So Christmas is here again, the parties are all arranged, anticipation of social gatherings, drinking lots of alcohol and tucking into delicious treats is very exciting. It is going to happen, and it is a good time of year to relax, reflect and look forward to next year.
Now most people receiving this newsletter will not be physique competitors or fitness models watching their calories this Christmas, so I will not be that annoying self righteous trainer telling you not to drink, avoid sugary foods and be in bed by 9pm each night. It is simply not going to happen and I fully encourage you to let your hair down.
What I do want to tell you, is that assuming you will have a normal Christmas and indulge like everyone else, is how to limit the damage so you are not playing catch up in the New Year.
Limiting the Damage of your hangovers
You are going to drink, but what are the best options? Health wise Red wine is probably your best option as it is rich is resveratol (a potent antioxidant). Calorie wise, Vodka and Soda Water has a only 65 calories a glass.
What should you avoid? Avoid beer at all costs as it is the most calorie dense alcoholic drink, and for you all the guys out there, feminizes males. Just have a look at your typical beer drinking English football hooligan, big gut, flabby arms and "moobs", not good. Without being too scientific this happens because beer aromatizes the precursor hormones for testosterone production in men and women.
So you have a hangover
So you have a hangover, what is the est course of action? Well too much alcohol places a rather large toxic load on the body, which takes roughly 3 days for our body to detoxify depending on the individual. It disrupts our sleep and batters our liver.
Firstly, make sure you re-hydrate. Either before bed or in the morning, try to consume 1.5-2 litres of water, preferably with a pinch of pink Himalayan salt. This will help replenish any lost electrolytes and minerals.
Secondly, try taking Poliquin's P1 P2 Balance. Many of my clients who have a tendency to party more often than perhaps they should have told me what a difference this has made to the severity of their hangovers. This supplement is used to help improve liver detoxification and sleep. If you are waking up in the morning between 1-3am then you have liver issues as Traditional Chinese Medicine tells us that your liver meridian peaks around this time. Should you wake up at 3-5am you have insufficient antioxidant activity. Detoxifying your liver and boosting your level of antioxidants is a real help to get rid of alcohol toxicity particularly with the excess your body will be dealing with at Christmas.
Greens powders are great way of boosting your antioxidant levels. Taking this before bed or first thing in the morning will help freshen you up. Anything will good levels of Cholorphyl, such as Wheat Grass will help. Again Poliquin has a very tasty "Wellness Greens" drink that I highly recommend with a good variety of nutrients. Alternatively any other greens powder sold somewhere such as whole foods will do the job.
Limiting the damage of eating sugary foods and eating too much
Christmas is a great time of year that brings family and friends closer together. With socializing comes a great deal of tasty foods. Rather than agonize about the guilt of indulging, enjoy the food and try eating until you 80% full. the following tips will also help.
Train More Often and Train Harder
Rather than backing off from training/ avoiding it completely, increase your frequency and intensity. Anyone that works with me knows that I encourage carbs to be consumed around the workout window, particularly after a workout. If you are anticipating a very heavy Christmas on the drinking and eating front, then up your training frequency. If you train 1-2 times a week, aim for 3-4 sessions. If you train 5-6 days a week, then maintain that, reduce the session time slightly and push harder.
Increasing your workout frequency and intensity will in fact rev up your metabolism, which means that it will reduce the damage from excess sugary foods. Lean people (10% for males -15% for females body fat or less) are very fortunate that they have primed their bodies to become metabolic furnaces that can chew up calorie dense foods very easily and stay lean.
By training harder and training a little more often you will significantly reduce the damage sugar and calorie dense foods will do. Building the habit of training more will also set you up nicely for the New year and will be less of an emotional/ willpower drain.
Try these to control your blood sugar levels
With the excess of sugar and alcohol entering your system your insulin/ blood sugar levels will be taking quite a blow. this will later lead to cravings, drowsiness and variable moods.
Cinnamon is a potent antioxidant that is fantastic for balancing out blood sugar levels. Unfortunately I am not sure Cinnamon rolls/buns count here, but sprinkling cinnamon some some of your foods will help stabilize your blood sugar levels somewhat. Should you be feeling extremely keen, cinnamon and green tea go very well together to boost antioxidant levels and stabilize blood sugar levels.
Keep your Fibre levels high. Assuming that you will be giving the Brussels sprouts a miss then sprinkle some ground flax seeds or chia seeds on some of your hot foods.
Drink plenty of water in between meals and add a tea spoon of L-Glutamine which helps to heal the gut lining (which will be taking a hammering from the excess sugars) and stabilize blood sugar levels.
