, higher the calorie. So beer is relatively low-kcal than wine. It will be even better if you drink non-alcoholic beer.

Organize More Outdoor Activities

To keep fit, you may choose to increase your expenditure rather than reduce your intake. As current epidemic prevention measures become less tight, you may consider going for a picnic or barbecue. You can choose your own food and exercise more. There are some country parks with hiking and cycling trails suitable for some exercise after meal.