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Overeating at Christmas

Five ways to enjoy Christmas without putting on a stone

The average Brit eats a whopping, button-popping 7,000 calories on Christmas Day alone. And it's not just the day itself - thanks to office parties, drinks with neighbours, and get-togethers with friends and family, the traditional 12 days of calorie-cramming Christmas now extend from early December right through to January.

No wonder then that for those of us trying to watch our weight, the Christmas festivities can be ruined by a real fear of gaining weight. If you've struggled for months to be able to fit into your little black party dress, the last thing you want is to have your self-control tested to the limit every single day.

Shops may only be closed for a couple of days over Christmas, but as a society we still succumb to the idea of stocking up and over-shopping for food. Supermarket shelves are laden with seasonal snack foods and endless two-for-one offers encourage you to fill your trolley, while at home - especially when you're playing the generous host to relatives and friends - every time you open your kitchen cupboards, you're taunted with 'treat' food.

Christmas parties are weighed down with high-fat nibbles. It's perfectly possible to blow a whole day's recommended calorie consumption in just half an hour's grazing. A portion of crisps comes in at 60 calories, a handful of mixed nuts at 243 calories, Christmas cake is 249 calories and one mince pie and double cream is 370 calories.

Even at work, it's difficult to escape the group gluttony with people constantly passing around mince pies and Quality Street with the constant refrain: 'Go on - it's Christmas.'

And just when you couldn't be feeling more tense, chances are your home will be invaded by hordes of relatives all expecting a succession of meals, snacks and drinks. Comfort eating has never seemed so well named, as you give in the struggle and seek solace in a sizeable chunk of Christmas cake.

Weight watchers up and down the country admit 'if you can't beat em, join em' and rush headlong into an orgy of over-indulgence - only to get back on the scales in January filled with self-loathing.

But it doesn't have to be like that. Even the most tempted of slimmers can still be in shape by January. Kate Cook, a clinical nutritionist and life coach at www.thenutritioncoach.co.uk, has some suggestions for how to get through the season of over-stuffing without gaining a stone.

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