Fun, good cheer, and food are essential components to any good holiday party but it’s important to keep things in perspective when facing an enticing smörgåsbord. Holiday get-togethers, work parties, and family events might tempt you to throw caution and healthy eating to the wind but indigestion, heart burn, and a food coma are all symptoms of a food hangover, which can cause severe regret the next day.
Don’t worry – this article isn’t an homage to the benefits of Tofurky or encouragement to miss out on holiday fun. Instead, here are some tips to help you navigate the tricky road between feeling full and feeling regretful so you can take care of what matters most: your health.
- Drink lots of water before and after holiday parties. A glass or two of water before eating can help control the urge to overeat. Afterwards, with heightened levels of salt, fats, and sugar in your body, water can help keep your gastrointestinal tract healthy. Holiday meals often also involve holiday drinks, so water is also important to avoid dehydration.
- Don’t starve to stuff yourself. Avoiding food all day in preparation for stuffing your face at a holiday event later that day often leads to out of control hunger and the inability to decipher when enough is enough. If you do foresee yourself over-indulging, eat light meals throughout the day that contain plenty of vegetables and fiber.
- Remember your food groups while filling your plate. Sometimes it’s easy to beeline for the carbs, sauces, and desserts at the buffet, but these foods don’t always help you feel full. Vegetables and protein are extremely important to your diet so save some room on your plate for them – they’ll also help you feel full so you can re-consider a second (or third!) helping.
- Don’t spoil your dinner during small talk! People tend to congregate around a bowl of pre-dinner snacks or the after-dinner dessert spread, which leads to continuous snacking during small-talk. So try to mingle away from the food and don’t despair: the good stuff is usually served as the main meal anyway!
- Treat holiday parties as opportunities to dine out. If you have three holiday meals booked for one week, then pretend like they’re trips to a restaurant and use your nights off from social events as a reason to cook and eat at home. This will save you money and plenty of calories.
- Avoid stacking your plate. If the food table is a mile long and every square inch is covered with something delectable, think strategically about what you want to eat. Try to create a single layer of food on your plate as opposed to creating your own version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You’re more likely to make rational decisions about seconds after finishing your first plate rather than trying to conquer a mountain of food in one sitting.
- Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s the holidays and you’ve earned your relaxation and tasty treats. Just make sure you have your antacids in easy reach!
