How to Have a Light Day Eating After Too Many Social Outings

With the holiday season in full swing, chances are you’ve woken up a day or two recently and felt like you to have exaggerated things a bit on the food and wine front.

Although we are taught not to skip meals or even breakfast, when we have eaten too much there is nothing wrong with eating lightly for a day or two to give your body a chance to process. the extra calories you consumed.

The key is knowing which are the best nutrient-dense options to focus on when you know your belly might be taking a break.

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Swap a meal

Eating light does not mean eating as little as possible. Instead, enjoying a vegetable-based meal or two will not only give you a healthy dose of essential nutrients and dietary fiber, but will also significantly reduce your calorie intake.

Think a bowl of fruit or vegetable juice for breakfast, a salad or soup for lunch, or a plant-based meal like a vegetable stir-fry or roasted vegetable salad for dinner.

Eating light does not mean eating as little as possible.

Simply adding a vegetable-rich entrée, such as a broth-style soup, before a meal has also been shown to be an easy way to reduce meal size and calorie intake without strict diets or calorie restriction.

Know Your Light Superfoods

When trying to eat light, the good news is that there are a myriad of nutrients that are nutrient-dense, but low-calorie. superfoods that you can still enjoy while maintaining a low-calorie day. Shrimp and shellfish, popcorn, rye and corn crackers, cottage cheese, plain yoghurt, berries and salad greens are all exceptionally low in calories and can be eaten as snacks or meals lightweight when your tummy needs a break.

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Focus on the fluid

If you’ve been eating out a lot and drinking a lot more alcohol, chances are you’re dehydrated. This means that a day or two of avoiding alcohol and other diuretics like coffee and energy drinks will go a long way to rehydrating you and giving your body a change to restore its fluid balance.

Consider at least a few liters of fluid from tea, water, kombucha, vegetable juices, and many high water content fruits and vegetables such as celery, cucumber, melon, and berries.

it will help reduce bloating and relieve fatigue and dryness that are common when alcohol consumption has been much higher than usual.

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Gather with your hunger

It may seem relatively basic, but it can be easy to eat our meals each day on automatic cue rather than waiting until we are really hungry to eat a meal. This means that after a few days of high calorie meals, there is no need to worry if you are not hungry for your next meal and you skip it or push it back a few hours until that you really feel hungry.

Eating when we are not hungry ends up promoting overeating in the long run.

Extend overnight fast

There are a number of benefits associated with reducing the number of daily hours we consume calories. It appears that a longer fast during the night, in particular at least 10 hours or not 12 or 14 hours, helps to better regulate the hormones that control fat metabolism. This means that after a few days of higher calorie intake, simply waiting 12-14 hours before consuming a major meal is an easy way to control your calorie intake throughout the vacation period.

Move a lot more

Often we feel heavy and sluggish after a period of heavy eating because we move much less at the same time. One of the easiest ways to buffer higher calorie eating periods is to move a lot more, especially after eating.

This means that a brisk 20-30 minute walk at the right time two or three times a day throughout the holiday season will go a long way in keeping your digestive system working efficiently, ridding the body of excess liquid and reduce the experience. bloating and digestive discomfort that are common after heavy meals and loads of alcohol.

Author Susie Burrel is a leading Australian dietitian and nutritionist, founder of shape meco-host of The nutritional couch podcast and prominent media spokesperson, with regular appearances in print and television commenting on all areas of diet, weight loss and nutrition.

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