Festive food … feminine figure
It is that time of the year again…
Year-end functions Christmas parties, Holiday munchies…
All these can make it fairly difficult to eat healthily and stay in shape or to loose weight during the festive season.
While most of our New Years’ resolutions were forgotten about 11 months ago, it is not too late to at least end the year on a HEALTHIER NOTE and then start 2019 RENEWED instead of trying to literally squeeze into your work attire after the holidays.
A few guidelines:
- Aim to have SMALL frequent meals (about 2 hours apart) throughout the day. This will prevent you from becoming over-hungry which leads to over-eating.
- Keep well hydrated with MORE water & LESS sweet drinks (e.g. cold drinks, juice, alcoholic beverages)
- Don’t deprive yourself. If you feel like having ice cream or any other treat, have only a LITTLE of it, or SHARE it.
- Always make sure that you are NOT STARVING when going to a function. Have a fruit or small yogurt before you leave home to PREVENT yourself from over-eating or making “irresponsible decisions”.
- Physical activity. Do fun physical activities with your family, e.g. cycling, hiking, playing on the beach, etc.
- FRESH FOOD. What is more CONVENIENT, REFRESHING AND NUTRITIOUS than fresh fruit, nuts, low fat cheeses and crisp salad? Especially with such a wide variety of SUMMER fruits. It is not necessary to fill your picnic basket with cardboard and lettuce leaves, but it is advisable to pack something from each food group and keep food as fresh and in its natural form as possible. The following table can serve as a guide for healthy picnic ideas:
| Fruit and vegetables | Carbohydrates | Meat / Protein |
| Fresh fruit chunks or kebabs
Cherry tomatoes Fresh Gherkins Mini corn Sugar snap peas Baby carrots Avo dip
|
Boiled baby potatoes
Crackerbread Provitas Home made popcorn Low GI seeded bread Sweetcorn on the cob
|
Low fat cottage cheese
Low fat cheese Tinned fish, e.g tuna Left-over cooked chicken and roast meat Raw nuts Three bean salad Mini crustless quiches Boiled eggs |
And most important of all, remember to ENJOY the FESTIVE SEASON!
Contributor: Melissa Ludick – Dietician