When we talk about Christmas, in most cases we also mean abundant meals – there are days off, traditional delicacies are prepared, we go to visit or to restaurants. But is it possible these days to combine both goat and cabbage – to eat everything and at the same time eat properly, without excesses – or is it rather impossible? We open a series of appointments with Ligia Alexandrescu, nutritionist, consultant in sports nutrition, nutrition education and nutrition communication.

Tip #1: We can eat everything, but not at the same table

First, fasting people should start gradually with smaller amounts of animal protein, especially when it comes to pork.

Dietitian’s advice #1: we can eat everything, but by dividing it into meals, and not cramming all the traditional foods into one meal.

What should the menu look like these days so as not to overdo it? “We can start the morning with an egg, a dairy product, some cheese. If we like pork, we can consume a small amount of cold products such as drum, lebar, if they are homemade. When they are made at home, it is ideal because in this case we can control the ingredients, we can limit the amount of salt and fat added to the finished product. It’s good to be as close as possible to traditions, use grandmother’s recipes or find a good source of products to buy, that is, they have a fairly short shelf life,” explains Ligia Alexandrescu.

Lihiia Aeksandrescu, sports nutrition, food education and food communication consultant / Photo: HotNews.ro

If we buy dram and lebar commercially, nutritionist Ligia Alexandrescu recommends that we “look at the food label, and the description should start with the word meat, not water, protein or numbers, but meat. It is very important that this product contains at least 80% meat, and then we can consider it high-quality.”

In addition, we must also be very careful about the additives in these products, stresses Ligia Alexandrescu: “Be careful with E710, that is, I mean flavor enhancers, color enhancers, because they are used a lot, and sodium nitrite. We try to buy things that have a short shelf life and a small quantity, so that we don’t throw away the product and fight food waste.”

We tend to sit down at the table at noon and get up at 8 in the evening

How much to cook during this period? What is the recommended amount? “In terms of the amount of food we cook, let’s count how many family members we have and add two servings, no more. Since we can’t cook for more than 3 days, regardless of whether it’s hot or cold outside, the food still spoils quickly. Even if it’s cold outside, anything that means animal products means the risk of contamination with various bacteria, even in our refrigerator.”

Christmas table / Photo: Cleardesign | Dreamstime.com

Regarding what we eat, Ligia Alexandrescu says that during this period we can eat whatever we want, as long as we divide it into several meals: “It’s Christmas, we can eat whatever is traditional, whatever we like. We don’t have to be disappointed that we didn’t eat the mice, the drum or the leprechaun, the beef salad, the sausages or the pickles. We can eat everything, but not everything at once.”

“We Romanians usually sit down at the table at lunchtime and get up at 8 o’clock in the evening. We also visit a lot during this period. Or try to separate. What does it mean? That on the first morning of Christmas we eat what we put on the plate – a few cold pieces, of good quality, but with many, many vegetables. We have radishes, we have cherry tomatoes, we have lettuce, we have spinach, etc. Anything that has a dark color, the antioxidant present there helps to neutralize the acidity that the animal protein food gives us. Then hydration is very important. Drink tea or even water with lemon half an hour to a quarter of an hour before eating, so that we prepare, make an inclination, and cholecystitis will withstand this avalanche of fats that will go away.” advice from Ligia Alexandrescu.

Christmas table / Photo: Florin438 | Dreamstime.com

The nutritionist recommends hydrating with digestive teas during this period, which “really help us to digest proteins well at the intestinal level, but to be able to eliminate fats in the colon so that they are not deposited on the dishes. Digestion is also to be stimulated by these teas, which are a little diuretic and a little laxative.’

Bread should not be missing from the Christmas table: it contains fiber that helps remove toxins. Dessert is eaten an hour after a meal

You cannot remove bread from the Christmas table, and if you remove it with the thought of saving calories, you are making a mistake: “There must be bread, about 30 grams of bread in the morning. In addition to all these meat additives, bread is necessary because it contains fiber. Together with vegetables, it contains fiber and practically mobilizes the intestines and ensures the correct evacuation of all toxins.”

Christmas table / Photo: Olena Danileyko Dreamstime.com

Another breakfast option would be a bowl with 200-250 grams of sal de beef, with homemade mayonnaise, with quality meat cooked at home, in such a way that you don’t need to eat a snack, and dish 1 and dish 2 at the main table.

A dessert like kozonak is present, and to be present is natural, says Ligia Alexandrescu. She also tells how it is better to eat sweets during this period: “Of course, we can eat sweets, but not immediately after a hearty breakfast and a piece of cake. My advice: look at the clock, wait two hours, and then eat a piece of cake.”

Sweet bread / Photo: Liljam | Dreamstime.com

After breakfast, a break, and then dessert, it is recommended to go for a walk, “because sugar needs to be mobilized from the bloodstream and into the cells in a way that does not increase triglycerides and blood sugar. We are talking about a short walk, without maximum effort – walking, going up and down the stairs for half an hour. The body will thank us.”

What a Christmas dinner should look like

After two hours of this walk, we can go to lunch, says Ligia Alexandrescu.

It is ideal to never go on an empty stomach and even when we receive guests, this is the advice of a nutritionist, “so that we do not overdo it at the beginning of the meal and fill up with what is given at the beginning.”

poor / Photo: Economica20 | Dreamstime.com

What should the Christmas dinner look like so that it is not too much? “At first, you can eat a cold dish, for example, piftia, it can be turkey or pork. This is a protein concentrate, in addition to filling, there is also meat in it. You can start, in dish 1, with a traditional soup, instead of a soup. Then, as in the second method, if we have sarmale and we like them, and it is natural that we like them, we eat a portion of sarmale with polenta and some cream. But we stop there, we don’t eat steak anymore. We’ll save the steak for tomorrow.”

What we did not have time to eat on the first day, we eat on the second day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas, for lunch, we can eat what we did not have time to eat on the first day: traditional soup, if we did not eat on the first day and chose steak, then sausages, steak, polenta.

Christmas table / Photo: Famveldman | Dreamstime.com

In addition to sausages and steaks, one cannot fail to mention traditional pickles. Ligia Alexandrescu advises eating pickles in brine, which are healthier than those in vinegar: “Everything that means pickles means probiotics, it means helping the colon and neutralizing acidity,” says Ligia Alexandrescu, a sports nutrition consultant , education communication about food and nutrition.

Pickling in brine is “definitely” healthier, emphasizes Ligia Alexandrescu: “Vinegar has no place in our lives. Legs swell, cellulite appears, if we are talking about women, and at the level of the kidneys, it does not help at all.”

Photo: Dreamstime.com.