Make Christmas Feasting Great Again.

Did you know that holiday feasting is a major contributor to annual excess weight gain!? So much for those new year resolutions!

Many of us love bingeing on delicious roast dinners and drinking alcohol as we bustle around with family, but who wants to become sluggish and put on a few extra pounds these holidays? Nobody? Thought so.

So how can you optimise your holiday intake? Well first of all don’t let the feasting make you feel guilty! And don’t go on a diet!

Can science tell us how to save our waistlines while eating as much as we want? I think the answer is yes. Fasting before feeding is a well studied, valid strategy for weight maintenance and fat loss.

Here’s a few tips to keep those extra pounds at bay this holiday season.

1. If feasting for lunch, eat protein for breakfast: Eating protein early in the day will reduce the amount of calories you consume when you eat freely later in the day.
2. If feasting for dinner, skip breakfast and lunch: If you skip two meals that you’d normally eat, you are unlikely to make up for the skipped meals and unlikely your daily total intake will exceed your daily requirements
3. If feasting all day, plan a fast day (<500kcal): It is unlikely you will make up for the energy you skipped on the days you feast, the body doesn’t keep track of undulating caloric deficits very well, you’ll be less hungry doing this than if you go on a long diet after Christmas.
4. Drink 500ml+ of water right before each meal: This is called the ‘water trick’ and it is a tried and true hunger suppressor. It triggers the stretch reflex in the stomach which sends signals to your brain to reduce hunger. Drinking extra water is not just good for satiety, but also has nootropic effects! Staying hydrated is important for both waistline and brain.
5. Sip Matcha Green Tea: This will provide lots of green tea catechins, which will help control your hunger levels, and help offset the metabolic damage of eating lots of fat and sugar by boosting antioxidant capacity.
6. Go for a 10 minutes walk after eating: This will direct blood away from your guts and towards your muscles, slowing glucose uptake and decreasing peak blood sugar and making you feel less sleepy

Here’s an example of my week ahead:

1. Wednesday: Fasting day (<500kcal).
2. Thursday: Eat normally.
3. Friday: Skip breakfast and lunch, feast for dinner.
4. Saturday: Fruit smoothie, some walnuts and protein scramble breakfast, feast for lunch, eat lean protein leftovers for dinner.
5. Sunday: Christmas Day feast, eat as much as I like!
6. Monday: Back to normal!

Using evidence-based strategies we can stop the holiday weight gain and keep our brains in tip-top shape.

Be happy and stay healthy peeps 😀

— Adam, Research & Product Development at Hapi.