Selamat Hari Raya to all our Muslim friends and enjoy the great food as the celebrations continue for the next days to come! As we all know, the festive season can prove to be a challenging season to stay on track! Those circular, rotating dishes presenting to you a multitude of sweet and savoury delights is a recurring theme across the different festivities; be it Chinese New Year, Diwali or Hari Raya. While we want to treat ourselves, we often forget what we are eating. Which Festive Eater personality are you?

5 Types of Festive Eaters

1. “The Bottle Hugger” Festive Eater

You are a “Bottle Hugger” if you find yourself holding on to an entire bottle of festive goodies while sitting in front of the TV, only to find it empty a few hours later as you have inhaled all the contents in the bottle without realization!

2. “The Caring & Sharing” Festive Eater

These “kind-hearted” friends and relatives are the ones we love the most, offering us food anytime and anywhere we see them!

3. “The Oxy-Moron” Festive Eater

You continuously talk about how much you have to exercise after consuming all the food on your plate. But instead of avoiding the festive goodies, you continue to munch on them and forget all about the work-out you planned earlier on.

4. “The Mountain Climber” Festive Eater

You pile your food as high as a Mount Everest during a festive party buffet, simply because you would rather keep eating than make 10 trips back and forth!

5. “The Food Shopper” Festive Eater

You tend to over-estimate and buy kuehs or crackers in bulk, telling yourself that there are many hungry mouths to feed this festive season. Every year, you always end up having to consume most of them yourself after the festivity before the food expires!

Practice Smart Eating during Festivities

While these festivities only take place a few times in a year, FuelFit wants to remind you that while we do not need to strive for perfect eating all the time and it is alright to indulge a little, we still need to eat in moderation and be mindful of what we eat.

Here are some hacks to help you eat better!

1. Use a smaller plate. Doing so will control your portion sizes as a smaller amount of food is presented to you. “Once I start, I can’t seem to stop!” To avoid overeating, try rationing your food into smaller portions, chewing to savour it. This also helps to curb our cravings for the salty and sweet goodies.

2. Don’t go to a festive event feeling hungry.[1] When we are hungry, we tend to target foods high in sugar and carbohydrates or even strive to eat everything in sight!

3. Limit your soft drink Intake! Instead, drink lots of plain water to avoid overeating due to false hunger signals and to prevent dehydration.

4. Eat a little bit of everything. This allows you to to taste a little bit of everything while helping you to recognize that whatever on your plate is all that you have. Even better, share your goodies with others!

5. Avoid mindless eating, that is, eating the food just because it’s there. If we eat while we are distracted – watching TV, using a computer or our smartphones, we are more likely to gain unnecessary weight.[2] While this applies to our day to day eating habits, this is especially important during the festive season, when most of the food that surrounds us are especially unhealthy if consumed in large amounts!

6. Replace crackers and chips with healthier options instead. Here are some examples of tasty yet healthier festive snacks!

Nuts (e.g. peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachio nuts)
Seeds (e.g. melon seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds)
Baked vegetable chips (e.g. yam, carrot, lady’s fingers, lotus root)
Unsweetened dried fruits (e.g. cranberries, apricot, persimmon)[3]

Festivities involve events and that we ought to recognize as celebrations and enjoyment. While there is no need to beat yourself up just because you had a little extra piece Kueh Bangkit, Pineapple Tarts or Murukku, make sure your eating patterns doesn’t get out of hand.

You have tried exercising more or you have been all kinds of diet plans. But you can’t seem to get your weight to budge as fast as your motivation for exercising or hunger pangs dies off. If we tell you that by doing something small everyday, you can change your body permanently — then click here to find out more about how the FuelFit Nutrition Pro Coach system can help!

[1] http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/6770

[2] http://www.webmd.com/diet/why_mindless_eating_can_pack_on_pounds_

[3] http://www.vitacare.com.my/2012/07/15/how-eat-healthy-and-still-indulge-festive-hari-raya-season/