Christmas is only a month away, so there is plenty of time to plan a healthier Christmas this year. The N. 1 danger for the festive season is excessive sugar consumption. Sugar can make your insulin levels spike up, increase inflammation in the body which is believed to be the roots cause of many illnesses, overwork your liver, may cause mood swings, contributes to hormonal imbalances, play havoc with your energy levels and contribute to hyperactivity syndromes in children.
KEEP AN EYE ON HIDDEN SUGAR
Avoid or keep an eye on all those foods that contain hidden sugar: lattes, fruits juices, flavored yogurt, breakfast cereals, alcohol, shop-bought low-fat food.
SPREAD IT OUT
You don’t need to have it all at once. Spread your guilty food over that course of the day of the week, so you won’t have to deprive yourself of a slice of panettone or mince pie, but simply be sensible about it.
DUST IT OFF
Be aware of the extra amount of sugar on cakes sugar dusting or icing. Rubbing off that extra coating will give you the pleasure of eating a slice of cake, but with less sugar.
CROWD IT OUT
The festive season presents an amazing variety of foods that are both healthy & Christmassy. Clementines, oranges, walnuts, kale, chard, all sort of cabbages, pumpkins, spices like cinnamon that help you keep sugar levels down, ginger, lemons and lots more. Simply using more of these healthy wintry foods, and making them the principal characters of your meals, will naturally crowd out the bad stuff!
BALANCE IT OUT
This is one of the things that I teach in my webinar “The building blocks of healthy eating habits” which is the art of a balanced meal. Are eyeing up that cheeseboard? Have your cheese with a bitter salad and some Vitamin C foods or seasoning to help you liver digest the fatty food, or if are having a carbs-heavy dinner, why not having soup and proteins the following day?
MOVE IT OUT
The lymphatic system, which is one of the main detoxifying systems in the body, needs movement and muscles action in order to function properly. Help your body expels toxins, use up the glycogen stored in your muscles and re-activate your vascular system, by simply moving! Go for walks with the kids, stretch, and if you really don’t have time use some of the latest fitness apps: you can get a mini home workout in 10 min!
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