Beating the bulge this festive season

Often during the festive season, we find ourselves overindulging in almost everything – be it food, alcohol or those special sweet treats that become the order of the day.

We treat this season as the long-awaited holiday everybody looks forward to – to meet with family, go on holiday and to host parties. And besides, what is a festive season without food and drinks right? By the time the season is over and January comes, it is accompanied by all the festive indulgence now showing on your body.

Here is a five-step, simple guide to avoid the bulge:

• Drink Water

Water consumption has proven to be a remedy for many disorders. Apart from the fact that water is the essence of life, drinking lots of water before meals lessens food intake and removes byproducts of fat in your body. It also speeds up your metabolism and has proven to be the most affordable and easy way to detox, thus promoting weight loss.

• Avoid fast food

It may be hard to opt for a home-cooked meal rather than rich restaurant food during this time, merely because we get more lunch or dinner invites, we are often on the road most of the time, and because we are just too excited to eat at home. However, choosing to cook lunch or dinner for friends and family at home or taking your own food on a trip helps you control the portion size of the actual food and the fat and sugar content during the cooking process. In that way, you don’t only stay healthy, but you save a lot of money too.

• Keep away from fizzy drinks

As tempting as they may be, fizzy drinks are the fastest way to adding to your size. Fizzy drinks not only contain a high level of acid and caffeine, they also have a high content of sugar too. Reports have revealed that drinking one can of Coca-cola a day for four weeks is equivalent to ingesting 3 920 extra calories.

• Snack healthily

Instead of indulging in that packet of crisps or slab of chocolate, try to snack more on healthy fruits and nuts. The difference this makes is massive.

• Drink healthy alcoholic beverages

It is more tempting to take a glass of alcohol at a gathering than to stick to juice, right? Well, no one is trying to ruin your party, but you also do not want to ruin your body. When at a bar or restaurant, ask for a menu of their healthy alcohol beverages instead of the normal ones offered. Drinks such as margaritas are mostly made with sugar-filled liqueurs. Ask the barman or waiter to replace it with fresh lime juice instead or fresh orange juice to give it a great flavour.

https://stylecaster.com/beauty/healthy-alcoholic-drinks/

https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/disadvantages-soft-drinks-2308.html

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4287/10-Reasons-Why-You-Should-Drink-More-Water.html

@MidrandReporter