Eating healthy over Christmas can feel like an impossible challenge. Being surrounded by endless amounts of chocolate, mince pies and gingerbread men, having Christmas parties and get togethers, it can be hard to strike a balance between enjoying yourself and looking after your health!
The conversation around healthy eating has shifted in recent years from trying to restrict calorie intake towards really thinking about what it is we are consuming. Recently, you may have heard people talk about the risks of ultra processed food. The NOVA Food Classification System[1] defined ultra processed foods as:
“Industrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods (oils, fats, sugar, starch, and proteins), derived from food constituents (hydrogenated fats and modified starch), or synthesized in laboratories from food substrates or other organic sources (flavor enhancers, colors, and several food additives used to make the product hyper-palatable)”.
Eating high levels of ultra-processed foods is associated with obesity[2] and even an increased risk of death[3] and can alter the gut microbiome[4], which is the ecosystem of microorganisms living in your gut. A healthy gut microbiome is important for our overall health including bone growth and development, brain function and for the immune system.[5] The gut microbiome can also influence our mood and mental health.[6] Furthermore, having a healthier gut microbiome appears to reduce the risk of obesity.[7]
Ultra processed foods are often referred to as “junk foods” and encompass a wide range of products from breakfast cereals to chocolate bars to supermarket bread. These ultra processed foods make up a lot of what we eat. In fact, in the UK, over half (51%) of the calories that we buy come from ultra processed food.[8] It can be hard to spot ultra processed foods; they are often hidden in plain sight. Often, to know if something is ultra processed, we have to check food labels to see what ingredients are in them. Ultra processed foods tend to have longer ingredients list and contain foods that you would not find in a typical home kitchen. Unfortunately, this means that many of our favourite Christmas treats would be classed as ultra processed.
So, how do we avoid eating too much ultra processed food at Christmastime whilst still enjoying the festivities? Well, it is firstly important to acknowledge that it is okay to indulge sometimes! In fact, being too restrictive with our diets can have unintended harms such as hormone imbalances and psychological distress which could cause subsequent disordered eating in some individuals.[9] However, some people do find that they overindulge more than they want to. It has been posited that people typically consume more calories throughout this period because of an increase in social events (e.g., family celebrations) and may even eat up to 6000 calories just on Christmas Day,[10] which can lead to weight gain.
To maintain a health behaviour long-term, it is often argued that we need to have intrinsic motivation (that is, we need to have motivation that comes from within). When thinking about healthy eating, an important motivator can be enjoyment.[11] If we enjoy the food that we are eating, we are more likely to stick with it. Therefore, it is important to find unprocessed or minimally processed foods that you like when trying to avoid ultra processed food. So, if you do want to maintain a healthy diet over the Christmas period, a few simple tips are:
- Check food labels to find the ingredients list – try to select options with shorter ingredients lists, and, where possible, buy products without ingredients that you would not find in your kitchen (e.g., artificial flavours, colourings, preservatives, etc.).
- Make some simple swaps – find some simple swaps that you are happy to make. For example, you could choose 70% dark chocolate over milk chocolate.
- Eat homemade food – cooking food yourself means you know what is in it. Throughout the Christmas period, you could try eat out less, perhaps hosting dinners. On Christmas Day, if you don’t already, try to cook more from scratch!
Key takeaways
Many of us are interested in improving our health by eating less ultra-processed food. However, eating healthily over the Christmas period can be challenging with more social events and popular festive foods.
There are some simple changes that we can make to help us stay on track, like cooking more and swapping out ultra processed foods for other foods that we enjoy.
Ultimately, what is important is that we stick to eating things that we like without feeling restricted.
[1] Monteiro, C. A., Cannon, G., Moubarac, J. C., Levy, R. B., Louzada, M. L. C., & Jaime, P. C. (2018). The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/un-decade-ofnutrition-the-nova-food-classification-and-the-trouble-withultraprocessing/2A9776922A28F8F757BDA32C3266AC2A
[2] Lee, J. Y., Leeming, E. R., Francis, L., Spector, T., Berry, S., & Gibson, R. (2022). The association between ultra-processed food consumption and obesity in the ZOE PREDICT 1 cohort in the United Kingdom. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-nutrition-society/article/association-between-ultraprocessed-food-consumption-and-obesity-in-the-zoe-predict-1-cohort-in-the-united-kingdom/8EAB5BB12900200C882B10E0CB91E083
[3] Schnabel, L., Kesse-Guyot, E., Allès, B., Touvier, M., Srour, B., Hercberg, S., … & Julia, C. (2019). Association between ultraprocessed food consumption and risk of mortality among middle-aged adults in France. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2723626
[4] Brichacek, A. L., Florkowski, M., Abiona, E., & Frank, K. M. (2024). Ultra-Processed Foods: A Narrative Review of the Impact on the Human Gut Microbiome and Variations in Classification Methods. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/11/1738
[5] Gomaa, E. Z. (2020). Human gut microbiota/microbiome in health and diseases: a review. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10482-020-01474-7
[6] Lucas, G. (2018). Gut thinking: the gut microbiome and mental health beyond the head. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16512235.2018.1548250
[7] Castaner, O., Goday, A., Park, Y. M., Lee, S. H., Magkos, F., Shiow, S. A. T. E., & Schröder, H. (2018). The gut microbiome profile in obesity: a systematic review. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2018/4095789
[8] Monteiro, C. A., Moubarac, J. C., Levy, R. B., Canella, D. S., da Costa Louzada, M. L., & Cannon, G. (2018). Household availability of ultra-processed foods and obesity in nineteen European countries. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/household-availability-of-ultraprocessed-foods-and-obesity-in-nineteen-european-countries/D63EF7095E8EFE72BD825AFC2F331149
[9] [9] Habib, A., Ali, T., Nazir, Z., Inayat, Q. U. A., & Haque, M. A. (2023). Unintended consequences of dieting: How restrictive eating habits can harm your health. International Journal of Surgery Open, 60, 100703.
[10] Mason, F., Farley, A., Pallan, M., Sitch, A., Easter, C., & Daley, A. J. (2018). Effectiveness of a brief behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas holiday period: randomised controlled trial. bmj, 363.
[11] Ma, X., Lee, S., & Hwang, J. Y. (2025). Exploring the Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Healthy Eating Intentions: An Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior in Chinese Adults. Nutrients, 17(12), 2007.