Surviving Christmas Day

​There is no need to panic about healthy eating come Christmas day. Believe it or not, these two things do not have to be mutually exclusive.

I am all about enjoying the food we eat, and so should you. There is nothing worse than feeling completely guilty at the end of a delicious meal with your loved ones to ruin a day.

So how can we be both healthy, but not feel deprived....

1. Don't use the day as a 'free for all' excuse to eat and eat. Still focus on listening to your bodies cues for hunger and fullness. Lets be honest, you tend to not feel that well after eating past the point of feeling full, so why do it? You actually aren't enjoying the food by that point.
   
2. Plate Model - Instead of worrying about whether the foods on offer are 'healthy', and if you should or shouldn't eat them, try to balance your meal out like the plate model. That is, 1/2 plate non-starchy vegetable dishes, 1/4 plate carbohydrate foods and 1/4 plate protein foods. This way, you can still try a bit of everything but your distribution of foods is in such a way that your getting a healthier balance.
   
3. If you do grazing platters before the meal aim to have some healthy options like vegetable sticks and hummus on there. Then walk yourself away from the grazing platter once you have had a nibble. The longer you stand in front of it, the more you will likely eat mindlessly. If you are still hungry, you can always walk back to it.
   
4. Get the family into an activity - try and incorporate some games or activity into your christmas day traditions. This might be a walk along the beach after lunch or before dinner; it could be ensuring the family gets a game at christmas like a basketball, tennis racquets, waterslide, water balloons etc and then opening and playing with these to get people moving.
   
5. Have some fresh summer fruits included in your desserts. Make most of your plate with these and then just take a small piece on whatever else is on offer (if you even want it).
   
6. If you do drink alcohol try alternating your alcoholic drinks with water. There are also some pretty tasty flavoured soda waters these days that can be a good alternative to alcohol.
   
7. The majority of food present on christmas day is able to be eaten at other times of the year if you really wanted it. You don't need to eat it like you will never see it again.

Remember it is just ONE day and our health is not determined by a single day. 

​Merry Christmas :)