Beware: The Christmas Bulge

It is silly season and eat-as-much-as-you-can month, with back-to back parties, celebrations, year-end functions, public holidays and beach days.

But one week into the holiday, many enthusiastic eaters start resembling Santa Claus with protruding bellies and round chubby cheeks.

Here are some tips to survive the festive season and fit into your jeans in January.
1. Always eat protein with carbs.
Protein which is made of amino acids, makes the digestive environment more acidic and slows down the breakdown of carbohydrates, making you feel fuller longer.
2. Add lemon juice and vinegar.
Cider vinegar increases the acidity level of food – by adding lemon juice (citric acid) you can lower the glycaemic load (GL) of your meal. Adding vinegar (acetic acid) to your meal will also result in fewer high blood sugar spikes.
Adding lemon juice or vinegar while cooking, reduces the formation of ‘anti-glycation end-products’ (AGEs), which is the harmful oxidant compounds formed when food is cooked.
3. Load up on soluble fibre and chew properly
Soluble fibre is found in oatmeal, oat cereal, lentils, apples, oranges, pears, oat bran, strawberries, nuts, flaxseeds, beans, dried peas, blueberries, cucumbers, celery and carrots. Soluble fibre fill you up longer, and lower the GL of a meal.
Eat slowly and chew your food well. You will feel content sooner and eat less.
4. Wait 20 minutes before eating dessert.
This allows your ‘appestat’ internal appetite gauge to kick in, which may stop you from overdoing it. Go for a stroll in the garden after your main meal, then have your dessert.
This helps to stabilise blood sugar levels and if you eat immediately after exercise, your body burns it off faster.
5. Guerrilla tactics for eating out.
Don’t arrive at your dinner function starved and indulge in unhealthy snacks because you are hungry.
Have a healthy, fibre-rich snack before you go out to curb cravings. Rather snack on olives. Hydroxytyrosol, an extract from olives, is a powerful antioxidant with anti-inflammatory agents.
6. Drink ‘dry’ and limit juice.
Sweetened soft drinks and fruit juices cause weight gain and diabetes risk. This is because fructose, while low-GL, rapidly converts into fat if taken in excess.
For alcohol, choose the driest drinks – for example, a dry red or white wine or champagne. If you don’t like wine or champagne, then clearer spirits like vodka, gin and whiskey are also lower in calories, if you drink it with a tonic, water or soda water as a mixer.