Dietary advice for healthy festive eating

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Extract from the article: The festive season is a time for sharing, celebration and good cheer. But for many, it's also a great source of anxiety: the fear of putting on weight, of seeing all your efforts over the year wiped out in just a few meals. As a result, we often thin

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The festive season is a time for sharing, celebration and good cheer. But for many, it's also a great source of anxiety: the fear of putting on weight, of seeing all your efforts over the year wiped out in just a few meals. As a result, we often think we have only two options: restrict ourselves and say goodbye to pleasure. But there are ways of enjoying the festive season without putting on weight or getting into complicated situations.  Here is some dietary advice from Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo, Nutritionist-Dietician, Specialist in Clinical Nutrition and Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition, to help you eat healthily over the festive period.

It can be difficult to maintain healthy eating habits over the festive period. Here are some tips for keeping your appetite in check over the festive period.

No restrictive diets before the festive season

This is probably the most important thing you can do to keep the weight off over the festive period: « You don't go on a restrictive diet a few weeks or a few days before the festive period (in fact, you never do).Forget about detox cures, young people and other food deprivations. Depriving your body of food is the best way to ensure that it stores as much as possible for the festive season. It's also the best way to 'throw yourself into' festive meals, because frustration increases desire and destroys our ability to listen to our bodies », explains Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo, a qualified nutritionist and dietician, specialising in clinical nutrition and enteral and parenteral nutrition.

Mindful eating

« The aim is not to eat the whole meal mindfully, far from it. But to pay a little more attention to our 5 senses when we eat. At the moment, if we make you taste dishes that you're used to eating blind, chances are you won't recognise half the food », explains Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo, a qualified nutritionist and dietician.When we eat, we mainly use our eyesight and ignore our other senses. Even taste isn't used to its full potential. Eating mindfully, even just a few mouthfuls of your meal, « optimises pleasure and food satisfaction.It helps you to listen to your body and reclaim it.You get out of denial and live in the moment », says Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet 

A balanced diet is not just about eating vegetables and fruit. No, it means eating everything.For Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo, « eating a balanced diet also means varying your diet.Because even if you have a suitable plate, if you eat the same thing every day, your body is likely to suffer from deficiencies, and your diet will be monotonous and unpleasant.And if your aim is to lose weight, by eating the same thing all the time your body will get used to it and will no longer draw on its reserves to lose weight ».

A balanced diet is not « psychorigid, because it's not just a question of one meal, but of the whole day, or even the whole week. This means that if you don't have all the components of a balanced plate at one meal, it doesn't matter - you can eat them at the next meal. The aim is not to put pressure on yourself to do things perfectly, but to improve your plate, develop good habits so that you can eat everything, enjoy yourself and, above all, feel less guilty », says Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo.

Eating with food benevolence

As Sandrine Zerbo, a state-qualified nutritionist and dietician, puts it: « Good nutrition is quite simply the combination of intuitive eating and a balanced diet.The principle of food benevolence is to bring us back to the roots of eating, which are to relearn how to eat by listening to your hunger and satiety, learning to listen to your body, to respect it and to stop fighting against it, while eating a balanced diet ».

Listen to your body

We eat when we're hungry and stop when we're full.Eating to satiety means eating enough, but not too much. We all have our own appetites and the conditions under which we eat a meal, as well as the way we listen to our body's sensations, are essential to meeting your body's needs. According to the French state-approved nutritionist and dietician, « these days we're all too often in the habit of eating because it's time, rather than because we're hungry.We're also in the habit of finishing our plate without even knowing when we've finally had enough. We forget our bodies, we stop listening to them and, as a result, we stop respecting them ».

