WORDS BY CHARLOTTE HAIGH
Let’s face it – it’s no fun going into January, already the darkest, coldest, poorest month, with that sinking feeling you have to double up your healthy eating efforts because you’ve overdone it at Christmas. But guess what – you don’t have to. ‘We put on weight because we give ourselves permission to eat and drink whatever we want over the festive season,’ says dietitian Helen Bond. ‘You can decide not to do this. Weight gain at Christmas isn’t inevitable – there are plenty of healthy, seasonal and delicious foods about. You just need to catch yourself when you fall into the trap of giving yourself an excuse to overindulge.’ We’re most definitely not saying don’t indulge – just don’t indulge every day. And when you do indulge, is there a healthy treat you can give yourself? If you can come out the other side at more or less the same weight you went in, you’re bucking the trend of the average person gaining up to 1kg per year from early adulthood through middle age (much of which happens over Christmas).