Nutrition Tips For Tackle The Festive Eating Season | How To Stay On Track While Enjoying Christmas Food

With the Festive season upon us and most of us having Christmas parties left, right, and centre…nutrition becomes a secondary thought for many.

Typically this is due to the misguided belief that you can not have Christmas food and staying on track coexist with each other. This is incorrect.

In this blog, I share some useful nutrition and food tips for you to implement so that you can both enjoy Christmas and feast yo self AND stay on track to some degree during the most wonderful time of the year.

Let’s call this Nutrition of the Bells!

In order to be able to help you navigate and "conquer" the festive season from a nutrition point of view, I wanted to share 3 tips that I have personally used with my coaching to help out my clients stay afloat while STILL enjoying the best time of the year with their family and friends.

Without further ado....let class commence now!

TIp#1: Prioritise protein, veg, and fruit

This strategy is simple but effective.

Simply ensure you plate up a bunch of protein and plant foods first before you go to enjoy all the indulgent Christmas goodies eying you off since you laid eyes upon them.

This does 2 things:
1) Ensures that you let your nutritional needs "eat first". 
2) You fill up on these foods and reduces the chances of overeating the Xmas treats.

Tip #2: Periodisation of alcohol

Alcohol is probably the biggest reason that statistically a lot of people gain weight over the festive season break.

That is why managing your booze consumption can be a very tactical approach to ensure your nutrition remains strong enough to not let you lose ground on your goals.

You can periodise your alcohol intake by alternating your alcoholic drinks with non alcoholic drinks (even better if calorie free drinks).

This allows you to reduce your total alcohol intake (and associated calories), while maintaining hydration levels. 

Tip #3: Use leftovers for bulk meal prep

This is one may be a gamechanger for you! You will be like....

One of the biggest reasons people say they "cant stay on track at Xmas" is because they say leftovers come to play and they can't say no.

Well that is why you want to approach things differently. Time to put those leftovers to work for you.

Use your leftovers to prepare your meal prep for the next couple of weeks. Use the opportunity that you have all this food to make meal prep easy.

Now instead of overeating and saying you can't succeed, you have taken your leftovers to strategize and be proactive with your nutrition for the next week or so. 

The Right Mentality

I want to end this piece by ensuring you understand one very fundamental truth about all this. 

No matter what you do or what happens...you need to bare minimum do this ONE thing:
Get back on track ASAP the next day or two and continue your process

This is the biggest takeaway I want you to leave with. The understanding that no matter what happens, you will be ok if you get back on track as soon as you can and not dwell on what happened.

So many people let their nutrition slip away because they have the all or nothing mentality and end up writing off the week...perhaps even the month. This sets up back so much more than any "overeating on Xmas" can do.

Food for thought.

RECAP

There you go! 

You now have 3 very ACTIONABLE strategies you can implement into your Xmas season plan to ensure you stay on top of your nutrition (or even perhaps progress this festive season).

Choose 1 or 2 or all 3 of these...as long as it makes life easier for you then you are good to go!

Now it is time for you to go into Christmas with the mindset that of "experience first" and get back on track as soon as you can. 

Merry Christmas (you filthy animal)...and Happy New Year.

Out of curiosity though….

Are you feeling stuck and struggling with your nutrition game?
Not seeing the body you feel happier, healthier, and more confident in?

I may be able to be of assistance as we kickstart the new year. 

If you are ready to take your nutrition and body to the next level and elevate your performance in a way that doesn’t make you want to punch your Sports Dietitian, then let’s chat.

I have developed a 90 Day Macro Sherpa program that is a 1:1 nutrition coaching experience to help start bridging the gap between where you are now and where you want to be with your physique & performance. 

In this program, I'll personally coach you using my flexible nutrition system to help you harness the power of calories and macro strategy to regain your competitive edge - think of it as a bespoke nutrition solution that empowers you to eat better to achieve better. 

Interested in learning more? Simply email me at: [email protected].
Then we can have a chat about this and see if we are a good fit to work together and get you your best results yet. 

Or to apply now to see if you are a good fit, simply CLICK HERE and start the process for reaching your peak potential. 

Coach Aleksa 

Brisbane Sports Dietitian & Nutritionist