Top Tips for Having a Healthy Happy Christmas (without expanding your waistline or falling out with everyone!)

How to Have a Happy Healthy Christmas

Well, it’s that time of year again.

Ho, ho, ho and all that jazz – eat, drink and be merry!

1. Parties & Nights Out – these will happen. Go and have a good time. Enjoy yourself as it’s good to let your hair down every now and then.

If you’re not eating out, then make sure that you eat something filling beforehand, then you won’t be tempted to get a dirty kebab on the way home. Make sure that you drink plenty of water before, during (if possible) and when you get home.

2. Alcohol – I get asked all the time ‘what should I drink on a night out’. The best thing is to avoid alcohol, but if you are drinking then the white spirits are probably best – vodka or gin, with tonic water.

German beers are by law not allowed to put any nasty chemicals in them, so they’re a good option if you’re a beer drinker.

Organic wines are best if you’re a wine drinker and want to avoid a hangover (although I still believe it doesn’t matter if it’s organic or not, if you drink loads you’ll still feel grotty the next day).

And water…plenty of it!

3. Water – have I mentioned this?? Over the whole of the Christmas period, make sure that you’re getting your 2 litres per day.

The solution to pollution is dilution – remember that!

4. Food – You’re going to be eating more than you normally do, apparently the average Christmas lunch contains 3,000 calories – ouch! This is more than the entire day for a grown active man. And, massively more than we would normally have. Just take it steady, try to eat a bit slower, chew your food and don’t shovel it down.

It takes around 20 mins for your stomach and brain to register that you’re full.

Slow dowwwnnnn.

5. Get Outside – it’s dark, wet, icy cold – I know. But you still need to get outside and get some fresh air. Not only is it good for your body, but it’s good for your mind too. It gives you some much-needed breathing space – quite literally.

Also, you will get a bit of a Vitamin D top up – I heard the other day, that there’s no such thing as flu season, just Vitamin D deficiency season.

I’m not entirely sure if that’s correct, but according to the WHO;

‘The new advice from PHE is that adults and children over the age of one should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10mcg of vitamin D, particularly during autumn and winter’.

Getting outside during daylight hours will help to keep yours topped up.

6. Keep Moving – The temptation is to sit in front of the TV watching a good Christmas film, but do try to get out for a regular walk or join my ‘Core Club’ where I post a weekly workout and will continue to do so over the Christmas period.

Keeping moving is not only good for your muscles, bones, heart and circulation (as if that wasn’t enough), but it’s also great for digestion and getting things moving ‘quite literally’ through your system (you know what I’m saying here, right?).

You can also join our ‘Betwixmas Extravaganza‘ Class (see link below, only 2 spaces remaining at the time of writing) – to blast away the post-Christmas blues.

7. Stress – Christmas can be an extremely stressful time. Just make sure that you’re dialling in with yourself about what feels right for you. Sometimes this means that we have to have difficult conversations with people, one of my clients, Emma (who’s a fab coach btw) recently wrote an excellent blog about how to have difficult conversations and why they’re often necessary.

Here’s the link to have a read https://www.emmabyers.co.uk/7-steps-to-find-your-voice/

8. Sugar – Oh my word, in my house Christmas is a licence to eat sugar (chocolate oranges count as one of my 5 a day, right?!?). Tins of Quality Street, Celebrations – all that crap that I spend most of the year avoiding, seems to gravitate to me during the festivities.

So, how can we avoid?

Well, I’ve heard this top tip, apparently a study at St Georges Hospital, London found that vanilla-scented patches significantly reduced participants’ appetite for sweet foods and drinks. It is believed that this is because the smell of vanilla can help to suppress sweet cravings.

How cool is that?! I’m off to buy a load of vanilla scented candles and give this a whirl.

9. Eat Protein

If you want to keep your metabolism alive over the Christmas period then you’ll be pleased to hear that protein is the answer. As you know I’m currently on a protein kick – and it’s awesome. Here’s a top tip from me – for breakfast eat around 10 to 15 grams (0.35oz to 0.53 oz) of protein to get your metabolism into gear at the start of the day. An egg on toast or some low-fat yoghurt with honey and nuts is a great breakfast – this will also stop you over-indulging later on in the day.

Then around half an hour before you go to sleep you should eat another protein-heavy snack. This time you could choose a small protein shake or some cottage cheese with berries and honey. Eating protein before bed will help to increase your metabolism when you are asleep.

10. Enjoy Yourself

Gosh, we get so hung up about what we put into our bodies between Christmas and New Year, it should be the other way around. Pay more attention to what you’re doing to your body and feeding it between New Year and Christmas!

Enjoy time with your family and loved ones, it’s only once a year after all.

All classes will be back on 6th January, I’ll be whipping you all back into shape, we’ve got a Kettlebell Workshop on 12th January, my ‘Core Club’ will be getting sent monitoring forms, as I’m going to teach them what I’ve been up to for the past few months with my experimentations.

It’s all going to be good!

Keep healthy and happy my friends, and I’ll see you at the mat!

Jill x

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