Keep all your healthy practices rolling throughout the festive break and that includes normal maintenance treatments in clinic. Remember that peak health is the best gift you can give to yourself and think how cool that will feel in early January, when you’re not picking up the pieces.
Resolve not to have resolutions.
“A new year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” (Anonymous)
“New Year’s Day – Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin to pave hell with them as usual. (Mark Twain)
“May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions!” ?(Joey Adams)
I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me. (Anais Nin)
“People are so worried about what they will eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about is what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.”
Astoundingly, we are on the verge of another festive season! Before us stretch holidays, celebrations, social occasions, annual break-up and work parties and family gatherings. We are confronted with the very best of opportunities to go right off the very rails that we have spent the year laying down.
Whoa ! Stop right there. Lets consider the temptations that lie ahead and how to handle them, before we encounter the need to rush into desperate, compensatory resolutions, shakily thrown together on New Years Eve.?Remember, the most successful resolutions are those which spring from a positive intention as opposed to those born of guilt and self criticism. The latter are doomed from the outset, based as they are, on a negative.
How can we manage to have a great time and not fall off our wagons? Heres my ideas on achieving that.
First, make a solemn pact with yourself to really look after your body over Christmas and New Year. There is a really good feeling associated with maintaining your great shape, good health and high spirits, so let yourself feel this positive vibe, this physical affirmation.
Beverages
Don’t know why, but alcohol springs to mind……………?Lets create a useful rule : that we shall have a drink of water after, at least every second alcoholic drink.?Get some St Mary’s Thistle from the clinic and take a couple of tablets every day of the festive season, to help protect the liver from the effects of metabolising alcohol.?While you’re here, get some powerful ‘B Complex’ tablets, to replace what the body will expend when it goes about digesting the likes of alcohol and various sweet foods, which are all just relatively nutritionless carbohydrates.
Coffee
In Chinese medicine this substance works by ‘transforming kidney yin or essence into qi,’ which is then liberated upward and outward through the system. This leads to a flood of yang qi whereby one experiences increased energy and mood elevation.?The downside to this wonderful sensation is that its our deeper essences (reserves) which are the substrate here. This means, to my mind at least, that we are sacrificing precious energies in order to have this experience of energy release. ?For most of us, that may be acceptable a few times a week, but if indulged in on a daily basis, its an expensive habit, energetically speaking. One might suggest that caffeine accelerates the ageing process. So, put the mug or cup down and keep reading.
Caffeine, which is also present in tea, is known to constrict blood vessels, stimulate adrenalin release, and is contraindicated in a wide range of conditions, from PMS, to Hypertension, Diabetes and Menopausal Syndrome.?The net effect of tea and coffee is dehydrating, due to their diuretic properties and stimulating effects, so one must drink extra water if consuming them, especially over summer.?If you do drink caffeine beverages, try favoring green tea over other forms. It can be made into a summer drink as ‘iced green tea’ and has many beneficial effects on the body due to its antioxidant content.
Decaf is another option and one could become creative by mixing decaf with straight coffee in the plunger in a ratio of, say, 75% decaf to 25% caf.
There are other ways, besides caffeine consumption, of stimulating energy flow to the body and brain and physical activity is one of them.?Find something that you and another person close to you like to do together and get out there and enjoy your bodies and the social experience.
Cooler Drinks – Make Your Own
Explore the world of Mocktails, for non-alcoholic alternatives that are tasty and interesting:
e.g., https://www.drink-recipes.org.uk/mocktails/ ??Or just get some soda water and two or three of your favourite fruits and fire up the blender.?Adding fresh herbs like mint, pineapple sage, or lemon or lime juice to drinks, gives a more pronounced refreshing effect.?Add your favourite protein powder, or yoghourt, if you are on a weight reducing regime that you wish to stay on throughout the festive season.
Eating
In an effort to keep things pretty simple over the festive season, my suggestions are:
Remember to get up from the table, from each meal, before you feel full;?Try to keep daily protein levels up;?Ensure salad greens and light, salad vegetables are present on your plate at each main meal;?Serve a healthy home-made salad dressing, which may include the following: extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, fresh crushed garlic, apple cider vinegar (unless you are on a yeast-free diet) and your personal choice of fresh herbs and a touch of honey also.
These tips will ensure that you are getting lots of phyto-nutrients and antioxidants daily.?Enjoy the fruits of summer, but don’t mix too many in any one sitting.??Lets get to New Years Eve with nothing to resolve, except to have a great time.
Warm subtropical regards,
Michael