As we all know, our health and diet becomes less of a priority over the festive period as we over-indulge on pretty much whatever we want!
While this is fun at the time, January hits and all of a sudden we feel horrendous and regret all the choices we made over the previous month.
This doesn’t have to be the case though, as we can make little changes to our Christmas day that will allow us to look after our health while not missing out on all the fun!
We’ve put together 10 ways to make your Christmas day healthier:
Start with a healthy breakfast!
Start with a healthy breakfast! Although in the excitement it might be tempting to dive straight into the unhealthy foods, providing your body with a strong nutritional foundation to build from will do you the world of good.
Breakfasts like porridge, oats and muesli will be the best option as these contain low glycaemic carbohydrates that help regulate blood sugar and will help control your appetite later too!
You can make breakfast a little more festive and adventurous by adding in some fruits, honey or even a small block of chocolate just to get that sweet fix!
Stay Hydrated
Many of us have a very merry Christmas indeed, drinking large amounts of alcohol starting with that Buzz’s Fizz at breakfast.
Now we’re not going to tell you to abstain from alcohol, but we will advise that you make sure you’re drinking a lot of water to counteract this!
A good way to do this is to drink plenty of water in the morning and then drink a glass of water in between each alcoholic drink, keeping your body healthy and happy.
Failing to drink enough water can quickly result in a banging headache that could very easily ruin your Christmas evening mood!
Swap your snacks!
Not the most fun of the tips but up there with the most important!
The majority of Christmas day is spent snacking on all sorts of high sugar, high fat, processed foods and these will not be doing you any good!
Again, we’re not saying to avoid these entirely (far from it!) but your body will thank you if you can simply pick the healthier option on the buffet table from time to time.
Limit the amount of food you put out at one time
Limit the amount of food you put out at one timeThis is not what you want to hear, but the FSA (Food Standards Agency) believe that Christmas is the worst time of the year for food poisoning.
This is because food at the buffet table is often left out all day which allows bacteria to grow, not good! – and you certainly don’t want this Christmas to be remembered as the Christmas that you gave all your family food poisoning!
You can prevent this by ensuring that only small amounts of food are left out and replaced every two hours or when they run out.
Portion Control!
Not even including all the snacks, Christmas dinner itself can be a high calorie affair which often exceeds 3000 calories!
To avoid eating more than necessary, you shouldn’t load up your plate as much as possible for round one!
Grab a normal portion (Maybe a little extra as its Christmas) and then wait 20 minutes after you finish before round two – this will give your body time to register the mountain of food that it’s just eaten and you might be too full for seconds.
Healthier Christmas dinner
Although this might be difficult if you are not making Christmas dinner yourself, you can make your day healthier by cooking with less oil and fat.
Similarly, avoid using salt while cooking if you’re going to put salt on the table – this will prevent you and your family consuming too much unnecessary sodium!
If you want to get really fancy, you can even make your own sauces as these will likely be healthier than the shop bought cranberry sauce (Plus it gives you something to brag about over dinner!)
Exercise!
Now we’re not saying go for a 5 km run on Christmas day, but we absolutely would recommend getting up and doing some form of physical activity!
Going for a walk with your family after Christmas dinner is not only a nice thing to do anyway, it will aid with digestion and also improve your overall mood.
Engage your brain
Despite all the TV that’s on during Christmas day, avoid mindlessly watching it all day!
Instead, play games or do puzzles with your family – this is an excellent way of getting everyone together and stops everyone simply shutting off and most likely sleeping all evening!
Relax / help out
Relax / help outSounds like two separate tips right? That’s because it is, depending on who you are!
If you’re someone who is usually very stressed, take the day to really relax and appreciate the down time – you’ve earned it and everyone needs a reboot for their mental health.
On the other hand, if perhaps you’re more laid back or don’t have much going on – get yourself involved in the cooking, cleaning or preparation of Christmas day!
This will not only be highly appreciated from everybody involved, it has been shown that helping others has a positive impact on our own mental health too.
Enjoy the company!
2020 has been an interesting year to say the least, with many of us not being able to do lots of things that typically give us joy.
That’s why it is more important than ever to really enjoy this Christmas and wind down with those important to us.
Try to leave your phone out of reach to avoid scrolling social media all day and really engage with those surrounding you, with the year we’ve all had there should be plenty to talk about!
Socialising positively impacts your mental health and will set you up nicely to smash the new year!
The Take Home
The take home message is short and sweet – try to make some healthy choices, engage with your family and friends and most importantly, have a fantastic Christmas!
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