The mistake of fasting before eating big meals, especially at Christmas

It is the classic ploy for making it through the Christmas period: skip breakfast or lunch to compensate for the excesses at dinnertime. Although it may seem like a good way to reduce calorie intake, it's a big mistake. By fasting we will not avoid piling on extra kilos by the end of the holiday season. Our body is very deceitful when it comes to storing the fat. However, nutritionists have some suggestions to help us through.

"It doesn't pay to try and make amends," says Pablo Zumaquero, nutritionist and graduate in food science and technology. "If you only drink green tea until lunch; then you eat a chicken fillet with a tomato and later you sip on a coffee, you will arrive at dinnertime so hungry you could eat a horse," he warns. Even worse if we fast first. Skipping meals and ending up at the dinner table with an empty stomach we will almost certainly head for the least healthy dishes.

"After heavy meals, such as Christmas dinner, we should not fast. It is not good to skip meals that follow afterwards. It is better to prepare light dishes with plenty of vegetables and salads during the days preceding or following the festivities," warns nutritionist and Open University of Catalonia lecturer Alicia Aguilera.

"We should not try to atone for excess by fasting, as it can affect health and aggravate existing ailments," says Lourdes de la Bastida, nutritionist at Quirón. Binge-eating represents "a metabolic imbalance, which can cause hyperglycemia and especially affects people with diabetes, hypertension and kidney disease," she explains.

An hour before sitting down at the festive table, eat a healthy snack. A couple of pieces of fruit or a handful of nuts will reduce the hunger pangs. "It is very effective to eat a snack containing fibre and protein because it helps you feel full sooner during the meal and your body will better absorb and process any excess sugar and carbohydrates," advises the nutritionist.

One piece of advice that all the experts agree on: drink at least one large glass of water before sitting down to eat, not only to fill your stomach, but also to stay well hydrated. On many occasions we confuse the signals that the body sends us, and we believe we are hungry when in reality we are simply thirsty. Stay away from alcohol. Apart from the damage it does to the body, it also makes us less aware of what we are eating.

It is not a case of doing sports to burn off the excess calories that we have consumed. Instead it is about exercising before a meal both to reduce hunger and to increase our metabolism, so what we eat afterwards will be burned off faster and absorbed better. "Strength or resistance training before any big meal allows you to direct the excess nutrients towards all your muscles, not to growing your spare tyre," says Zumaquero.

Once at the table, it is essential to eat slowly, giving the body time to acquire that 'full feeling', which takes about 20 minutes from when we swallow the food. "We can skip parts of the Christmas excess (not eating a starter or passing over other dishes)," says Zumaquero in his book 'On Monday I'll start the diet'. Fatty appetisers, pâtés, cheeses and cold meats can be replaced with lower calorie options such as asparagus, boiled or grilled seafood.

Over the festive period you may find yourself eating all the leftovers from Christmas and New Year's day and over-indulging on the sweets and extras laid out for the holidays. "If on the days in-between the main festivities we just ate a normal diet, assuming of course that we eat healthily, then it wouldn't be such a problem," says Zumaquero. "If we tell ourselves that we will start eating healthily in January, it's the same as telling ourselves we're OK to gain three or four kilos at Christmas. We give free rein to eat without control. However if a person continues to eat healthily and only eats to excess occasionally over these four or five days, it is rare for that person to gain much weight. But those who let themselves go throughout the holidays, those extra kilos can really mount up".