Continuing on from our last blog, here are some more great tips on having a fun but healthier time this Christmas and avoiding the depression of gaining 10 lbs and feeling tired and bloated

Great Alcohol Tips!
• Vodka is the purest alcohol, so that with a pure fruit juice or soda water or mineral water mixer is a great choice.
• Don’t let people continually top up your drinks because this makes tracking intake impossible. Make sure to finish each drink completely before getting another.
• A quick pit-stop at the bar on visits to the loo to discreetly drink a glass of water can really help.
• Our body processes alcohol at the rate of about ½ oz per hour or ½ a pint, so this gives you an idea of the speed at which you should ideally drink.
• The single most powerful thing you can do before and after drinking to avoid hangovers is to drink plenty of water.
• A major factor in hangovers are the ‘congeners’ in alcohol which are really toxins but actually give the taste, aroma and flavour to the drink! The more you drink the more you get and mixing drinks makes this worse. The darker the drink in colour the more congeners it has, so brandy, whiskey and red wine would have higher amounts! Clearer drinks like white wine, gin and vodka have the least amounts.

Christmas Calorie Shockers!
Okay, I’m sorry, I really tried but I can’t resist! You just have to be aware of the calories that are some of the most popular Christmas treats, so here it goes:

• A 3oz (84g) slice of Christmas cake…. 300 calories!
• A 3oz (84g) slice of Christmas pudding with custard and brandy butter…..500 calories!
• 1 mince pie with double cream…..350 calories!
• 1 medium glass of mulled wine…..200 calories!
• 1 small 1oz (28g) portion of chocolate log…..100 calories!
• 3oz (84g) of mixed nuts…..500 calories!

Healthier Christmas Recipes!
Here are some tips on reducing calories and improving the health of recipes:

• Replace 1 whole egg with 2 egg whites
• Use low-fat or skimmed milk instead of whole milk
• Replace ice cream with frozen yogurt
• Use low-fat versions of cheese (non fat cheese does not melt well in cooking or baking)
• Replace sour cream with low fat plain yogurt or low fat sour cream

In general remember there are low-fat versions of nearly everything readily available these days so make a conscious effort to seek these out. It really makes a difference with many versions having half or less of the fat and calories!

Get Your Dancing Shoes On
Christmas is actually one of the easier times to get some exercise because we have a little more free time. Yet the tendency is to abandon exercise all together! This is the time when we actually most need it. As well as burning off those extra calories, exercise helps improve digestion, remove stress and actually reduce your appetite. Remember dancing is a great fun form of exercise, so make sure to make a special effort to shake your stuff when on a night out. Dancing is also great fun exercise to do at home this time of year.

Fruit Detox Day
If all your willpower leaves you and you really over indulge then you just cannot beat a 1 day fruit detox to make you feel better and help re-balance the books. This is 1 day of eating whole fruits (not juicing), just the whole fruit and nothing but the whole fruit! The best fruits are apples, pears and grapes. Start with breakfast, eat 2 or 3 portions of fruit and repeat this at least every 3 hours for the whole day until bedtime. The secret is to eat fruit often enough not to go hungry. Herbal teas like chamomile, peppermint, fennel and green are allowed but no other foods and no tea or coffee. Please note that a fruit detox day is not suitable if you are diabetic, on any blood thinners, on 3 or more medications, have kidney or gall stones or have irritable bowel problems.

We would like to wish all our readers a healthy but truly great Christmas and Happy New Year!

Share
Go top
For info phone 086-8786042 or WhatsApp here