Christmas is here, with decorations going up and shops packed with festive treats. A key tradition each year, regardless of weather, is indulging in holiday food.
Historically, Advent was a period of fasting up to Christmas Eve, followed by feasting for the 12 days of Christmas. People eagerly enjoyed mince pies, meats, fruits, and turkey, introduced to England during Henry VIII’s reign. Many of today’s traditions come from the Tudor and Victorian eras, though now we rarely abstain before the festivities.
Today, holiday indulgence often starts as early as October, leading many to start the New Year with diets and detoxes. So how can we enjoy Christmas without compromising health or January’s happiness? The key is to understand the effects of excess while still enjoying a festive season.
Health-Approved Christmas Lunch
In 2017, a Christmas lunch was designed following NHS nutritional guidelines to show what a “public health-approved” meal might look like. It included 125g of turkey, half a serving of boiled potatoes, 25g of sprouts, a tenth of a serving of Christmas pudding, 15ml of brandy cream, and small, restricted portions of alcohol. This “Scrooge-approved” meal aimed to highlight the health risks of overindulgence.
For many, the issue isn’t with Christmas Day itself – one day of indulgence is fine for enjoying with loved ones. The real problem lies in prolonged excess and, perhaps more importantly, why we overindulge.
Emotional Eating
Christmas brings joy but also stress, especially with the pressure to make everything “perfect,” which can impact our health. For children, though, creating a magical Christmas doesn’t require perfection—they find joy in simple things, regardless of cost or decor. Letting go of this pressure can reduce the urge to stress-eat, as emotional eating often leads us to reach for treat foods.
Treats
Why do we label certain foods as “treats” and crave them when stressed or emotional? Often, it’s because we’re seeking a “food memory” – times when food brought us happiness. Christmas especially links sweet foods with positive memories, creating a neurological association between sugary treats and happiness. But does sugar really make us feel better?
Biologically, sugary foods don’t truly boost our mood – they give a brief “artificial high” by activating dopamine, a neurotransmitter tied to pleasure, reward, and addictive behaviors. This can create a cycle for those who link treats with emotions, especially amid holiday stress and the abundance of sweet foods.
Additionally, while we associate “treats” with positivity, these foods are usually high in sugar and low in nutritional value, offering mostly empty calories.
The Problem With Sugar
As we have seen, sugary foods can lure us into a false sense of positivity via the activation of dopamine, which is short-lived. Researchers have found that sugar provokes the same dopamine response as drugs in as much as you need to keep increasing the consumption to get the ‘same hit’. This is one of the reasons why we seem to be capable of consuming large amounts of sugary foods in one go and why we can easily overconsume when festive treats are all around us.
Indulge, But Keep An Eye On Your Sugar Intake!
I am not going to advocate the ‘health-approved Christmas lunch’ or suggest a sugar-free Christmas, neither are necessary or particularly practical, but being slightly sensible is advisable to avoid sugar excess potentially ruining your festive season. Here are some signs to look out for if you worry you may be consuming too much sugar: –
- Constantly hungry – whilst sugar satisfies your taste buds it doesn’t satisfy true hunger in the way that protein-rich foods would. This can lead you to feel continually hungry despite constantly grazing on foods
- Weight gain – sugar is the leading cause of weight gain due to the metabolic cycle of excess it can lead to. While most people may gain a few pounds over Christmas it isn’t healthy to pile on too much in a short space of time as it will make losing the weight much harder in the new year
- Mood swings – if you’re feeling slightly irritable it could be due to your fluctuating blood sugar – our brains much prefer to have a constant steady level of blood sugar rather than the spikes and drops caused by high-sugar foods.
- Feeling exhausted – if you feel you are not sleeping well (sugar affects the quality of your sleep) and are fatigued through the day, you may want to reduce your sugar intake as the more tired you are the more of the hunger hormone Ghrelin you will produce which, ultimately will lead you craving more sugary foods. Another cycle you may find yourself in – poor sleep = increased cravings = more poor sleep.
- Nothing tastes sweet enough – due to the dopamine response, you will need to ‘eat more to get the same dopamine activation’ this can mean sweeter foods and/or more of them
- Spots and wrinkles – you may find you develop acne as glycaemic control supports skin health. A high-sugar diet also accelerates the ageing process leading to wrinkles.
- Joint pain – sugar is an inflammatory food so can create or worsen joint pain
- Confusion – if you’re feeling forgetful or confused this could be due to high blood glucose
- Digestive issues – too much sugar can irritate your gut leading to all manner of digestive issues and discomfort
- Cravings – if you constantly crave sugary foods, it could be time to reduce and look at your sugar intake as these cravings will only deepen and you will feel out of control with your food intake
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of seasonal indulgence, the key is to try to keep in control and encourage other ways to make festive memories. Festive fun doesn’t always need to include food, although food is a big part of the season. Try to encourage memories and connections around situations not involving food such as a brisk walk, some arts and crafts or visiting a garden centre. We want to be able to enjoy the festive season without feeling unhealthy and guilty going into the new year.
