Contrary to popular belief, a specialist maintains that it's not a matter of subjecting yourself to extreme restrictions or fasting from home until Christmas, a day of excessive drinking and feasting. The doctor and nutritionist Jesus Vazquez points out that this “recipe” is not effective and proposes, a couple of days before, to reduce carbohydrates and vegetables as much as possible. He assures that this and other tips will prevent you from gaining weight.

“You have to prepare your body so it doesn't get scared; it's like a boiler that needs to be given more capacity to burn” what we suddenly consume during the holidays, he warns in an interview with EFE Salud, in which he also explains what to do after overindulging to detoxify.

Vazquez warns that “eating little for dinner and then eating a lot the next day scares the body,” which defends itself with inflammation and fluid retention against the “flashes” produced by sugars, the calories from fats, and alcohol.

Preparation before festive meals

Dr. Jesus Vazquez advises reducing the intake of these food groups to facilitate fat burning.

He explains that the body obtains energy from different sources, such as carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, legumes, etc.) and vegetables, and stores it in glycogen reserves. of the cells, especially the liver and muscles.

Avoiding or minimizing these two food groups (carbohydrates and vegetables) causes the body's stores to empty their glucose reserves, forcing cells to use fat for energy.

“This is called metabolic flexibility: starting up the boiler's machinery, emptying it so it can burn sugars and fats (…) replenishing the empty stores in the liver and muscles and preventing those calories from being converted into abdominal fat,” he explains.

Therefore, two days before the Christmas excesses, it is suggested to consume broths, fish, and lean meats to prepare the body.

Otherwise, if you eat more fruit in the days leading up to it,vegetables or carbohydrates; when the heavy meals arrive, glycogen stores are full and then converted into abdominal fat.

Slowing Weight Gain

Important facts to know: the average weight gain during the Christmas holidays is 2 to 4 kilos.

“By preparing the body, you arrive with the momentum of burning fat, losing some weight in the last two days before the celebration, and it is much more difficult to gain more than 2 kilos, at most one or one and a half,” assures the specialist in charge of the Nutrivazquez Clinic in Zaragoza.

He adds that good preparation can help control weight gain and fluid retention.

Detoxifying from Excesses

The nutritionist tells EFE that if before the excesses of Christmas it is not advisable to follow very low-calorie diets based mainly on vegetables, after After several days of overindulging, this is precisely what you need to do to cleanse your body. "Compensation should always come after the excesses, not before," she insists. She recommends that the ideal thing after the holidays is a cleansing and diuretic diet based on vegetable broths, which reduce bloating, for up to a whole day if possible, or foods like pineapple, which help eliminate fluids, or having just some tangerines or grilled fish for dinner. She even suggests skipping dinner after overindulging, letting your body rest; and in the following days continuing with a low-calorie diet: asparagus, chicken breast, tomato, omelet, vegetables... This way we let the liver rest, "which is like a giant waste treatment plant where all the metabolic waste ends up." It's an organ that has a lot of work to do during the Christmas season and needs to be given a rest, she points out.

The liver has an ally, water, which is a vehicle that helps eliminate toxins and facilitates digestion.

Healthy habits for weight loss

Finally, she gives us two specific tips recommended for weight loss, which are healthy habits to consider: