Christmas is a time for family and filling our faces, according to the BDA (British Dietetic Association) the average person puts on between 1 to 5 pounds of weight over the festive period.
Luis Rodriguez, Director of Harley Street based www.pronokal.co.uk said: “An increase of up to 5 pounds in weight over the Christmas festivities may not seem like an awful lot to gain, however if you take into account the short time period and then potentially up to 3 months to lose this excess weight, one starts to see just how easy it is to stray from your target weight.”
A traditional Christmas dinner consumed by the average Briton totals a whopping 2,300 calories. Remember this is just one meal, this is not taking into account other food consumed during the day or alcohol. In fact so high is the calorie count in just this one meal that it makes up 115% of a woman’s RDA and 92% for men.
Luis continues: “The Christmas period is a time to be enjoyed where people relax with friends and families but also it is a time when many eat far too well. If people are honest, they expect to gain weight during this time and many accept that they will have to make a concerted effort in the New Year to shift the additional weight, however there lies the problem, not everybody does and unfortunately the small gains made at Christmas tend to then increase as the year unfolds. My advice would be, eat slowly, watch the size of your portions and try to avoid unnecessary snacks; just one mince pie carries an additional 215 calories!"
Tagged in Health Diet Healthy eating