Nutritionist Tips To Prevent Weight Gain During Festive Season
Weight gain is a common problem during the festive season. Here are some nutritionist tips to prevent this. read on.
The festive season encourages overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. This may come as a shock to you but weight gain during festivals is a major contributor to the annual weight gain of a person and we get busy with our own schedule after these festivals that we are trying to reduce this weight. Don’t pay attention to the extra effort. Festivals promote binge eating and include high-calorie foods such as sweets and fried foods. People in India like to celebrate these festivals. The period from October to November is full of wedding season and festivals like Diwali, Dussehra and Navratri. The editorial team of OnlyMyHealth spoke to Dr. Anjali Phatak, Director Nutripulse and Senior Clinical Nutritionist, Nutriples, Jaipur about tips to prevent weight gain during the festive season.
Tips To Prevent Weight Gain During The Festive Season
Losing weight can be very difficult and time consuming. Here are some tips to help you control weight gain during such times. Apart from watching your portions, you can also make healthy food choices. You can try involving one or more of your friends to make it all the more fun and easy to follow. Here are some tips for you and if you follow these tips religiously, you will find that your weight has decreased instead of increasing.
1. Drink Plenty of Water
During this it is very important to drink plenty of water and keep yourself hydrated. Water helps regulate many important functions of the body, including metabolism. It also helps to clean and eliminate waste from the body. You can start your day by drinking two cups of warm water, as it prevents indigestion and helps in reducing belly fat.
2. Maintain Activity Levels
Keeping up with your physical activities during the festive season can be a challenge. Most people engage in some domestic chorus. You may feel tired but your level of physical activity is still not met. You should invest at least 20-30 minutes daily during these festivals. You can make your exercise fun by involving all your family members and friends. You can try dancing or just go for a brisk run.
3. Portion Control
Controlling portion sizes is a very important part of our diet. It becomes difficult to control ourselves when all our favorite food is in front of us. You can definitely eat some of it but make sure that you do justice to your hard work and diet throughout the year.
4. Protein Rich Foods
Including a protein-rich diet is a great way to satisfy your hunger. Digesting protein in the human body requires a lot of energy. You can count on vegetarian proteins like quinoa, chia seeds, beans, hempseeds and soybeans during the festive season. They provide satiety and provide good nutrition to the body. You can also include other options such as dishes made with boiled or roasted meat and eggs.
6. Eat Vegetables and Fruits
In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of festivals, sometimes we forget to pay attention to our bodies. We should not forget to include raw fruits and vegetables in our diet. They provide us with minerals and nutrients. They not only help you meet your nutritional needs but also help in building immunity. Vegetables and fruits also contain a lot of fiber which helps to keep you full for longer.
7. Do not overeat
Being busy during these festivals where we struggle to balance our work and social life, we sometimes end up compromising on our appetite. Being hungry for long periods of time can encourage binge eating. We should keep on consuming healthy foods like nuts, seeds and fruits to satisfy our hunger, so that we do not overeat. Eating for a long time usually triggers our craving and we end up eating juices which are high in salt, sugar and fat content.
8. Include Probiotics
Festivals bring a lot of treats. We must not forget to include probiotics in our diet. They also help if you have an upset stomach. You can include refreshing drinks like buttermilk, lassi, coconut water, cranberry juice and various herbal teas. These drinks will not only promote a healthy gut and hydration, but they also help in flushing out toxins from our body. Removing toxins from the body during this period will help you maintain greater immunity.
9. Limit Alcohol
Yes, it is a very important element when it comes to controlling the calorie count. Alcoholic drinks such as beer and whiskey contain a lot of calories. Even a glass of wine can disrupt your daily caloric intake. You can’t cut out completely, but you may prefer healthier alternatives such as consuming lemon-based drinks and avoiding sugar-laden mixers such as packaged juices. You can also include drinks like malvines as they are relaxing and contain spice blends which are good for our body.
10. Stress and Sleep
People are more stressed and sleep deprived during these festivals. They may be overworked or hanging out with friends late at night. You should not indulge in eating unhealthy processed foods. Lack of sleep triggers cortisol levels in our brain which triggers hunger and craving for junk food and disrupts our body’s metabolism. We should try to manage our natural biological cycle and stress levels in our body. We can practice exercise, yoga and even deep breathing to keep our stress levels under control.
11. Options
Indian sweets can be very hard to resist, and India. Festivals revolve around food and sweets. You can include these sweet substitutes in your diet, such as baked gulab jamuns. You can also replace sweets with sweets like sandesh, rasgulla as they are not fried and contain limited amount of sugar. You can also take your time making homemade sweets from nuts and seeds, using minimal sugar and using healthier alternatives like jaggery.