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Food & diet

Christmas and New Year’s, eight tips to avoid the swollen belly

December 18, 2018

Swollen belly, sense of weight, long digestion are some of the undesirable effects of Christmas and New Year’s Eating that risk ruining the holiday season. A meal like the Christmas lunch or the New Year’s Eve dinner is a demanding test for our digestive system – explains Dr. Manuela Pastore, clinical dietitian of the Health Directorate of the Clinical Institute Humanitas. – Adopting a varied diet throughout the year, healthy and rich in fiber, consistent with your tolerance, without forgetting to make regular movement based on our characteristics, brings us into shape at festivals so our digestive system can better cope with the binges of the festivities. In fact, if it is certainly not a day of stravizi to ruin our line, with some tips you can enjoy the delicacies of Christmas without having swollen stomach or unpleasant digestive disorders.

 

1- No fasting on Christmas Eve: it is useless to skip the meal on December 23rd to dine on Christmas Eve or at Christmas lunch, or even skip lunch on New Year’s Eve. Fasting the day before would make us arrive hungry and ready, inevitably, to assault appetizers and appetizers, often very caloric and fat. With such a start, all the other courses can only make the situation worse, even if they are diluted in several hours, and immediately weigh down the work of the intestine.

 

2 – Small mouthfuls and eat slowly: eating a lot and quickly are the prerequisites for swelling and exhausting the digestion. To avoid a swollen stomach, it is better to take small mouthfuls, chew well and eat slowly, taking time, at least at Christmas, between one course and the next and asking for small portions, without exaggerating in quantity. This helps to limit the fermentation of food as well as allowing you to use all the dishes and enjoy even more all the delicacies typical of these lunches.

 

3- Moderation with alcohol: in addition to the number of glasses of wine per meal, it is good to limit the toast and avoid digestive and spirits at the end of the meal because they greatly increase the calorie intake of festive lunches as well as fatigue the liver.

 

4- Sweets yes, but leftovers only for breakfast: dulcis in fundo in all senses, the sweets of the Christmas tradition are another “brick” to be digested because rich in fat and sugar that ferment very easily. A small slice of panettone, pandoro or any other sweet of which the Italian Christmas tradition is rich is fine at the end of lunch, but any leftovers only at breakfast in the following days, if you just can not do without it.

 

5- Better to avoid dried fruit and chocolates: in addition to greatly increasing the caloric intake of the lunch interior, making the digestion even more tiring, dried fruit, dried fruit and chocolates are like cherries, that is, “one pulls the other”. It is difficult to stop if they are on the table: it is better to avoid them.

 

6- Water to limit water retention: typical of holidays, caused by the ravages of the Christmas period, the water retention that causes in many an annoying swelling can be limited by drinking a lot of water or herbal teas.

 

7- Walking helps the intestine: getting up from the table to walk a bit, helps both digestion and allows you to dispose of calories and liquids. The ideal is a nice and long walk outside the house to get away from the sources of heat.

 

8- The day after: it is advisable to avoid fasting the next day or skip the evening meal on Christmas day: better a light meal with vegetable soups, legume soups or soups because they help to detoxify.

 

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