« At each meal, try to eat half of your meal normally and then, halfway through, ask yourself: am I still hungry or do I still feel like eating? », says Sandrine Zerbo

Distinguishing between hunger and craving

Do we eat because we're hungry or because we want to? Do we know if we're hungry because it's time or if we're eating in response to an emotion such as boredom, fatigue, stress, frustration or anger?  In fact, do we really know why we eat?  How can you tell hunger from craving? Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo, Specialist in Clinical Nutrition and enteral and parenteral nutrition, shows that « hunger is based on bodily sensations (hunger pangs, mood swings, irritability, intestinal pain, etc.). Craving, on the other hand, is based more on an obsession with a food.If you eat out of hunger, no problem. As far as possible, listen to your satiety and stop eating even if your plate isn't finished.If you're eating because you want to, it's even more important to activate mindfulness mode to increase pleasure and satisfaction and, if possible, stop when you feel good ».

A glass of water between two glasses of alcohol

Here's a super-easy tip that's perfect for staying well hydrated and avoiding hangovers: « Between two glasses of alcohol, have a glass of water », recommends Sandrine Zerbo. This will prevent you from feeling guilty about having « overindulged in alcohol », and above all it will help you recover better afterwards.

Avoid offsetting meals at the end of the year

How do I compensate for the calories in my meals? This is often the question most frequently asked of nutritionists during the festive season. The state-approved nutritionist and dietician answers: « By not trying to compensate: if you compensate by depriving your body of calories, it's bound to take revenge and store them. Our body has a super memory.As a result, it is able to remember that when there is a heavy meal, it will also be deprived before or after and will therefore store more during the heavy meal.A body that is not deprived has no reason to store.And you're not going to weigh yourself the day after a party.Bear in mind that if you follow the advice, even if you do gain a few grams/kilos, it will all be quickly lost in the following days ».

Learning to say no

During festive meals, you may be invited. « If you're the host, be careful: if you really want to please your guests, don't serve them again. At the very least, offer them a refill if they wish, but don't force them to do so, even unconsciously. Don't forget that your guests may not dare say no because they don't want to offend you », says Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo, Clinical Nutrition Specialist.

« If you're invited, it's important that you dare to say no if you're offered an extra slice, which may be very good, but which you don't want. Don't hesitate to give lots of compliments, even if it means asking for a portion to take home, but don't overload your poor little stomach », continues the nutritionist-dietician.

Knowing how to say no is important. Your own holiday enjoyment depends on it.

Take the guilt out of it

« The festive season is a succession of often copious meals.But you have to listen to your body, and you don't have to eat everything and leave the table on a full stomach. Even if it can happen, we can ease our guilt », says Coura Yasmine Sandrine Zerbo.

The festive season is above all a time for family, a time for pleasure, conviviality, good times, gifts, sharing, joy and love. These are precious moments. We need to enjoy our loved ones. Moments spent with them are priceless and cannot be frozen in time. Soak up every moment, just like every dish, and don't feel guilty for having enjoyed it.

Practical dietary advice

Here's some dietary advice from nutritionist Sandrine Zerbo on how to maintain a healthy weight over the festive period : Eat healthy foods in reasonable quantities in the days leading up to the festive season. This will help you feel full and limit the amount you eat during festive meals. Choose lower calorie foods for festive meals.For example, opt for grilled vegetables instead of chips.Or choose grilled fish instead of fatty meat.Drink water throughout the evening to keep hydrated.This will help you feel full.It can also help you avoid overeating. Avoid alcoholic drinks, which are very high in calories. They can make you lose control of your eating. Limit alcohol consumption or opt for non-alcoholic drinks. Pay particular attention to your plate; take the time to savour each mouthful and avoid eating too quickly. This will help you to better control your food intake. Physical activity can help you burn off the calories you've consumed over the festive period and maintain your weight. Try to exercise regularly during this period. Avoid temptation: if you know that there will be foods that tempt you, avoid putting them on your plate or opt for a small portion.

The holidays are a time for festivities. It's important to make the most of the time spent with the people you love.If you feel like eating something special, do so in moderation so that you can enjoy yourself and keep your weight down over the festive period.Have a wonderful festive season.

William O.