Skip to: Main Navigation | Main Content
or try the A-Z Library
Your health goals don't have to take a mortal blow at Christmas. Here's some tips to get you through.
Festive eating can be brutal on our bodies
Skip to: Main Navigation | Main Content
or try the A-Z Library
Your health goals don't have to take a mortal blow at Christmas. Here's some tips to get you through.
Festive eating can be brutal on our bodies. But with a bit of know-how, you can survive the holiday season without tossing all your health goals out the window. You might even be able to hang on to something resembling a waistline.
We all know how easy it is at Christmas to stuff ourselves with lunch, only to find our hand reaching towards an enormous box of chocolates half an hour later. But have you ever wondered if such a bout of overeating can increase your appetite levels for good?
In the short-term, our bodies are good at reducing our appetites when we overindulge, says weight loss researcher Associate Professor Amanda Sainsbury-Salis.
"But in the long-term, research from animals shows that if you keep overeating, and you ignore those signals that make you want to eat less … you can change your brain so you do want to keep overeating."
Our response to a hormone called leptin is thought to be to blame, says Salisbury-Salis, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Leptin is released by fat cells in our body and normally regulates appetite and metabolism.
Research on rats however, suggests that after several weeks of gluttony our brains can start to become resistant to leptin tipping us into an overeating spiral. But happily the effects seem reversible. So as long as your festive eating doesn't persist for weeks or months, you should be able to get your appetite back in check.
In other good news, a US study showed people put on much less weight over the festive period than previously believed 0.5kg compared with the 2.3kg often cited.
But there is a sting in the tail. When they followed the study participants for the rest of the year, the researchers found this extra weight was never lost, and would probably compound every year.
If you don't want this to happen to you, be sure to do some extra activity to compensate for your period of indulgence. Backyard cricket anyone?
Wine often plays a part in Christmas celebrations, but when you check the bottle for tasting notes also take a look at the wine's 'percentage of alcohol by volume'.
The alcohol content of wine has been steadily increasing in Australia since the late 1980s, Australian researchers say, because winemakers have used more "highly ripened fruit" to improve the wine's flavour. But this practice means more alcohol is produced during fermentation.
Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia last month, researchers estimated that the total average alcohol content of all wine had risen from 11.4 per cent to 12.7 per cent over the ten years from 1998-99 to 2008-09.
That means it's easier than ever to unwittingly consume the four or more standard drinks that even as a one-off put you at significantly increased risk of injury or accident related to alcohol. (And of course each drinking occasion contributes to the lifetime risk of alcohol-related injury and disease.)
And watch out for low-carb beers; they might contain fewer kilojoules than a standard brew, but another Australian study has shown the alcohol content is usually the same.
While plenty of households these days are opting for a lighter salad and seafood Christmas lunch, there are easy ways to slash the kilojoule content of even a traditional festive feast, says nutrition expert Associate Professor Jennifer Keogh:
"There are opportunities for people to still have a traditional choice but make it healthier," says Keogh, from the University of South Australia.
Of course the perennial Christmas question is what do you do with all those leftovers? Experts advise any perishable food be put in the fridge and used within two to three days.
But not all leftovers should be kept. When deciding whether to chuck that creamy dip that's been on the table all afternoon, a good rule of thumb is "two-four-out".