Portion control, hydration and smarter food choices can make all the difference.
You made a commitment to yourself at the beginning 2025 that you’ll maintain a healthy diet until the last day the year.
Remember those New Year’s resolutions?
Or perhaps you are on a mission to shed weight for one or other reason.
But the festive season is upon us and all sorts of tempting smells are in the air.
It’s getting harder to resist indulgence as aromas of braais, baked goods, saucy curries and fried cuisine invade your senses.
But it’s doable, says clinical dietitian Tsholofelo Molapise, the founder of Tsholofelo Dietetic Consults.
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Set goals and control your portions
Set realistic and wholesome goals for yourself, Molapise advises.
“This includes having less processed food such as confectionery items – like cakes and other flour-based foods – and fewer alcoholic beverages.”
And while it might be difficult to completely stay away from traditional calorie-dense festive meals, portion control may be your best bet.
One of the best techniques to control portions at social or family gatherings is to start populating your plate with salads when dishing up.
“It will help fill up the plate before the greasy meats and heavy carbohydrate dishes,” Molapise tells The Citizen.
And if you are going to indulge in dessert, Molapise advises following it with water to stay full and curb further cravings.
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Distractions from over-eating and healthier alternatives
The festive season is exactly what the name suggests – a time for celebration.
Molapise says during this time the feel-good hormone, dopamine, and the love hormone, oxytocin, are usually elevated due to the presence of family and friends.
It’s easier to overeat during this time, but one of the ways to avoid this is by keeping busy.
Helping to set the table and prepare the food will keep you busy and distracted from food consumption, Molapise says.
Involving children in things like baking also helps as this is a big activity that will bring constructive distraction from over-eating.
If you’ll be hosting lunches or dinners over this period, planning your meals ahead of time may be your best option.
“Plan meals that are healthier, like salads, experimenting with different raw and cooked vegetables to put in the salads,” she says.
“Make sure that 70% of the planned meals are salads; it will make the festive table setting look more beautiful and colourful.”
Molapise suggests including broccoli salads, pasta salads, coleslaw, three bean salads, rice with vegetables and Greek salad with white cheese such as cottage or feta.
And for dessert, fruit cakes may be the way to go.
Emotional eating and childhood traumas
Hunger cues are harder to identify when eating in a social context, Molapise says, and it’s important to avoid emotional or stress eating.
“Sometimes our childhood memories of food may seem to hinder our senses. It all boils down to portion control whilst not feeling deprived and understanding that scarcity mindset is only temporary.”
Molapise says it’s also important to understand the link between childhood favourite foods and traditional foods.
Having an unhealed child inside of you and the trauma attached needs the assistance of a psychologist.
“Otherwise, you’re trying to fill a void that that is trauma-related with food, which will mostly lead to unhealthy food habits.”
Complex carbs and lean proteins
Molapise advises prioritising food with complex carbohydrates and lean proteins – which will sustain you for longer – such as baked potatoes with the skin and grilled chicken or fish.
And if you find yourself over-indulging, you can support recovery by eating protein rich foods to help regenerate and build new cells.
“These include lean proteins such as chicken breasts, tofu, beans and tuna.”
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Alcohol
It may come as a relief to may that alcohol is not ruled out completely.
If you are going to be indulging in “adult juice”, rather opt for clear spirits such as vodka and gin, Molapise says.
“They are less harmful than draft beers and ciders.”
But again, moderation is key.
According to the World Health Organisation’s Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.
“The only thing that we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful it is – or, in other words, the less you drink, the safer it is,” Ferreira-Borges says.
The uncontested healthier alternative will always be water.
As daily habits, Molapise suggests drinking a litre of distilled, herbal or warm water to help awaken your digestive system and curb any unhealthy sugar cravings.
And to get back on track after overindulging the previous day, drink two litres of water before midday, she says.
Other tips:
- Focus on high protein foods to help activate satiety and curb sugar cravings
- Deworm to get rid of intestinal worms that are known to need sugar to survive
- Drink three to two litres of water throughout the day to manage stress factors
