Christmas Eve meals, New Year’s Day meals, reunion meals with family and friends… The winter holidays are approaching and there are many opportunities to (over)eat! How do you stay reasonable at the table and not break down by overeating during these family gatherings?
Here’s a dietitian’s tip to avoid overeating
To avoid feeling heavy and bloated at the end of these meals, an American dietitian, Shelley Balls, reveals a simple tip, in an article for the magazine Eating Well. Instead of skipping a meal, she recommends eating well.
“When you skip breakfast or lunch in anticipation of a big dinner, you end up feeling hungry and setting yourself up to overeat” she explains.
On the contrary, she recommends starting your day with a complete and balanced diet. “It’s the best strategy to avoid overeating during the next big meal and to provide you with the nutrients you need to stay healthy all day.” she still assures.
What to have during this breakfast?
According to the expert, it is therefore essential to focus on a healthy and balanced breakfast, composed of proteins, fiber and healthy fats. Shelley Balls recommends Greek yogurt, eggs or a smoothie, for example, for protein. For healthy fats, the right choice will be to take avocado or salmon and for fiber, wholemeal bread.
“This meal will help you control your hunger and stabilize your blood sugar” adds the dietitian. “It will also help you make healthier choices during the holiday meal”.
Conversely, going there hungry makes cravings easier. “Eating regularly helps control the hunger signals sent by your body. If you skip meals, you risk overeating when food becomes available. Likewise, saving room for a big meal (by eating too little at the previous meal) makes you feel too hungry when it’s time to eat. You risk swallowing your bites faster than usual and ignoring the satiety signals sent by your body..
Don’t forget to hydrate well
Finally, the expert’s last tip is to hydrate yourself, in order to recognize hunger signals. “Thirst can be confused with the feeling of hunger” explains Shelley Balls. “Symptoms of dehydration include headaches, fatigue, dizziness and difficulty concentrating, all of which resemble symptoms of hunger.”
If you don’t know if you’re hungry or thirsty, she reveals one last tip. “Drink a 250ml glass of water and wait 15 minutes” she explains. “This will let you know if you were just thirsty or really hungry.”