We want to enjoy food.
It's a big part of the holidays.
[Rachel]- Okay.
But we want to do it within reason.
And so we're here to talk about is overeating
and how to prevent the overeating during the holidays
[Rachel]- Oh gees.
So it's kind of a downer, I get that,
but it's important.
I want to start with an interesting fact, Rachel.
Okay.
It takes about 20 minutes for our brain
to realize when our stomach is full, right.
To know that you're full, right.
So it's and important theme here
is to think about how fast we eat so we don't overeat.
So we have a demonstration here,
because I think it will surprise a lot of people
how big our stomachs can actually get.
So I'm going to have you use this balloon
and this instaflater here and we are going to talk
about the stomach and what happens as we eat.
So at rest, when our stomachs are empty,
it's about the size of a closed fist.
So you can see this balloon here.
I don't know how it works.
[Dr.]- Pull it back and push it, yeah.
Well that's lame.
(audience Laughing)
Oh, all right.
So you can do it the old fashion way,
but essentially this is what our stomach
looks like when it's empty.
[Rachel]- How big you want this?
That's actually a perfect example
of what a normal size meal does to our stomach.
It's about a liter of food and liquid.
Now, lets talk about the holiday meal when we overdo it.
Well, we actually.
(audience laughing)
We may have needed that for the next one
but instead we are going to show you.
Let's just use this.
Pretend Rachel blew this up.
This is 3 liters of food and liquid.
Ew.
And this is actually how big our stomachs
would get after a large holiday meal.
That's what we call the food baby.
Exactly.
All right.
And so you can imaging how this can press on organs
and surrounding structures in the body;
makes us feel uncomfortable.
We have a visual here to show you the stomach
actually in the body pushing all over.
This is why we feel bloated;
we get nauseated.
We regret how did we get here.
And so it's important to remember this 20 minute lag time.
And this is actually why we feel tired,
and actually it puts a lot of stress on our body.
It's that food coma.
It is.
Yeah.
And so what happens, organs have to work overtime;
the liver, the pancreas, even the heart has
to work overtime for many hours just to process this.
So it feels like your insides are laboring
and that's why you're exhausted.
They're exhausted.
So how can we prevent this.
That's the number one questions.
So I want to also bring to mind.
Well, the most obvious thing is stop eating.
Right, that's easier said that done.
So one strategy, research has shown,
let's say dessert is your weakness.
If you actually use a contrasting color plate
to the food you're eating, you'll actually eat less.
Because the food is more apparent
of the size of the portion.
Exactly, so plate your pumpkin pie on a blue plate
as opposed to an orange plate and that's
one quick strategy to eat less dessert.
Okay, wait, unless you're at your mother-in-law's house
and she is serving on orange plates
do not ask for a blue plate.
(audience laughing)
Okay, except for the mother-in-law asstric.
Okay, so other strategies: eat more slowly.
Use this 20 minute lag time to your benefit.
Eat slowly, put the fork down between bites.
Enjoy your conversation, which you're supposed
to do with family and friends at the holidays.
Drink a glass of water before the
meal and before every course.
That really does work cause it feels you up.
It feels you up, as does high fiber foods.
So if you want to have a high fiber salad,
some crudites, something before the main course
that will also make you feel full,
so you'll actually end up eating less.
And I think we should ban
elastic waist bands during holiday.
(laughter)
So that's cheating, you gotta show up
with tight clothes, that's going to put
a limit on how much you can eat.
Okay, so despite all our best efforts, Rachel,
look let's face it, we're all going to overeat
during the holidays, right.
So what can we do after the fact to get
things feeling a little bit better?
Number one, take a walk, right.
So we all want to sit down on the couch.
[Rachel]- I like that.
Take a 15-20 minute walk, get the
metabolism going, start burning some calories.
Peppermint tea, so we have an example here.
Peppermint tea is phenomenal after we overeat.
It relaxes the GI tract.
Helps us to eliminate gas, which makes us feel less bloated.
There are some things that we can do later that day
or the next day to help counteract
the effects of over eating.
So one thing we all take a lot of is salt.
We take a lot of salt in during the holiday.
[Rachel]- That's very true.
So you want to actually eat foods high in potassium.
High potassium foods actually help
your body to get rid of excess salt.
[Rachel]- Elevate excess sodium.
Right, so high potassium foods, avocado, banana, spinach.
If you've eaten too much fat, the perfect home remedy;
hot water, a little bit of honey,
and two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
to help digest the fat.
And if you've eaten too much sugar
you want to go to high fiber, high protein.
So we have celery and hummus, some pistachio,
some hard boiled eggs.
[Rachel]- This is really, it's brilliant.
Yeah, this is actually a good spread
to think about later that day
or the following day to counteract that.
(audience clapping)
Now, I've been asked, so at the risk of
pulling a hamstring, there are actually
some yoga posses that could help with digestion.
I am actually going to go out in front here
and demonstrate a particular one
that I like which is a twist.
Now, the thing about yoga posses
you don't want to do posses where you're lying
flat on your back with a full stomach.
So you want to stick with seated positions
and there's a twist that you can do
where you just bend one leg and you twist
and you do some deep breathing into the belly
to help get the blood flowing and the digestion going.
So you want to do on one side and then the other side.
Again, in addition to a brisk walk,
this should help you digest your food.
(audience cheering)