Skip the annual holiday stomach ache with these tips to avoid overindulging

Eggnog, holiday parties, turkey dinners and lots and lots of baked goods – the holidays are perhaps the most delicious time of year. But overindulging can also lead to not feeling so great if you aren't careful. To help us avoid the extra pounds this season, holistic nutritionist Peggy Kotsopoulos stopped by The Goods to share her top tips to help keep us from overeating.

Chewing is your friend

Sometimes all it takes to avoid overeating is slowing down enough to properly chew. Slowness also stems from "conscious eating," which means enjoying your food and being aware of every bite versus just shoveling food into your mouth. "Chewing food slowing" has been used as a weight management strategy for years. This is because the brain needs enough time to register that it's eaten, and it takes roughly 20 minutes for your brain to register the feeling of "fullness." 

In addition, the digestion of carbohydrates begins in your mouth. Amylase, which breaks down carbs, is secreted through your saliva glands. So the longer you munch away on your food, not only will you be breaking down the particles into smaller pieces, making it easier for your body to digest, but you'll be kick-starting the digestive process. And use those pearly whites and chew, chew, chew till your food is liquid. 

Hydration is key

Dehydration can lead to overeating. Many times we often mistake hunger for thirst. The most common side-effect of dehydration is fatigue. When we are tired, we tend to eat more because it provides us with energy. However, we often aren't hungry at all, we just need to hydrate. 

Poor hydration can result in mental fogginess, poor short-term memory, fatigue, and overeating. If you want more energy in your day, drink up! We should all be drinking water between meals and have a large glass about 30 minutes before your meal. Keeping hydrated will keep you feeling full and won't encourage you to overeat.

Get plenty of sleep

A lack of sleep can wreak havoc on your metabolism and can have negative physiological effects that promote weight gain. And if that's not enough incentive to get a good night's sleep, try this on for size: sleep promotes more fat burned when trying to lose weight.

If you're eating clean, exercising, and trying to lose weight, a lack of sleep can impede your efforts. A study conducted at the University of Chicago suggests that lack of sleep reduces weight loss efforts by 55 percent. In addition, of those who slept less, only 25 percent of their weight loss came from fat, whereas the rest came from loss of muscles and water (not good) whereas those who slept more lost more actual fat.

Sleep also helps to regulate your hunger hormone. When you compromise on sleep, your body produces more ghrelin (the hormone that triggers hunger) and less leptin (the hormone that tells you to stop eating). Adequate levels of sleep (seven to eight hours) can help to regulate your hunger hormones, whereas five hours or less promote a hormonal imbalance. Think about it: if you're tired, you tend to reach for food to fuel your energy and tend to be hungrier. But higher ghrelin levels are also associated with reduced energy expenditure and reduced fat oxidization. That, coupled with the decrease of leptin that usually tells you to stop eating is a weight-gain nightmare.

Opt for smaller plates (and red ones!)

Smaller plates help with portion control, preventing you from eating way more than you should. But this trick assumes you just help yourself to one serving, and then stop. So when you're at a buffet, grab a plate, fill it up, and just eat what's on your plate. Do not graze! You cannot control the quantity of your meal if you graze.

Also, opt for red. Not only is it a festive colour and red plates work well with this festive season, but new research published in the journal Appetite found that we eat less when eating food on a red plate. Subjects who were given pretzels on a red plate ate significantly less than those given pretzels on a blue or white plate. Who knew? It's certainly worth a try. The authors suggest that the colour red may work as a subtle stop signal (like a red traffic light) which may guide us to reduce our intake.

Stay regular

Sometimes when we know we have a big dinner party ahead of us, we'll avoid eating all day, just to feel like we can eat a lot at the end of the day with less guilt, but this is actually the worst thing you can do. A strategy like this can cause you to overeat and can potentially cause weight gain. Instead, eat regular, healthy meals throughout the day as you normally would. Have a healthy breakfast and lunch along with a light snack mid-afternoon so you're not ravenous by the time dinner hits. It's best to eat foods high in fiber, protein and fat that will satiate hunger and keep you feeling full for longer. Enjoy your holiday dinner by eating small amounts of everything slowly instead of rushing through it because you're too hungry.