Learn why we get fat at Christmas and how to avoid it so that this year it doesn’t happen to you again

I think this is a question that we all ask ourselves and that there are those who still do not know the real reason. Do you want to know why we get fat at Christmas? Keep reading…

Nougat from October

The first of the reasons is because since the end of October, ( along with sugarween ) we can already find entire aisles of nougat, polvorones and all kinds of Christmas sweets in all supermarkets. But it is also that they are not hidden, but are strategically placed so that you come across them and end up buying something. So that this does not happen to you, I give you a couple of tips:

1. Go shopping with the shopping list, knowing what you have to buy and sticking to it. Buy only and exclusively what is on the list.
2. Go shopping having eaten something before, be it your breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, snack or dinner. When hungry it is easier to fall into temptation.

So, if you already have a Christmas sweet in the pantry, whatever it is (nougats, chocolates, neulas, mantecados…) you are going astray. Do not try to fool yourself by telling yourself that you are saving time, that you already have them, that it is for the children, that in case visitors come … if they are not good for you, they are not good for anyone who is going to visit you (unless you let enter enemies at home). Take out excuses and sweets.

It’s not just a question of nougat

The problem is not only in the nougat. It is in all the types of Christmas sweets that we have and the nutritional value of each of them, which is terrible.

• Nougat
• Neulas
• Marzipan
• Polvorones
• Mantecados
• Marquesas
• Puff pastries
• Caramel cookies
• chocolates
• truffles
• Chocolates
• Candies and sweets
• Gingerbread cookies
• Shortbread or conventional cookies
• Panettones
• Peladillas
• The roscón de reyes

As you can see, the list is not short, and there is something common in all of them: their nutritional composition. All these products are very caloric products, rich in fats and sugars. They are superfluous and nutritionally uninteresting products.

Making a very general average, each serving of these foods (the portion we usually eat, not the one indicated on the label) contains between 100 and 200 kcal . You can check the label yourself and you will see that I am not deceiving you. It will be enough for you to make a rule of three of the information per 100g of product and the amount you eat. We are now going to make a count of the extra calories that we can eat on a holiday of celebration (being generous and not counting what is eaten the days before and after but realistic).

NIGHT: 1 polvorón + 2 chocolates + 3 neulas → 470kcal

CHRISTMAS: 1 piece of nougat + 2 cookies + 1 piece of panettone → 556kcal

SAN ESTEBAN: 1 truffle + 1 marzipan + 1 puff pastry → 390kcal

As you can see, there are an extra 400 kcal just in one day, not counting the extra food that is made and the hours in which it is eaten.

Do we toast? Better not.

Of course, we cannot forget about alcohol. Let’s now think about all the alcohol that can be drunk on a Christmas day. To wait for everyone to arrive, we will have a beer (or two), once we are seated at the table, we will accompany the starters with a vermouth (or two), wine while we eat, here directly two glasses (or three or four). Then we have to toast with a glass of cava (or two) and we will have a glass to make the after-dinner (or two or three or four …). Let’s count the calories …

A beer + a vermouth + 2 small glasses of wine + a glass of cava + a gin and tonic (with a tonic): 700kcal. If we add to these calories that of sweets, we get an excess of 1100kcal per day.

We are almost eating twice what we need every day, and I have already said that here we are not taking into account all the excesses of the appetizers and the excess portions of the main dishes. Nor am I going to talk about the very serious consequences of eating all that sugar and fat and all that alcohol, because I could write a whole post.

conclusion

Obviously not everyone will eat so much sweets or drink so much alcohol. This is just a general example to get you the main message, which is that even if we do not realize it, we are eating even before the holidays and that, adding everything counts. I want to make you see that the excess of sweets and alcohol are the cause of weight gain and that afterwards we cannot say…. “Me? For three chocolates and a glass of cava? ” Well, yes, because there are not three chocolates nor is it a glass of cava.

I also want to make it clear that I will be the first to eat a piece of nougat on Christmas Day and to toast with a glass of cava (which I don’t like) because if we have a reason to celebrate, we should not be left out. But always with control and on key days.

In the next post I will talk about the tips and tricks to follow to avoid all this.