The holidays, it is the greatest time of the year. We look forward to them all year, and then we pay for them the rest of the year. Now I don’t want to seem a scrooge, however; I would like to talk about the crazy binge of calories and the effects it has on our bodies, and some strategies to allow us to enjoy the season and not kill ourselves. Have you ever wondered why so many people start new exercise programs after new years? Well, I don’t believe it is all spurred on by new years resolutions, it is more likely do to the guilt for the weight gained from holiday food binging.
Has anyone ever told you something that was so shocking that your eyes almost popped out of your head. Well how about another shocker about the amount of calories we consume during one thanksgiving meal. The average American ingests about 4500 calories for their turkey deluxe dinner. That is enough calories to last most of us 2 to 3 days. The scary thing about this is after consuming around 1000 calories in one setting, our bodies try to tell us that it has had enough by making us feel nauseous. Most people have learned to ignore this and continue to eat. So our bodies have a second line of defense. It will start changing all that food into fat, and store it in the fat cells. This starts almost immediately and can cause you to to gain 2-5 pounds in less than 48 hours. Do you know how long and how much it takes to lose that. That is the equivalent of running two marathons in one week. That’s insane.
The second problem with this is that it causes your body to go into a state of shock and increases your chance of heart attack or stroke with in the next 48 hrs by 80%. I’m not sure I want to die tomorrow, Do you? This state of shock will cause headaches, muscle spasms and joint pain that can last for months. So tell me, do you still think that all this great food is such a great thing? Why don’t we discus some ways to make it a great thing and enjoy the pie too.
The first thing that will help you, is to come up with a game plan before hand. You know the saying,”fail to plan and you plan to fail”. It is better to eat small portions throughout the day than it is to starve yourself in anticipation for that gargantuan meal. Plan on eating 200-300 calories for breakfast and one or two snacks before the meal. This will keep your body from going into starvation mode and storing it all to fat. Then during the meal take only two or three smaller portions instead of trying to get some of everything and heaping your plate to the point of breaking. Take your time eating and in an hour or so go back for more. This way you can have more of what you want without killing yourself. Try chewing on gum and drinking water to help keep from eating as much. It’s a feast, it should be enjoyed not engulfed.
These simple forms of self discipline will help you feel better, avoid gaining weight and possible save your life. So, don’t stress about the holidays, Just plan ahead and enjoy knowing that you won’t have to run a marathon next week to burn off that unwanted fat from this holiday season.