Christmas: why should you stop counting the calories in your panettone this Christmas Eve?

Christmas dinner is the most anticipated meal of the year. It is shared with those who love the most delicious dishes and the so traditional panettone. In Peru, even though we are in the summer, in many houses hot chocolate and that delicious sweet bread with candied fruits and raisins is a must. However, for many people this dinner turns into a time of anxiety and guilt. Some even fast all day to be able to eat more at night and “not gain weight.”

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All of December we have been bombarded with notes that seek to help but deliver the wrong message. The headlines indicate how many calories a panettone has, how many loaves a buttered panettone equals, how much is the amount that one ‘should’ consume or even give recommendations such as how much exercise should be done the next day to “burn” calories (these are not burned , they rust, but that’s another story).

To be honest and with shame I must admit, that also -some years ago- I thought that making notes of equivalences and restrictions helped the reader, since these journalistic notes seek to convince Peruvians to eat healthier, especially now that it is so important . But, we forget that the concept of health is global, not only physical but also psychological; and that the restriction generates more desire to eat what we like so much.

This note is not intended to replace a nutritional consultation, if you, dear reader, have any illness, remember that your doctor or nutritionist has the last word, and that everything in nutrition depends on and is personalized.

Now, let’s continue.

Calories

Adriana Carulla, Wong nutritionist, explains that a healthy diet “It is about balance and not about prohibitions or feelings of guilt”. “Our body, in addition to needing calories (which are energy), needs nutrients such as proteins, healthy fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants”, It indicates.

The nutritionist Mónica Bamonde adds that we must avoid counting calories, and especially on these dates “because it’s a special night”. “It is once a year and we must be relaxed and enjoy the family, “he says. “It is not recommended at all, because not all calories are the same”.

For her part, the health coach and advisor of SanaKitchen Alessandra Crovetto assures that “We must not count calories at Christmas or on any date, we must re-learn to eat, quality and not quantity”.

“There is an obsession with the empty calorie. That is, a lot of food but does not have calories. That costs us a high price. Foods full of sweeteners, very harmful”, He adds.

Guilt and compensatory actions

Eating should not create guilt. Feeding is a natural act and it has no moral connotation, therefore, it should not generate guilt. However, society often makes us stereotypes that are very difficult to comply with that lead us to think that health is synonymous with the weight we see on the scale.

Nutritionist Jimena Jara explains that “food should not be a channel to drown out emotions that we do not know how to manage.” “If one day we eat more, it is advisable the next day to resume our daily eating habits and lifestyle as the practice of regular exercise. We must learn to be somewhat flexible with ourselves and with our meals to avoid feeling guilty.“, Add.

Guilt “will create an imbalance in your body not only psychological because of the ‘guilt’ but it can also turn into a bad habit and end up creating hormonal imbalances, drastic weight gains, unhealthy ‘miracle diets’ practices and even muscle injuries from the over exercise effort”, He adds.

For Alessandra Crovetto, guilt and compensatory behaviors can trigger mental health problems such as eating disorders.

“It gives me great joy to see how health professionals are already focusing on seeing that we are more than a number on the scale and that health is more than a weight and height formula. As a mother I feel that we cannot raise in the same way that they raised us because it is not the same world, they raised us full of restrictions regarding food and that is why I think we have that thought that a party is coming and that the binge and then compensate by starving myself or as they say: closing my mouth and full exercise. No, that’s not it”, Comments Crovetto.

Recommendations for Christmas Eve

These nutritional tips are to avoid that the next day, we wake up with indigestion or an upset stomach. Karen Quiroz, director of the Nutrition and Food Techniques Career at Le Cordon Bleu University, explains we can “eat healthy without having to leave tradition”.

“Something important to avoid at Christmas dinner is mixing food and excessive consumption of ice cream, carbonated drinks, sauces, as they are associated with digestive problems. Something that is vital is to accompany each dish with a generous portion of salad”, He adds.

The specialist explains that there is a simple strategy to follow to eat balanced and delicious. “A simple tool to apply is to divide our dish into these portions: half must have a salad, the fourth must have a protein (animal or vegetable) and the other quarter a carbohydrate or garnish “Quiroz comments.

For her part, Jimena Jara Rodriguez, head of the Nutrition area – Suiza Lab, recommends avoiding fast eating. “Chew well to avoid overeating and help the stomach to process food much faster”, It indicates.

For Jara it is important to learn to listen to our body. It is very common, because since we are children they teach us to eat everything that is on the plate, to continue eating even if we are no longer hungry.

“When you feel satisfied, stop eating, even if you still have to finish the plate. It is important to listen to your body when you feel satisfied so you avoid overeating”, He comments. It is necessary to understand that although Christmas dinner is delicious, if it is left over – which is very likely to happen – you can eat it the next day for lunch.

“Taking a hot infusion such as anise, chamomile, lemon verbena, among others, after dinner always helps improve digestion.”Says Jara.

Build lasting healthy habits

The nutritionist Mónica Bamonde indicates that there are several methods and that the ideal is to try “which is the one that works best for us so that consuming a healthy and adequate diet so that it is a habit, is part of our life”.

“We can implement a shopping list for when we go to the market or supermarket or warehouse, based on this list create a schedule of food plan to follow, learn new recipes with seasonal ingredients, have healthy snacks on hand, create alarms on our cell phone to drink water and sun, count 7000 daily steps and always divide our meals or dishes into 3 parts (25% protein, 50% vegetables and 25% whole-grain carbohydrates or tubers”, says Bamonde.

Adriana Carulla, who runs Wong’s Vive Sano program, strongly believes that “lthe best way to achieve healthy and lasting habits is by analyzing the lifestyle that we have today to see what has to be modified ”.

“For example: if you skip meals due to overwork and then come home very hungry to indulge in poorly nutritious food, or if you hardly ever include vegetables in your diet or do not do any physical activity”, He adds.

The specialist reveals that for changes to be progressive and sustainable over time, they must start with one thing at a time. “If you choose to be able to increase vegetables in the diet, then you work on that, include at least two servings of vegetables at lunch and two at dinner, look for recipes based on vegetables, make a shopping list, etc. , and that action is repeated for several days until it can be done automatically and becomes part of the habits. Once that action has only recently been controlled and only recently, one begins to work on another, without leaving the previous one, and that is how lasting habits are generated.“, Concludes Carulla.

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