The holiday season is a joyful time of year full of food, laughter, and love. However, for some people, the time of year also brings food anxiety due to so many festivities that involve eating.
Along with food anxiety comes wrong and harmful nutrition myths that people adhere to, even though there is no truth to them. To help people navigate through what is accurate and not accurate when it comes to holiday nutrition, here are a few myths you should ignore during the holiday season.
According to Self magazine banking calories so that you can overeat on a particular day is one of the biggest nutrition myths around. The truth is if you eat what you usually would before a party then you are less likely to consume a large amount of food because your body will be full. Plus, the banking calories feeds into the all or nothing mindset of eating, which is a very unhealthy habit.
Substituting your regular workout routine for harder more calorie burning workouts is another bad holiday nutrition myth. Exercising is good for your mental state, especially when you have a regime that works for you. Deterring from that during the holiday season can cause you to be more stressed out, which can result in mindless eating. Remember, workouts aren't only about losing weight, they are also about relieving stress.
Cleansing or cutting calories after the holiday season are over is a myth. Drastically cutting calories or forgoing certain foods can do more harm than good as it can cause rebound eating. It is all about moderation so if you overindulged this season, then get back on your healthy eating game after the festivities of the season. Remember everything in moderation is always crucial.
Finally, a very misleading myth is that it is OK to replace high-carb and high-calorie foods with lower-carb and lower calorie options. Yes, they are better for you, but they are less satisfying. For example, mashed potatoes are a crowd pleaser at dinners, using cauliflower mashed is not going to give you the same enjoyment. The holidays are a time to have fun, laugh and feel satisfied with foods you don't eat all the time so don't beat yourself. That doesn't mean go crazy but enjoy this wonderful time of year.
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