The silly season always seems to become a month-long party filled with long lunches and boozy dinners…
But, is there a scientific reason behind why we eat so much during the festive period? We posed this question to IQS expert and integrative GP, Dr Tracy Chandler, who broke down the reasons why we feel the need to stuff our faces come December.
Our bodies still panic about possible famine…
“One of the major reasons we tend to overeat over the Christmas period is due to our pesky ‘starvation’ genes. These genes came about because food was scarce in fairly recent times. Binge eating when food was available was an adaptive behaviour to our environment (think of animals hoarding food for winter). Genes that made bingeing more likely therefore survived into the next generation. In a nutshell, this means we still panic about famine and when we are given opportunities to overeat, our genes make us respond by overeating!”
Our genes are programmed to love fatty and sweet foods…
“It is also the fault of our genes that we have a preference for fat and sugar (a common feature of Christmas food!) because we’re hardwired to know that fat and sugar contain a higher amount of calories (which is useful to our ancestors who needed to hoard as many calories as possible, ready for the next famine)!”
And, Christmas can conjure up many emotions for people who turn to food…
“In addition, there are a bunch of psychological reasons for why we overeat. Most people find the holiday season a stressful time and there is good evidence to suggest that stress makes us overeat. Cultural influences tend to make us do what the people around us do – i.e. if everyone around us is feasting on a big Christmas dinner, we feel the need to do the same. Studies have also shown that we tend to eat around 60 per cent more calories and 45 per cent more food if there is more food variety – another feature of holiday food. Another interesting study showed that we tend to eat 92 per cent of the food on our plate, and if our plate is piled higher than usual (usually found at Christmas) this means we naturally eat more.”
Our bodies are seeking out nutrients…
“Lastly, the nutrient content of food tends to be lower (despite being higher in calories) over Christmas due to the processed nature of snacks and so our body signals us to eat more to try to attain the nutrients it needs.”
Sound familiar? Get back on track once this festive frenzy is over by signing up to our next 8-Week Program!
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