10 Tips To Beat The Christmas Bloat

Christmas often results in us piling on the pounds, with some stats claiming that we gain up to five!

Here are the top ten tips to staying healthy over Christmas.

You need a strategy to avoid piling on the pounds at Christmas

Sam Benjamin of No.G: Too Good to Be Gluten Free, makers of gluten free food products, has compiled the best ways to avoid overindulging over the festive period.

1. Sugar

Get rid of sweet cravings by swapping sugary treats for a low calorie hot chocolate. Guilt free and still delicious.

2. Exercise

Skip a ‘Home Alone’ movie marathon and make the most of family time with a festive walk instead. A half an hour brisk walk will burn off 200 calories.

3. Gluten

Beat the bloat and embrace gluten free options. Many celebrities have endorsed the diet, reporting a positive impact on digestion, mood and general wellbeing.

No G Gluten Free Treacle Tart

4. Sleep

Adopt hibernating habits and say no to late night partying. Catching up on some zzz’s will improve your overall health and wellbeing.

5. Alcohol

Fend off the hangover, and the calories, by switching to non-boozy cocktails. Or stick to lower calorie drinks, such as gin and slim line tonic (drink responsibly)!

6. Sanitise

Christmas often brings an unwanted gift to many- the flu virus. Keep your hands clean by frequently washing or sanitising them and ensure nasty germs are kept at bay.

7. Turkey

Embrace tradition and have turkey for your Christmas dinner. It’s leaner than other meats, high in protein, naturally gluten free and has low saturated fat content, making it the perfect choice.

8. Desserts

Christmas pudding is full of fibre, B vitamins, potassium, iron and calcium making it a relatively guilt free dessert (just make sure you stick to one portion). Or knock the lid off your mince pie to lose a third of its calories!

9. Breakfast

Trade bucks fizz and croissants for a more nutritionally filling alternative. Smoked salmon and poached eggs or a bowl of hearty porridge will keep you satisfied until dinner is served. 

10. Cleanse

Reduce your consumption of pasteurised fruit juices and swap to cold pressed alternatives. Cold pressed juices give you a higher content of vitamins and antioxidants, without having to consume as much.

Sam says “We’re all guilty of over indulging over the festive period but with these tips you can still embrace the Christmas treats without increasing your waistline.”

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My Guide To Getting In Touch With Your Food

Eating healthily is important to my family and I, so I pay close attention to what we eat. I think a lot of people don't think much about their food and where it comes from, which for me is an important thing to do. Being in touch with your food makes you buy more responsibly and eat more healthily. It's not difficult to learn more about your food so that you can base your diet on what you know. If you think it's important to know all about your food too, I have some tips for becoming more knowledgeable. Try these methods to become one with your food choices.

Mikhail Esteves

Read the Labels

Checking the labels on your food has to be one of the easiest ways to learn more about it. There are several things that manufacturers and shops are required to put on their products. Many items will say where they originated from, which will have a country or perhaps county of origin. You can also look at the list of ingredients. They might reveal some surprising information about what's in your food. Products also need to have nutritional information, so you can see how many calories everything has, as well as sugar, protein, and more.

Shop in the Right Places

Where you shop can make a significant difference to how much you know about your food. In a supermarket, you can check labels and perhaps talk to someone at the meat or fish counter. But ask a random member of staff about a random product and they won't know much. At your local butchers or fishmongers, they should be able to tell you all about where their produce comes from. The same goes for farmers' markets and other independent shops.

Grow Your Own

If you want to know even more about your food, the best thing to do is grow it yourself. If you have space in your garden, you can plant some fruit trees or vegetables to harvest. Even without a lot of space, you can grow herbs on your kitchen windowsill or a tomato plant in a pot. You could be surprised at how easy it is to grow fruit and vegetables at home. Once you have harvested what you've grown, you can preserve some of it so that it lasts you longer. Different methods are appropriate for various things, so check you're using the right one.

Cook It Yourself

If you are not very green-fingered, you can get in touch with your food through cooking. Cooking is an excellent way to learn about what you eat and how to prepare it in a healthy way. You can explore different flavours and work out the best produce to buy for the tastiest food. You could learn more by taking a cooking class. Or get some books with recipes or information about how to get the most from your food.

Learning more about your food can help to improve your diet. I believe that it's one of the best things you can do for a healthy lifestyle.

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*collaborative post

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