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You know you’re full. Close to bursting, actually. You never would have piled your plate like that on a regular day, and you certainly wouldn’t finish it off.
But it’s the holidays, and it would be rude not to try every dish, and it all tastes so good, and some of it is healthful, and what the heck — pass the pie!
Research has proven what we already know: our brains can easily override our bodies’ signals to stop eating, even when we know the consequences will be unpleasant.
We’re not even talking about obesity, heart disease, diabetes or effects of long-term, habitual overeating. This is about the short-term awfulness that can follow a high-fat, high-calorie holiday free-for-all.
There is no such thing as an average dinner, but a varied meal of 600 to 800 calories fits nicely into the 2,000-calorie daily diet referenced on nutrition labels.
But a holiday dinner can easily approach or exceed 2,000 calories by itself, especially if you dig into the appetizers before dinner and wash it all down with a couple of glasses of wine. One estimate put a typical holiday dinner as high as 4,500 calories, but that would be extremely difficult for most stomachs to stomach.
Even nutrition-conscious dieters tend to give themselves a pass at the end of the year.
How the foodfest sits with you depends on your genes, your body composition, your system’s response to certain hormones and your regular eating and exercise habits, said McDaniel.
For instance, regular exercisers who work out 12 or fewer hours before a big meal fare better than others. Their bodies tend to have a more sensitive insulin response, allowing them to more efficiently process the excess carbs, and a more robust circulatory system to weather the influx of fat circulating in blood. What can you do after the deed is done? Don’t lie down, or many of these problems may be exacerbated. Helping to clean up the post-dinner mess would be a 170-calorie-per-hour head start on recovering from the feast.
Below are some easy tips to implement to help keep those big holiday mealtime favorites healthy and tasty!
• Using coconut oil to replace butter for both stovetop cooking and baking. Coconut oil is one of the few foods that can be classified as a “superfood.” Its unique combination of fatty acids can have profound positive effects on health. This includes increasing energy to help you burn more fat, killing bacteria, viruses and fungi, helping you maintain healthy blood cholesterol levels, and increasing better function and various other amazing benefits.
• Using spices such as clove, cinnamon, and ginger in your recipes. Adding clove to recipes is easy and the benefits are numerous: reduces risk for diabetes, helps eliminate free radicals, is known for its anti-fungal properties, and eating clove leaves is good for your oral health. Cinnamon is another natural ingredient that is easy to incorporate into many dishes and drinks during the holidays. Cinnamon has outstanding antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, is good for your heart because it lowers triglycerides, increases brain function, reduces risk for developing diabetes, and has even been known to protect against Parkinson’s disease. Increasing your consumption of ginger can help you maintain normal blood circulation, improve absorption of essential nutrients, prevent cold and flu viruses, reduce pain and inflammation, fight common respiratory problems, and offer other health benefits.
• Use real ingredients for the things that you’re cooking to avoid unnecessary additives in prepackaged foods.
• Instead of bottled salad dressing, make your own dressing using citrus and olive oil.
• Add body to soups and sauces with pureed vegetables instead of heavy cream, evaporated milk, butter or cheese.
• Make your own marinade. Marinate lean meats in vinegar and citrus combos (with a bit of oil added) rather than a pre-made oil-based dressing.
• Use whole grains in baked goods instead of all-purpose flour to add fiber and nutrients.
Give your loved ones the gift of health this holiday season!
Call to find out about our Holiday Gift Packages.
352-671-3100
Ocala Chiropractic and Wellness
1701 NE 42nd Ave #403, Ocala, FL 34470
