Easter is both a great religious and social festival.
On the social side, its European origins relate in part to a traditional time of year when one celebrates the end of winter and the arrival of spring. It's a time of joy and family celebration.
Historically, that was celebrated by the preparation and consumption of certain special meals and foodstuffs. Over the centuries just what they consisted of has changed and there are of course variations by individual cultures. Clearly the "welcoming of spring" connection has also gone in terms of the southern hemisphere!
Even so, almost cultures that celebrate Easter have a tradition that involves eating rich and indulgent food, such as those classic Easter eggs, various types of chocolates and special spiced cakes such as Hot Cross Buns.
From a dieting viewpoint though, these foodstuffs are something of a disaster. High in calories and in some cases at least, low in nutritional value, they are normally things to avoid if you are trying to lose or control your weight.
Although in the past some diets may have suggested cutting these things out altogether, today there is perhaps more of a practical realisation that a few treats now and then are not necessarily a bad thing in terms of overall healthy eating.
So, if you are dieting, you may find the following Easter eating tips to be of some use:
Don't be conned into starting Easter too early. The retailers will pack their shelves with these treats as early as January in the hope that you will buy and consume more and more over the weeks and sometimes months leading into Easter. Some would argue this is consumerism gone mad as well as being appallingly bad for your diet. So, don't play their game and damage your health in the process but instead only buy and eat Easter goodies over the Easter weekend itself.
Enjoy a few treats but don't gorge. Buy modest size Easter eggs and eat one over a few days rather than a few minutes.
Try to plan your goodies into your normal balanced daily diet or weight loss program instead of simply eating normally then consuming your Easter treats on top.
Tell any family and friends that are visiting over the holidays that you will be providing your own treats and ask them not to bring any additional indulgences for you with them. If they all arrive with that mega-egg for their host then it's going to be hard to say no thanks!
Try to get at least a little extra exercise over the holiday period to compensate, even if in part, for some of the extra calories you will be taking in.
If you do end up with a surplus of chocolate or other goodies, once Easter's over make a point of giving them away (e.g. to charity) rather than continuing to work through them over the next week or two until you have demolished them all.
A little treat or two over Easter is unlikely to be a major problem for any serious dieting endeavour but don't go too far. It can sometimes take weeks of hard work and effort to compensate for any serious over-indulgence during the Easter holidays.
Keep that in mind when you are looking at all those chocolate creations in the shops!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ratna_Rashid
