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9 Tips to Get Back on Track After Overeating

If you consumed a day’s worth of calories in one sitting at your Thanksgiving meal yesterday, don’t stress. One meal won’t ruin your healthy eating goals as long as you do the right things today and throughout the rest of the holiday season. On average people can gain up to 4.5 lbs (2 kilos) and more over a holiday period after all the celebratory eating and drinking, and unfortunately those added pounds are often not lost during the post-holiday period.

So, if you HAVE overindulged on thanksgiving or during any large meal, then the best thing to do is just get back into healthy eating and drinking today. What’s done is done, you enjoyed your holiday and the celebrations are over, so let’s move forward.

Here are some great tips to get things moving in the right direction again:

1. Ditch the guilt.
Feeling guilty is a useless exercise. This is more than likely going to send you back to the fridge. It’s better to use this energy to think about what great healthy things are happening next!

2. Avoid keeping leftovers.
This can cause you to over consume extra calories because you don’t want to waste it. Often it’s more about what we do after our holiday that can set up us for that post-holiday bulge.

Portion the leftovers out, take leftovers to work, social events, to your neighbors, homeless shelters, care homes or just try and make sure you don’t make too much food (if possible!).  Although it’s not ideal, the last option is to throw it out if you know it’s one of your trigger foods. It’s better in the bin than on your waist.

3. Clean out the fridge and restock with ONLY healthy options.
Stock your fridge with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and get drinking and eating them. This is a great time to consume extra light meals and enjoy plenty of fruit and vegetable based meals, snacks and juices. Avoid all alcohol, sugar, and processed foods and eat only clean wholefoods to reset your system.

4. More nutrients, please.
Often people start a post-holiday period by hitting the gym at 100 miles an hour and trying to starve themselves. This will back fire and you may find yourself hitting the fridge just as hard. Consume plenty of nutrient dense plant-based foods making it light and nutritious, this will help battle cravings and support natural detoxification. For great ideas see our recipe section.

5. Do a post-holiday Reboot.
Getting back into the swing of things can be largely helped with a big fat glass of juice. As we know here at Reboot, drinking juice and juice fasting can be a very quick way to reset your hunger signals to get your body back in balance. Doing a short 3-5 day juice fast can help you recover from the many holiday indulgences that you enjoyed! Find a Reboot Plan that works for you.

6. Balance your blood sugar.
After all those sweet desserts and snacks it is highly beneficial to work on balancing your blood sugar. If you are prone to sweet cravings, hypoglycemia, insulin resistance and poor blood sugar management, it is important to revisit these 10 simple tips to balance blood sugar.

7. Spice up your life.

Turmeric, cinnamon and chilli are just a few that can help rev things up and help balance the blood sugar and control cravings. There is so much to learn on the wonders of spices!

8. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
Staying hydrated helps control hunger and excess appetite. Consume filtered water, herbal teas, broth, coconut water and fresh juices. Keep them flowing all day long.

9. Get moving, and that doesn’t have to mean at the gym.
At a comfortable pace, get things moving. This helps controls those cravings, burns calories and helps to balance your mood and blood sugars. Go for a walk around the block, or maybe do 20 lunges and squats while watching your favorite holiday movie. You can check out our Reboot Movement Method to help you get started on workouts that only take 20 minutes.

The importance of eating a well-balanced diet as soon as possible comes down to the fact that holiday food can increase unhealthy cravings and appetites for all the wrong foods. By following these tips you will be sure to get back on track in no time!