If you think the only way to stay lean at Christmas is to miss out on all your favorite foods, think again.

Here are my 5 “stay lean” tips for continuing to enjoy your favorite foods without getting fat at Christmas:

One of the sneakiest, most common ways people eat too many calories is drinking drinks full of sugar. Which at Christmas can be in the form of  syrup-infused coffees, and cocktails like Rum & Eggnog.

Whether you reach for a sugary cocktail or a peppermint mocha, you can drink a meal’s worth of calories and still feel hungry.

To make matters worse, these calories have virtually no nutritional value. But are more likely to get glued to your waist, hips, and thighs.

Which is why, if you’re going to have a drink, try drinking water, tea, or  coffee instead. Save the calories for foods you’ll really enjoy.

During the cold winter months, your body craves comfort foods that warm and fill your stomach and body.

However, not all comfort foods are healthy (looking at you fried chicken).

So my advice is… eat more potatoes!

In the nutrition world, there’s a measurement called “the satiety index”. This is a scale that measures how filling a food is.

According to the satiety index¹, white potatoes are the most filling food you can eat—which is why adding something like a baked potato to your meals is a great way to stay full for hours, and avoid snacking between meals.

No, no… I’m not talking about sparkling wine or champagne.

(Although I wouldn’t blame you for deeming a glass of sparkling wine as necessary when celebrating with your friends and family.)

The “bubbles” I’m referring to are sparkling water, or seltzer.

Carbonated, zero-calorie drinks are a great way of staying hydrated, filling your belly, and keeping your calorie intake under control.

Sparkling water helps promote the feeling of satiety or fullness. And when you feel full you avoid overeating and snacking between meals.

Close your eyes and imagine a bustling train station. When the trains arrive and leave on schedule, life at the station runs smoothly.

However, if the trains are late or delayed, the schedule collapses and people can’t proceed with their travel plans. The station feels up with stranded travelers, and there's chaos.

Now a similar thing happens inside your body…

Your body has its own inner schedule, known as your circadian rhythm. There are countless bodily processes that rely on this rhythm to function. So if your circadian rhythm is thrown off… Chaos!

As you may have experienced in the past from a poor night of sleep, the next day you’re often hungry, craving things you don’t usually eat, exhausted, and have a foggy brain to deal with.

(Studies have even shown that people who are sleep-deprived report having a bigger appetite and a higher daily calorie intake².)

So aim to wake up and go to sleep at the same time each night, to help keep your circadian rhythm online.

Food is the centerpiece of social gatherings, and Christmas is no exception.

So the last thing you want to do is hold yourself back, deprive yourself of roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, pie, drinks, cookies…

So instead of denying yourself festive favorites, you can “switch on” your body’s fat-burning mode instead with AMPAliver!

AMPAlive helps you to stay lean by boosting your metabolism naturally. So you can continue enjoying your favorite foods while burning more sugars and carbs as energy, rather than storing them as fat.

>>>Find out more about AMPAlive

To your health!

Dr. Mark Rosenberg