Don’t wait until January – we can enjoy better health (and all the festivities have to offer) starting today. Clinical nutritionist Stephanie Moore shows us how.
For many years I have been gently trying to spread the message that extreme festive excess followed by a similarly extreme New Year health repent is far from ideal. The appeal of letting go and indulging in all that the festive season offers is understandable, but why wait for January to get going on healthy habits when we could start today?
We can approach winter with a resolve to shift our mindsets and make the run up to the holidays a healthy one, rather than a time of extended overindulgence. We can wake up on New Year’s Day without the dread of a hardcore January detox. Imagine bouncing out of bed on 1 January 2024 feeling blissfully energised, clear-headed and ready to welcome in the New Year, with the well-established health habits you’ve put in place at the end of 2023. Doesn’t that sound appealing?
I’m not saying there’s no place for chocolate treats and a glass or two of something indulgent. There is. But we can save ourselves for the special occasions and really savour those moments, knowing that we’re looking after our health the rest of the time. Let’s ingrain healthy habits now so we can sail through to the New Year, raring to go.
How to get started
1 Drink warm lemon water first thing
We are all mildly dehydrated when we wake up and most go straight for a tea or coffee. Instead, have a large glass of warm water (if it feels neither hot nor cold it’s about blood temperature, which is best for rapid hydration) and add in a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice. This aids in hydration, supporting better blood and lymph flow which, in turn, helps nutrients get around the body and flushes out the liver and bowels. Once you’ve done this for a while, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Do use a straw to protect your tooth enamel from citric acid.
2 Avoid caffeine after midday (2pm at the latest)
Even if caffeine doesn’t appear to make you wired or stop you falling asleep, it will certainly be affecting the quality of your sleep – it does for everyone. Caffeine stays active in the brain, blocking sleep signals, for up to 12 hours, so avoiding tea or coffee later in the day could make a huge difference to the amount of deep and REM sleep you get, which is when we are fat-burning, recovering and renewing.
3 Pick your chocolate wisely Christmas and the festive season are synonymous with chocolate. The
