Christmas parties, late dinners and the occasional mince pie for breakfast are hardly a recipe for routine. But consultant dietitian Kirsten Jackson says looking after your gut over the festive season doesn't require a list of forbidden foods. A little consistency, some variety and a sensible approach to fibre will do nicely.
By the time Christmas is properly under way, the usual eating routine can be hanging on by a thread. Lunch happens somewhere between present shopping and the office party, dinner becomes a three-course affair, and there’s a tin of chocolates permanently within reach.
It’s tempting to respond with a bit of nutritional damage control. Skip lunch before a big dinner, promise to be exceptionally good tomorrow, or start planning the January overhaul before you’ve even finished the Christmas pudding.
But Kirsten Jackson, consultant dietitian and founder of The IBS Dietitian, has a rather more sensible approach to gut health at Christmas. Instead of worrying about every festive indulgence, she recommends concentrating on the everyday foods and habits that can still fit around the celebrations.
“Instead, I always recommend focusing on variety and consistency. Your gut is home to trillions of microbes, collectively known as the gut microbiome, and the foods we eat – particularly different types of fibre – help to support these microbes.”
The message is refreshingly straightforward. Enjoy the festive food, keep a few useful routines in place and resist the urge to make December unnecessarily complicated.
Don’t Skip Meals to Make Room for Christmas Dinner
There is a certain logic, at least on paper, to skipping lunch when you know there’s a substantial dinner waiting later. It’s the dietary equivalent of clearing space in the diary.
Jackson, however, advises keeping regular meals wherever possible, even when Christmas parties and restaurant bookings disrupt the usual timetable.
Her recommendation is to make sure you’re eating enough throughout the day rather than deliberately restricting food in anticipation of a celebration.
That might mean sticking with your usual breakfast, having a proper lunch before an evening event and accepting that a festive dinner doesn’t require special preparation in the form of missed meals.
The important distinction is between adapting to a busy social calendar and treating food as something you need to earn or compensate for.
Give Your Gut a Bit of Variety
The gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microorganisms, and Jackson points to different types of dietary fibre as a useful way of supporting them.
Her advice is to include a variety of plant foods across the week, rather than becoming fixated on individual ingredients or expecting every meal to be nutritionally perfect.
Fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds all have a place. Different plant foods provide different types of fibre, which is why variety matters.
And this needn’t involve an elaborate meal plan that collapses the moment somebody invites you out for Christmas drinks.
Jackson recommends keeping a few convenient, fibre-rich foods in the kitchen. Porridge oats, frozen berries, tinned beans or lentils, wholegrain bread, nuts and seeds are among her suggestions.
They’re ordinary ingredients, readily incorporated into everyday meals without demanding much preparation.
Fermented foods can also feature. Live yoghurt and kefir are options Jackson suggests for people who enjoy and tolerate them, rather than something everybody needs to start consuming.
The aim is to make room for a wider range of foods alongside the Christmas favourites, not replace one set of dietary rules with another.
Be Careful About Suddenly Eating More Fibre
There is, however, an important qualification to the advice about plant variety.
If your usual diet is relatively low in fibre, December isn’t necessarily the moment to dramatically increase it overnight. This is particularly relevant for people who experience bloating or live with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Jackson explains: “If you are prone to bloating or have IBS, however, don’t suddenly dramatically increase your fibre intake. Build it up gradually and make sure you are drinking enough alongside it.”
It’s a useful reminder that dietary advice needs a little individual judgement.
Adding more fibre may be a reasonable goal, but how you introduce it matters. For anyone whose digestive symptoms are sensitive to dietary changes, Jackson’s emphasis is on building up gradually rather than attempting a sudden transformation.
And if certain fermented foods don’t agree with you, there’s no need to force the issue simply because they’re frequently associated with gut health.
Don’t Forget Sleep, Movement and Ordinary Routines
Food tends to dominate the discussion around festive health, but Jackson also highlights the everyday habits that become harder to maintain once the Christmas calendar fills up.
Regular meals, sufficient sleep and movement all form part of her advice for keeping some consistency throughout the season.
None requires a complicated festive wellness programme. The challenge is simply making room for familiar habits when social commitments are competing for your attention.
Perhaps the most useful point, though, is Jackson’s advice to stop treating Christmas eating as a test of dietary discipline.
“Most importantly, don’t put pressure on yourself to eat perfectly over Christmas. Rather than responding to a period of celebrations by restricting your diet or cutting out more foods, focus on what you can include and return to the basics.”
That’s a more practical way to approach a month that rarely follows the normal timetable.
You can enjoy Christmas dinner, have the chocolates and still make room for fibre-rich foods, regular meals and the other habits that support your wellbeing.
The mince pies don’t have to go anywhere. Just remember there’s still room in the cupboard for the porridge oats.
