December 1st and the countdown begins to the most eagerly awaited festivities of the year. Family and friends gather at the end of the month to celebrate love and joy. Cuisine is the main protagonist, along with memorable decorations, and it is easy to indulge in excesses, a consequence of the spirit of enjoyment inherent to these dates. Hearty meals are the stars of the show, with exceptional ingredients being consumed without regard, so the challenge is to keep your eye on the scale to take care of your health at Christmas. “During the festive season it is common to overeat with more fats and calories, which we must digest in the best possible way. That ‘holidays cocktail’ in addition to a change of routines can bring us as a surprise several extra kilos and an unwanted excess of cholesterol, so it is essential to watch what we eat during those dates,” explains Monica Nieto, pharmacist and one of the founders of Alevoo.
Taking care of your health during Christmas and Festive Season
In addition to controlling meals, opting for healthy snacks, avoiding alcohol and including fruit and vegetables on every plate, there are other less common tips that are worth paying attention to. “The consumption of quality foods with high nutritional value, including extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), provides us with better tolerance and digestion of those foods”, says the expert. Alevoo EVOO, one of the most awarded and recognized EVOOs in Spain and abroad – the European Union has once again chosen it to represent Spain as part of a campaign in the Middle East – is one of those superfoods to overcome the impact of this festive season.
“Our EVOO, rich in vitamin E and oleic acid, has anti-inflammatory, soothing and digestive properties, which help us to digest those foods better. During the festive season, when starters, appetizers and main courses are abundant and elaborate, it is essential to choose balanced recipes with healthy, quality ingredients,” says Monica. Consuming extra virgin olive oil is a guaranteed success, healthy and pleasant to the palate, with which to protect the digestive system.
Expert advice
When it comes to choosing the right Christmas menu and to promote better digestion, it is also important to bear in mind how food is cooked. “It is recommended to steam, bake or grill, reducing dishes with saturated fats that increase bad cholesterol”, she points out.
Using high quality extra virgin olive oil, as opposed to olive oils, sunflower oils, butters and other fats with lesser benefits, is fundamental for a healthy menu. “We should avoid processed foods that are so harmful to our health and should use the best raw materials, including our ALEVOO EVOO, whose composition, rich in oleic acid and monounsaturated fats, helps us to keep cholesterol at bay during the Christmas season of excesses,” she shares.
“The fact that the menu is completely homemade will fully influence the quality of the food and the way in which the body will digest the ingredients”, Monica herself says. “These healthy habits make a difference in our diet, both in the preparation of the recipes themselves and the finishing touches of the dishes, and in the dressing sauces homemade with a good EVOO. Think, for example, of mayonnaise; a homemade mayonnaise made with good EVOO is not the same as an industrial mayonnaise that is not made with quality oil and may contain all kinds of preservatives or additives, the consumption of which is not recommended”.
Festive desserts
Taking care of your health at Christmas also means keeping an eye on the foods you eat at dessert time. Sweets, a tradition at this time of year, form part of the diet linked to special celebrations. Shortbread, nougat, marzipan, and many other confections are a temptation that few can resist. In the same way, a healthy fat, in these cases, will be better than that of a processed product: “as sweets are never lacking on the table, we should opt for sweets made preferably with healthy ingredients, including extra virgin olive oil, the healthiest fat we can use in the kitchen”.
We recommend focusing on top quality food; cooking with ALEVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which provides us with a large quantity of antioxidants, reduces cholesterol and aids digestion; increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables; drinking plenty of water and not forgetting to do exercise and physical activity. In conclusion: avoiding excesses and opting for our ‘liquid gold’ will always be the key to enjoy much more the most familiar season of the year.
