The fallout of festive feasting

How much will you eat?

Around the world, the traditional Christmas feast will be served in literally billions of homes, as people indulge and enjoy time with family and friends. However, what people may choose to forget during the festive season is the excess calories they are consuming.

Christmas Day sees most people eat about three or four times more than they do on a normal day - knocking back thousands of calories in just a few hours. On average, a typical Christmas dinner is packed with a staggering 1000 calories, but a dinner with all the trimmings, plus treats and other later meals can add up to a massive 6000 calories.

6000 calories is three times the limit recommended for an adult, and four times the 1550 calories advised for a five-year-old girl.

Experts warn that this over-indulging - plus more throughout the holiday period - can lead to weight gain, which may stay for weeks, months or forever. All those extra pounds have to go somewhere and while your waistline gets bigger, your blood pressure and blood sugar also increase. So what can you expect from your gut-busting Christmas lunch?

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Turkey

An article in The Daily Mail reports that eating three slices of skinless turkey breast contains a staggering 140 calories and 1.8 grams of fat, in other words it will take you 20 minutes of aerobics to work it off.

Despite this, turkey contains an amino acid called tryptophan, which the body converts to serotonin - a brain chemical known for its mood-boosting properties (useful if you're being driven barmy by the kids fighting over the Scalextric).

"Turkey is also great for your hair - because it's protein and that's what hair is made of," says Glenn Lyons, of the Philip Kingsley trichology clinic in London.

Yet, don't overdo it or else you might be sick. As Dr Nick Read, a gastroenterologist and medical adviser to the charity The Gut Trust, explains: "The small intestine contains 'receptors' that act on the vagus nerve that goes into the brain.

"This nerve co-ordinates the vomiting mechanism. If it's stimulated by a meal that is very high in protein, it can lead to vomiting."

Is anything healthy?

So what could be classified as relatively healthy in your Christmas dinner? Well if you're not a fan, this includes me, this piece of information is going to be pretty useless to you. If you like Brussel sprouts with your dinner, you'll be pleased to know they only contain seven calories for two tablespoons. You can get away with boiled carrots too, as the same amount contains only 10 calories in your Christmas dinner.

Whilst we don't want to scare you off your Christmas dinner and we know we'll all be over-indulging, we just what you to consider the consequences before you reach for that second slice of Christmas cake.

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