Mission (impossible) possible: how not to overeat during the May holidays and what to do if you already overeat?

An almost impossible battle to win – you and the food at a festive feast. Together with nutritionist and clinical nutritionist Anna Ivashkevich, we share tips to help you emerge victorious from this game and not overeat. And if you have already eaten – this will help relieve heaviness in the stomach.

Anna Ivashkevich

Why do we overeat during the holidays?

Since childhood, we have associated holidays with those that we are allowed to eat without restrictions. The table is often brimming with a variety of dishes and we like to try everything at once. Earlier, on holidays, they were buying the scarce and wanted to eat with these products a few months in advance. That is why birthdays, New Years, May holidays were always looked forward to. When else can you have a bowl of Russian salad, barbecue, or a whole pan of pancakes these days?

In fact, no one forbids us to eat the same meals every day. We can make a small amount of Russian salad, stew meat, or bake pancakes, but when we give ourselves the attitude that it can only be eaten on a holiday, a breakdown occurs. After all, you need to eat as much as possible, because then it will be inaccessible. Such an attitude to food cannot be called healthy. We can’t even imagine how people in Japan or Italy feed themselves during the holidays. This is because people are allowed to eat their favorite food whenever they want, not just once a year.

5 tips to avoid overeating at the holiday table

In order not to regret an extra piece of barbecue or cake at the end of the evening, feel a heaviness in your stomach and try to follow a few rules:

– Do not come to the banquet hungry. It is not necessary to eat in advance, it is enough to drink a glass or two of warm water half an hour or an hour before the holiday.

– Move more. Banal, but very effective advice. Try not to spend the whole evening on the sofa, it is better to move between meals or walk in the fresh air.

– Eat in small portions and do not interfere with everything. Fruits, salads with mayonnaise, meat, pickles – you often want to try everything on the table, but at the end of the evening you bitterly regret it. To make it easier for the stomach to digest meat dishes, add vegetables as a side dish to them. And if you like potatoes, eat them either with mushrooms or with a small piece of meat.

– If you followed a low-fat or low-calorie diet before the holiday, you need to eat very carefully so that the body does not get a shock. Choose fish or meat with vegetables.

– If you do not have chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, such as gastritis or ulcers, add spices and seasonings to your meals – this will help speed up your metabolism.

5 tips if the inevitable happens – you’ll overeat

Let’s do without the phrase “we told you” and move on to the main advice of a nutritionist on what to do in case of overeating:

Don’t forget about enzyme supplements. They will help the pancreas to overcome all the trials that you have prepared for it during the feast.

– Drink more water, but not soda, so as not to add additional weight to the stomach.

– Empty your body the day after vacation. You should not finish leftover dishes, limit your diet to broths, herbal teas and lean meats.

– Leave the sport for a while. Running to the gym after vacation is a bad idea. Exercising after overeating can lead to serious problems – high blood pressure, dizziness, migraines, weakness and apathy. In order not to expose the body to stress, arrange a walk for yourself.

– Don’t forget the sorbents. They help our intestines to clear everything that is unnecessary.