Holiday Tips: How to maintain your weight over the holidays and not feel deprived.

Of course you should always limit your grains, sugar and processed foods but listed are some tips for eating during the Holiday Season.

When facing a large selection of food, go for the protein first. Protein can suppress your appetite so that you don’t overindulge on carbs. Proteins can also boost thermogenesis. (buring calories to produce heat).

If you find that you can’t avoid the sugar carbs then avoid the alcohol. Your body will burn the alcohol first for energy (to avoid toxicity). This will dampen the oxidation of protein and carbohydrates to be used for fuel and promote their storage.

You may actually gain weight after a high carb binge but if you only overeat for a couple of days you will not gain fat. The ingested carbs need to be transformed into glycogen. The glycogen is then attached to water molecules. If you fully fill your glycogen stores with enough carbs, you will carry 3 to 4lbs in water weight. The best way to remove the water weight is with cardio exercise, healthy eating, no grains, sugar or processed foods, and good hydration.

Binging over the holidays means you will gain weight but not fat. If you carry the binge eating for several weeks, then you will start gaining fat. So limit your holiday eating to only a few days.

The timing of when you take your after-dinner walk is also very important. A published study showed that walking right after dinner and not waiting an hour or more is more effective for weight loss. Walking doesn’t necessarily burn a lot of calories but it does increase the insulin sensitivity of your receptors, thus decreasing blood glucose levels. You can control the hyperglycemia of a large meal by walking for 30 minutes immediately afterwards.

Do protect your microbiome from the noncellular foods which are refined carbs. Take a good probiotic and time restrict your eating for only 8 hours with healty foods on the day following a holiday binge.