CHRISTMAS WEIGHT GAIN DAMAGE LIMITATION. Part 2 SLAYING THE BEAST It’s Christmas Day! Months of preparation and planning and finally the day has arrived. To other mere mortals, this day is an opportunity to revel, whole heartedly in all the festivities therein. But to the pursuers of physical perfection, this day has an entirely different agenda. David! Your Goliath awaits! Today is the day you will come face to face with your nemesis! As with any ordinary day, breakfast is always your most important meal, and under no circumstances should you skip it, particularly not today! A lesser prepared warrior may feel that leaving as much room for the inevitable Christmas Dinner confrontation is a shrewd tactic but they are mistaken. Control your hunger with slow release carbohydrates and pack some porridge. Feel free to add a dollop of plain yogurt, some satsuma segments and a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, to keep things suitably festive. Be wary of acting stubborn. Coming across as a right old Scrooge will only prove detrimental to you overall goal. Keep positive in your outlook, enjoy your day. When people get a mere whiff of bah-humbug they will make a concerted effort to offer you more food and more drink throughout the day. They’ll feel it is the best way to include you in their celebrations. Keep festive and stay under the radar. For those among us lucky enough to be able to forge our own destinies and be in charge of preparing the meal; don’t deep fry your potatoes, yes it’s quicker but each one will be a total calorie bomb! Parboil them and then brush or spray them lightly with olive oil. Don’t cook them with the meat. If cooking them in the meat tray is necessary in order to appease the masses; divide your portion to a separate roasting tray. Remember, chunky spuds absorb less oil! 15g of Turkey Skins contains 70 calories. It’s crispy, salty and ever so naughty- so leave it alone! Be strong and focus your attention on the lean white meats. There’s more protein there, so you’ll feel fuller for longer. Eat your greens! Eat all the vegetables you want. Full of fibre and packed with micro-nutrients. They are you low calorie comrade in your ongoing battle. The more veg you consume, the less room you’ll have for all those empty calories. Less haste more speed? No! Not in this instance. Speed is your enemy; it’ll disorientate your senses and leave you unaware of just how full you are. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to even realise there is eating in progress so SLOW DOWN. If you don’t give your brain and belly a chance to communicate, you’ll leave yourself susceptible to dark suggestion. Shovelling it all down in less than 20 minutes and you’ll still feel tempted to add unnecessary extras to your plate. Put down your cutlery and converse with fellow diners from time to time. What’s the rush? Eating predominantly savoury food leaves your brain with a real craving for sweet things. The Christmas Dinner knows this and tempts you with a huge portion of Christmas pudding and brandy butter! Do not succumb. Christmas pudding is an acquired taste in any case. If you don’t like it, don’t feel pressured into having it just for the sake of it. If you must have some, have a small piece, otherwise, have a fresh fruit salad and yogurt. Fruit cleanses you palette disassociating your taste buds from food, leaving you less likely to stuff a left over roastie from the baking tray, into your face! If you get to this point and you still have all your trouser buttons fully fastened and aren’t reaching for the antacids or milk of magnesia- well done weary warrior. You have managed to survive yet another festive season. After successfully negotiating the infamous post-Christmas clear-out, step on those scales and give yourself a hearty pat on the back- after you’ve washed your hands!… Filth! Congratulations! You have successfully overcome your biggest adversary and have come up looking absolutely no worse for wear. If however, you found yourself fully seduced by the charms of Santa; don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s important not to let a little indiscretion spiral out of control. Pick yourself up, dust off that sage and onion beard and work even harder to reach your goal in 2015 Merry Christmas!
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 11:41:42 +0000