It’s so easy to overeat when there is such delicious food on offer at Christmas. Especially as most of our time is centered around family, friends, enjoying special meals and celebrating. But inevitably, after all the festive feasting, the sluggish feeling of being over-full arrives. At HealthPost, we understand the dilemma of the “Christmas belly” feeling and want to help. So here are some great ideas to support your digestive health over the silly season.
- Have plenty of raw food options available such as plenty of fresh salads. These food items tend to have a filling effect but aren’t as heavy. Include mildly bitter greens like kale, rocket and endive to stimulate digestive secretions.
- Use ginger in dressings or for drink options. Ginger is a powerful digestive support. It’s stimulating yet calming effect on the stomach and ability to promote healthy emptying of the stomach, normal stomach function and ease feelings of nausea make it a winning herb to have around. Add it to salads in dressings, pop it in your stuffing or make a non-alcoholic healthy fizz. See the recipe.
- Stay away from the chips and dips or bowls of nuts. These foods are dense in energy value so are best avoided in order to ease the belly-burden. The salty-goodness is too hard to stop once you’ve started so best not to start.
- Choose a smaller plate. Interestingly, research has emerged that shows when we serve ourselves food on a smaller plate, we tend to eat less and still feel satisfied.
- Give stress the flick. Stress reduces the blood supply to our digestive organs as our body goes into ‘fight or flight’. Be as organised as you can and ask for help from family and friends to bring a plate or help out in the kitchen. If managing stress through mind-power alone isn’t enough, then a product like Clinicians Stress and Energy Support is a wonderful formulation that can support you to cope with the dynamics and logistics of this time of the year.
- Eat real food. A Christmas meal can be pretty wholesome with traditional ‘kiwi’ fare including a roast, new spuds and other vegetables. Keep the focus of the meals on foods like these – high quality, whole and healthy. This might save you money as well as digestive power.
- Have digestive enzymes on hand. While your body produces its own digestive enzymes, it can be helpful to have extra when you know you’re going to be eating differently for what is normal for you. Digestive enzymes, taken with meals, can ease discomfort and help normal digestive processes by supporting the breakdown of fats, proteins and carbohydrates.
- Add kiwifruit to desserts. That pavlova with the kiwifruit on top is actually helping in more ways than one. As well as the delicious flavour, kiwifruit contains fibre, enzymes and prebiotics, which have been shown to support digestive health. If you’re not a fan of this furry fruit, Phloe Bowel Health Vegecaps can help.
We hope these ideas get you through the festive season feeling comfortable. Enjoy this time of love, food and family.