Pre-holiday diet: the false good idea that disturbs your body

Perhaps you have thought about it or have you already started it well? We are talking here about the traditional pre-Christmas diet, consisting in very seriously reducing the foot on all food intake, upstream of the wave of fat and sugar that surges on the plates during the last fortnight of December. Most of the time the objective is simple: to prepare the ground, in other words to lose weight before the holidays, just to compensate for a hypothetical weight gain. Only in addition to being counter-productive, the approach harms the body.

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The best way... to gain weight

At the risk of stating a cliché, remember that deprivation frustrates. This, moreover, is the first problem posed by the regime. Of course, the "eater" will succeed for a while in pretending he hasn't seen that box of chocolates passing by at the office, or in drinking less alcohol. But he will eventually crack. And in general it's not for a bowl of quinoa with small vegetables and plain bean sprouts.

By eating a little less or following a strict diet, you also put your body in a stressful situation. The body experiences it as an attack. Because caloric restriction sends a strong message: “weight loss” means “danger”. “To avoid it, the body puts a certain number of defense mechanisms in place, continues Cécile Betry, endocrinologist doctor specializing in nutrition. It then tries to compensate by reducing energy expenditure, and it sends a signal to the brain to tell it to eat. We will therefore be more hungry and when we bring calories again, when we start eating again, he will do everything to store them. “The body has a memory, abounds Ysabelle Levasseur, dietitian nutritionist. That's how you'll gain weight."

Do not change anything

Without forgetting an undeniable physical aspect: you do not gain 4 kilos in 48 hours. “One may feel bloated and the weight on the scale may increase, but this is mostly a result of eating heavy foods. By then reducing alcohol consumption and moving a little more the following days, we will not see anything on the scale, ”explains the dietitian nutritionist.

If you want to avoid gaining weight during the holidays, it is much better to have a normal diet beforehand and not change anything, insists doctor Cécile Betry. “Of course we will exceed our needs and that we will eat more during the holidays, she comments. But the body is also able to make the brain understand that we have eaten too much. Moreover, in the days following the richer meals, we are often less hungry, more craving for vegetables, etc...»

To avoid rushing for any food on December 24 while waiting for a late dinner, dietician Ysabelle Levasseur advises including wholegrain starches in your lunch plate. Slow sugars rich in fiber, they are more satiating and allow to hold on the long term.

Finally, it is above all necessary to accept that the menus will indeed be richer, but that it is above all a question of moments of pleasure, and to be attentive to one's feelings, underlines Cécile Betry. Either eat when you are hungry, and not force yourself if the appetite is absent.

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