The experts are clear: it only takes a few days in the high mountains to feel as lively as a poultry raised in the great outdoors.
Long sliding sessions, sessions of fierce fight against the cold from mid-morning, oxygenation of the body as a whole... Enough to feel like melting like snow in the sun, or at least allow yourself a few excesses without any guilt, including hot chocolate, steaming hot toddy, roast Mont d'Or, and another formidable family raclette.
All, of course, for a caloric amount as high as the price of a night in Courchevel.
If skiing is among the most energy-consuming sports, it is nevertheless necessary to qualify its scope, since the caloric expenditure will depend on your skier profile: thus, a strong individual hurtling down the red and black slopes will be able to hope burn 400 calories per hour, while another more slender person, slaloming with the grace of a cake on the green and blue, will hardly exceed 200. That is, over a day of five hours of exercise, 2000 calories for the first, and “only” 1000 for the second.
And no matter how much we protest by brandishing our sticks, physiology will not come to its knees and apologize.
An observation confirmed by Alexis Mongellaz, dietitian-nutritionist and ski instructor in Les Saisies, in Savoie:
“there are many parameters which will impact energy expenditure: gender, age, body size, outside temperature… "What's important is the intensity, and therefore the level of the skier
."
Difficult, therefore, to compare our learned calculations with the average caloric intake of a raclette.
But let's not stop halfway: with 150 grams of cheese, the same amount of cold meats, 300 grams of potatoes and two glasses of dry white wine, the bill will come to around 1600 calories.
Our plump skier will therefore be left with some 400 calories of margin, while the unfortunate person with the wasp waist will have 600 calories extra on his conscience.
At least in theory.
Beware of the sin of gluttony and conviviality
Having another potato to finish off your cheese, a sliver of cheese for the last piece of potato... A delicious torture of tantalum which is therefore not without consequences.
However, our expert advises forgetting calculations in favor of common sense: “
You have to have a vision of your diet in its entirety, and this unfortunately does not come into play during vacations.
Diet must be moderate on a daily basis, a
sine qua non condition
for the few excesses that we allow ourselves during winter sports.
To the great dismay of mathematicians, there is no need to be precise and play the game of equivalences.
“
It’s much easier to trust your feelings.
After a day of skiing, we often feel very hungry, and it is important to satisfy it.
The trap lies in gluttony and conviviality, as well as in alcoholic drinks, which do not have a satiating effect
.”
In short, no more raclette – in moderation, then – and no more Roussette de Savoie.
Between sport and epicureanism, you now know which way the scales lean.
AND ALSO - What wine(s) should you drink with a raclette?