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Rachel Lang
An Australian health expert has called for a fat Santa ban this Christmas.
Before you get up in arms, they're not calling for the red fella himself to be banned.
Rather, Renovatio Bioscience founder Dr Vincent Candrawinata wants to see an image that promotes healthy habits under the Christmas tree this year.
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Planning to stuff a few pillows down your front to dress up as the jolly ol' fella in the famous red suit? Maybe read this first.
"Shopping centres should not go above and beyond and make a concerted effort to make Santa look fat," he told news.com.au.
While being 'skinny does not actuate being healthy', Dr Candrawinata reckons a healthier representation of Kris Kringle should be on show at your local shopping centre.
He's calling for a slimmed-down Saint Nick to show kids that Christmas doesn't necessarily have to go hand-in-hand with overindulgence.
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"For a lot for us, myself included, it’s one of our earliest, joyful childhood memories and I think that it can have a profound positive impact on children when they don’t see the association with a joyful holiday and the urge to gorge and overindulge in terms of food and beverages," Dr Candrawinata said.
"Kids absorb a lot much more than we think they do."
Speaking to 3AW, Dr Candrawinata added that Santa can be used as a 'teachable moment' to show young generations 'you don’t have to be a certain size to be healthy'.
And, well, he may have a point.
In 2021, I Heart Wines conducted a survey on people’s drinking habits and revealed that 25 per cent of UK adults will pop open a bottle Christmas morning.
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Did someone say mimosas?
The research revealed the rest of the UK will typically have a slower start to boozy Christmas, sipping their first festive drink on average of 12.44pm.
It could also fit very nicely with the nation’s favourite Christmas foods, which were revealed to be roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, minced pies and Christmas puddings, according to a YouGov poll.
More controversially, in terms of Christmas chocolate, another survey indicated how the average Brit ranks Celebrations.
Malteser rightly comes in first, followed by Galaxy and Galaxy Caramel.
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Bounty was next on the list and Snickers came in fourth, meaning that these chocolates are ranked over Twix's, Milky Ways and Mars Bars.
So, after a very food and drink focused-2021, maybe there is no harm in dialling it back just a smidge this year.