Today I had my first Christmas meal of the festive season! I thought it would be very apt therefore to share tips on how to handle December (yes, it’s very nearly here), or as I like to call it, ‘the month of excess!’
One look in my diary has just proved, what used to be a few day blowout has turned into a month long onslaught of food and drink!
Now I am not about to tell you to watch what you eat at Christmas or to exercise every day, far from it! Eating is one of my favourite hobbies alongside dancing and I believe you should rest and enjoy Christmas to the full! But it is worth looking at how on Earth we can survive this jolly month without ending up feeling bloated, sluggish and unfit…
Stop when you are full!
This may be the most obvious piece of advice out there but for some reason at Christmas when our stomach shouts, “Please no more!” we say, ‘Ok I’ll just have a bit of both puddings!” There is a real pressure from family to overeat at Christmas, “Surely someone can manage those last few roast potatoes,” “go on have a bit of trifle it’s only light.” As for the Christmas meals out, you’ve paid a small fortune for the privilege to eat until you have stomach ache so admitting defeat doesn’t feel like an option.
My motto for this Christmas is if you fancy a pudding, a mince pie or a few extra Yorkshire puddings then go for it! If on the other hand you feel full or have already overdone it just say no thanks! If you can’t finish a meal don’t feel guilty! Listen to your body.
Keep going with your exercise routine throughout December
As we get closer to the big day we get busier and it can be a struggle fitting in your usual classes or workouts. It’s cold, dark and as well as being a busy month it is also the prime time for getting run down. All this combined with the knowledge of how much you will be eating over Christmas makes it very easy to convince yourself to give up on exercise completely for the month and many do.
My advice would be to try your best to keep up your exercise routine even if it is on a reduced scale to fit around your social life. It can feel like hard work at this time of the year even when you are doing exercise you enjoy but remember you will no doubt be taking 1-2 weeks off over Christmas. Keeping up with your routine will allow you to enjoy this period of rest and indulgence guilt-free and makes starting back up in January a much easier task.
Embrace the veggies!
Whilst lots of calorific, high fat, high salt and high sugar party food appears at this time of the year so do piles of vegetables. Vegetables are a staple food of the traditional Christmas dinner and are the one thing we don’t have to feel guilty about having second or even third portions of! Fill up on the veggies to maintain a healthy diet.
Watch the home measures!
As portion control can easily get out of hand in December, so can drinks measures! We all know home measures are not pub measures! Just remember, if you do want to be a little more conservative and not fall completely off the wagon this Christmas, alcoholic drinks do rack up the calories (very easily forgotten.) To keep a proper track of how much you’ve had to drink invest in a spirit measure and stick to a regular size wine glass!
