• Excess gas, bloating, constipation and the dreaded excess body fat will easily befall many this season as a result of binge eating.
• It therefore calls for tact and strategy to walk out of the festive season ‘unscathed’ and healthy and not needing to sign up for gym sessions come January.
Image: FILE
The festive season is upon us yet again and as usual, feasting opportunities are in great abundance as food is naturally a unifying factor in most gatherings.
What with friends and family members throwing parties all over and expecting you to attend without fail?
Excess gas, bloating, constipation and the dreaded excess body fat will easily befall many this season as a result of binge eating.
It, therefore, calls for tact and strategy to walk out of the festive season ‘unscathed’ and healthy and not needing to sign up for gym sessions come January.
Nutritionist Lilian Nduta says to ensure you maintain a healthy level of food intake throughout the season, exercise conscious eating particularly because people tend to eat more when in social gatherings, especially with family.
“That is the power food has, so bearing that in mind, how do you go about it in a very sneaky and smart way?” she exclaimed.
Small but frequent feeding
Nduta said one way to get through it is by having small portions of food but making the servings frequent like at two-hour intervals.
“If someone was making chapatis in the morning, you can do one chapati and then go and indulge in another activity different from eating. That way, you give the food time to get used up.”
She said this trick will also leave room for you to try other foods you may come across during the interval period without causing stomach upset.
“But make it small bitings as you go, at the end of the day you feel full but comfortable,” Nduta stressed.
Use smaller plate
According to Nduta, this has a psychological effect of giving the brain the illusion that you have served enough food.
“If you have a big plate, chances are you will serve bigger portions of food and you end up eating a lot,” Nduta said.
Avoid mixing different dishes
Constipation, excess gas and bloating mostly result from people eating different foods in one sitting. Nduta said eating one type of food at each given time will save you the trouble.
“I encourage people to exercise conscious eating... Avoid saying let me overindulge now and then tomorrow, I will not eat anything, no!”
Eat less filling foods
If you eat foods which are filling, what happens is that you get full quickly and stay full longer, Nduta explained. She said eating less filling foods to avoid overeating is a technique used by people who are trying to lose weight.
“Choose foods which are not fillers. When you eat a filler, your stomach already feels full, so when you go eat something else your body feels fuller.”
Nduta said, for instance, if you eat arrow roots with tea, you will feel fuller because of the high fibre content.
“The best choice would be to select food that is less filling so that you have space for other dishes because people are inviting you here and there,” she said, listing white bread, cake and sausages as examples of less filling foods.
“Meat stays in the stomach longer, it takes about two hours to be cleared from the stomach. I know you are tempted to have it but you can take small bitings then spread it out.”
Engage in physical activity
This does not necessarily involve hitting the gym; it simply means engaging in manual labour and other activities that burn calories.
“Things like cleaning the compound, that’s the time you go and help your mother chop wood. Do something that is extra tedious than the normal day-to-day activity you are used to like sitting in front of a desk,” Nduta explained.
“That way it makes the body be forced to use up the food you ate. You find that you get hungry quicker, and the minute you feel hungry you have created room for more food and that is the whole point of the festive season; we indulge,” she said.
“That’s how you go about it and end up being a winner at the end of the day because it’s un-African to be offered food and you refuse, if you refuse it’s an offence.”
Drink a lot of water
Water is critical for the normal functioning of your digestive system.
It’s advisable to drink a cup of water about 30 minutes prior to having a meal.
“It keeps the digestion going and you have good fecal movement because we see a lot of situations where there is a lot of constipation,” Nduta said.
Drinking water before having meals is a weight management strategy which studies say works by letting you eat less and feel just as satisfied as someone who didn’t drink water before.
Taking a cup of water before a meal makes you feel fuller and help prevent overeating.
It’s especially important to drink alongside high-fiber foods.
This is because as fiber moves through your digestive system, it absorbs water leading to good stool movement.