Surviving The Silly Season

Whether the buildup to Christmas fills you with excitement or dread. The silly season makes large demands on our physical and emotional energy. With food and alcohol being the centre of most festive get-togethers, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy diet.

Some scientists blame Christmas weight gain on the hunger hormone ghrelin, but I blame the weight gain on something else. It’s called our ‘what-the heck-switch’. We all have this switch, it resides in our brain near the good old greed hormone and a long way away from our common sense gland. At Christmas time it doesn’t take much to trigger the ‘What-the-heck switch’. A glass of wine, a high calorie meal or a couple of nights out in a row that leave you tired. The little voice starts in your head. “What-the-heck, it’s Christmas, I may as well eat what I like because I’ve ruined my diet already, I’ve missed the gym, I’ve got functions all week, I’ve worked hard all year, I deserve it, I’ve had too much to drink, I’m on holiday, I’ll start next year, it’s our office party, I’m already fat”. Once activated, the ‘what-the –heck-switch’ almost always triggers the excuse hormone, excusamone. Excusamone is one of the strongest human hormones in the body. Alcohol, fatigue, stress and high glycemic foods, all trigger the excusamone hormone.

We all do it. We indulge over Christmas with good intentions to set New Year resolutions, but sadly very few of us follow through with our goals. One or two extra kilos may not sound like much, but a study published in the New England Journal of Nutrition found that the extra weight gained is not lost during the following year.

Could middle-age spread be the ghost of Christmas past?

To succeed, incorporate some of the following waist-management strategies over the holidays. A healthy diet not only keeps the ‘what-the-heck-switch’ turned off, it helps to balance out greedy hormones too. With a little planning you’ll find that you can still enjoy Christmas and it’s many social occasions, and come out the other end feeling great.


1. Have breakfast every day. Believe it or not, having a balanced breakfast can help stabilise your hunger and energy levels all day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and plays a massive role in healthy weight management. What ever you choose to eat, aim for low GI, high fibre and get some protein into the meal as well.

2. Keep the real indulgent days to a minimum, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. You’ll really pack it on if you keep on eating for two to four weeks.

3. Keep a diary. Participants in a study who monitored their calorie intake by keeping a journal managed to prevent weight gain and even lose weight during the holiday period. You don’t have to deprive yourself, just keep a tab on your energy intake.

4. Reduce your alcohol intake. Pure alcohol contains 7 calories per gram nearly twice as many calories as carbohydrates or proteins and almost as many as fat. It’s metabolised differently to food, absorbed quickly and used as energy, this means any carbohydrates or fats eaten will have to wait in line and be stored as body fat.

5. The best way to walk off unwanted weight is to slot incidental walking into your day. Take the stairs instead of the lift, park further away from the mall, volunteer to do the office errands and take a short stroll after dinner to aid digestion. Fidgeting burns up to 400 calories a day, so tap your feet, jiggle at your desk and make as many trips as you can up and down some stairs.

6. Kick-start the day with protein to banish bad food cravings. Protein helps you stay fuller for longer. A study published by researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine found that the secret weight loss weapon of low-carb diets is protein. Protein like eggs or whey, promote satiety, the scientific term for fullness, which curbs overeating.

7. Decide before you go out whether you will drink alcohol, set a limit and stick to it. To quench your thirst drink water. Beware of fruit juices or non-alcoholic cocktails. Most contain just as many calories as wine. Keep most of your drinks, calorie free.

8. Alcohol stimulates your appetite and triggers the ‘what-the-heck-switch’. If this happens frequently, stick with water, soda and bitters or diet lemonade.

9. Take supplements. Research from several studies, one published in The British Journal of Nutrition suggests that multivitamins may be associated with a lower body weight and reduced appetite. Multivitamins were especially effective at reducing hunger symptoms for females. Men, who reported the use of vitamin and mineral supplements had a lower weight, carried less fat and had higher resting energy expenditure compared to men in the placebo group.

10. Many dietary mistakes are made after work, due to long hours and a lack of planning. Good summer eating is so easy if you base your meals around low-fat meat or fish and plenty of vegetables. A lean steak on the barbeque, accompanied by salad, is easier and much healthier than stopping for a takeaway.

It can be challenging coping with the over-abundance of food at Christmas. If you do overdo it, don’t beat yourself up. Seek help from an experienced nutritionist and set a firm New Year date to get back on track. Make it a New Years resolution to avoid crash diets.

Excusamone hormone is a fictional hormone dreamed up by the nutritionists at Real Nutrition. Even though this hormone is yet to be discovered or studied, the nutritionists at Real Nutrition believe it exists. If you experience high levels of excusamone, you may benefit from the Real Nutrition program, which takes into account unstudied hormones and the ‘what–the-heck-switch’.
Sunday Star Times 5th December 2010.


Use the Real Nutrition Boost pack. A professional one-a-day multivitamin specially formulated for New Zealand diets, plus a high potency pure (one-a-day Omega-3). Both Soft-Gels.
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