Plan your diet around the Eid holiday

CAIRO – 31 August 2017: With Eid Al Adha dawning upon us, the mood of sacrificing for the poor and needy prevails. However, with all the lavish foods and family feasts the holiday brings, you can avoid sacrificing your favorite delicacies with these few simple tips.

Since this is the holiday for slaughtering sheep, you’ll be overwhelmed with the amount of red meat being cooked. The best way to limit your meat intake is to cut your meat consumption to one serving per day. Using other alternatives to sheep meat such as beef, chicken and any type of lean meat that has its fat cut off can help in reducing your fat intake.

Another tip is to widen your portions of vegetables and salads being served so that you would feel full faster. However, beware of the dips such as tahini and baba ganouche since they tend to have a high calorie count.

As for sweets, everyone’s guilty pleasure, try to curb your sweet tooth cravings with fruits first before you dig in to that platter of biscuits or oriental sweets. Watery fruits and unsalted nuts can be a good alternative.

Since you will be hopping around from one family gathering to another, try to choose the main meal that you will indulge in wisely and leave the rest of the day for smaller portion-controlled meals.

Finally, to avoid all the guilt that comes along with the eating, try to be constantly moving so that you can burn some of the calories you ate, whether it’s by going out for a walk or helping out with the house chores.