Holidays and festive seasons are absolutely everyone’s favorite times as these bring a new spark to everyone’s life. While celebrations, gatherings, and the essence of being with our close ones occupy our minds, we often forget about looking over our after-eating habits.
At some point in our lives, all of us have heard the advice: “to eat a healthy diet.” But have you ever thought about what it means to eat a healthy diet? For people who don’t know, it might mean simply avoiding junk food or oily food. But according to professional nutritionists and dieticians, a healthy diet is a diet that helps us to maintain or build positive overall health.
What are eating patterns?
Eating patterns can be defined as the reflection of conscious and collective repetitive behavior choices which people make while selecting and consuming specific foods or diets. Or, as they say in layman’s language we can say that eating patterns refer to the way a person or a group of people eat, considered in terms of when, in what quantity, and what types of food are eaten.
Healthy Vs Unhealthy eating patterns
The term ‘healthy eating pattern,’ refers to choosing from a wide variety of nutritious foods in the right amounts that suit the best for you and making these choices part of your day-to-day routine. There are so many different ways to eat healthily. You have to make the choice of eating healthy in a way that will work the best for you and your family. Healthy eating can be delicious, come in a variety of tastes, and be pocket-friendly too, all at the same time.
Healthy eating patterns require one to include the right amount of vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins in their meals. Whereas, unhealthy eating patterns, as the name suggests, refer to poor eating habits that include over or under-eating, not having enough of the healthy foods which we need each day to stay fit, or unnecessarily consuming various varieties of food and drink, which are not good for us.
An unhealthy eating pattern may easily be confused with unhealthy food, but both are quite different. While the former refers to improper ways of consuming food, the latter means unclean, or food that is not good for the body and may have adverse effects on health if consumed.
You may resist unhealthy lifestyle and food patterns for a whole year but the urge to be carefree and enjoy to the fullest can be too overwhelming. It can be staggering that your well-being is taking a seat on the back burner during holidays. But, like any other time of the year, there is no need to feel secluded about your diet during festivities for fear of overeating or backtracking your health goals. Long-term health plans are all about being able to sustain your diet and your eating pattern and your lifestyle, even in the midst of festivities.
Nothing can be worse than feeling vulnerable about your health when you sit among your friends and family at a dining table. But you can choose to relax and enjoy your holidays without being worried about your health goals. All you need to do is to develop a holiday eating pattern. Holiday eating patterns on a broader view, convey the message of coming up with a balanced eating plan during festive seasons.
From kids to adults, almost all of us make resolutions to make ourselves better during the new year. Since during holidays we have more time, we plan and execute things better. But is it really necessary to adapt to a new eating habit, that too at the new year when we already have too many things to look at, gatherings and celebrations?
Keeping everything negative aside, yes new year is the ideal time to begin with. Nutrition experts believe “the changes in your diet can help you to manage stress. Also, by eating healthy, you can begin your new year with great positivity and motivation.”
Everyone deserves a balanced holiday season. And by focusing on a balanced holiday eating pattern, you will be able to manage all the festive chaos while feeling your best.
Top 5 Ways to Balance Your Holiday Eating Patterns
Here are 5 Effective Ways to Balance Your Holiday Eating Patterns
1. Don’t skip meals
Many people believe that by skipping their breakfast in the morning or lunch during the daytime, they can save up space in their stomach to eat more on holiday nights, which sounds right but the truth is, skipping meals or unnecessarily fasting can make you feel tired and miserable.
You’ll feel irritated all day and you may end up developing a bad stomach or headache. Skipping meals might also lead you to overeat on the festive night which can cause nausea and some other diseases. Overeating might also cause you to feel more insecure and stressed.
Instead of skipping meals and stuffing everything in your stomach all at once, improvise your holiday eating pattern by continuing to focus on food that makes you feel great throughout the day, like protein, vitamins, etc.
2. Praise the plants
When it comes to festivities, most people often forget to include plants in their diet. A lot of people find pleasure in fast foods while completely ignoring their body’s need for fiber, protein, and minerals. Diets that emphasize eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can easily help to fulfill these needs. Expert dietitians believe “Holidays are the ideal time to switch to plant-based diets since you are cooking more than usual and often need new ideas for meals,”. Here are some ways by which you can begin enjoying plant-based diets
Appreciating vegetarianism – Once or twice a week, you may go vegetarian for an entire day, eating only fruits, whole, and whole grains. This might help you to recognize the types and amounts of foods you need to eat without the overwhelming pressure to do it all the time. Include salad in your meals- These can be great for family gatherings and may be served even as appetizers. Healthy salads are one of the important things to be taken care of when adopting a healthy holiday eating pattern.
3. Try new recipes
While it may seem a good idea to stick to traditional food choices, bringing something new to the plate can always be an exotic feeling. Trying new foods is going to do you more good than just widening your horizons – it can help you to eat healthier, introduce you to different cultures and tastes from across, and add more nutrients to your diet.
Researchers believe that bringing variation to your regular diet is important. By trying different types of new and healthy food, you will gain a wide variety of nutrients. Also, you will get the natural benefit of healthy food items like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains without having to rely on artificial protein diets. Adding new healthy recipes to your holiday eating patterns not only enhances your taste but also boosts your immunity.
4. Eat what you love, Love what you eat
Restrict yourself from eating food you love because being overly conscious of your body image might cause you many problems in the long run. Stopping yourself from having your favorite meal might result in food fear and even make you undereat. Instead, make sure that you allow yourself your favorite food during the holidays, and throughout the rest of the year as well. Understand what your body needs the most and make a nutrient-rich diet, which will help you to keep your body energized throughout the day for various activities.
Start appreciating your meal. Another way of expressing love for your food is, appreciating it. Love your meal, and feel positive about your choice and taste. Appreciate yourself and your favorite food. Praise your taste without having any second thoughts. Eating the food you love makes you feel positive and happier. And remember the objective of developing a holiday eating pattern is to eat happily and live happily. So, if you really want to develop a good holiday eating pattern, do consider adding this habit to your list.
5. Drinking less, enjoying more
Boozing may seem to be a good way to enjoy yourself during holidays, but it’s far from reality. New studies show that drinking alcohol even just once a day may expose the person to a great risk of cardiovascular and liver diseases. Cutting down on alcohol will not only reduce your risk of getting cardiovascular diseases and developing various types of cancer, but it will also lower your blood pressure.
Alcohol takes a toll on your physical appearance, and memory and might even damage your relationship with your loved ones. Just by giving up on drinks, you will be able to enjoy the moments more and focus more on yourself and perform other important activities more freely. Cutting down on alcoholism will not only help you live healthily and positively but will also help you understand yourself better.
Summarizing it all
We may conclude that eating patterns and eating choices play a vital role in human health. Understand your body and identify your nutritive needs and prepare a balanced diet for yourself to stay healthy. Stick to your healthy holiday eating patterns to live your holidays to the best.