With Christmas and the festive season on their way, now is the best time to implement a holiday season health plan so you can have fun and enjoy some treats without bringing your health undone.
With many of us travelling to see loved ones, it’s also essential to support our digestive and immune systems. Whether you’re having a summer or winter holiday season, flu and viruses are always around, so we must be proactive to keep ourselves strong all year round.
We have also seen the immense value of health, and there are lots of ways we can support our health and still indulge in yummy Christmas delicacies.
When we indulge in treats, our blood sugar levels spike for foods high in sugar, such as white flour, white potatoes, or desserts with a high glycemic index (GI), which tend to be the main ingredients of fun holiday foods. Alcohol also has varying GI ratings, so I have compiled some tips on how to have your cake and eat it (or drink it).
Stress and emotional issues can also significantly impact your digestion and immune systems, as Christmas and the holidays can trigger us with past or current family issues. The pressure can lead to increased cortisol and adrenaline levels, linked to increased belly fat, binge/comfort eating, heartburn and other digestive problems.
So be mindful, take a breath, count to 10, remove yourself from a stressful situation, don’t drink too much alcohol and decide just for today, ‘I will choose to respond and not react’.
My Top 7 Festive Season Health Hacks
Here are my top 7 tips on enjoying this festive season, maintaining your health, and not having all the ‘wheels fall off your trolley’.
1. Combine Low & High GI
The festive season is a beautiful time to celebrate with friends and family and give thanks for all we have. So instead of limiting yourself all the time, give yourself two days for Christmas and two days for New Year for fun holiday eating.
Let your hair down and enjoy yourself, and by planning your diary this way, you will have four days of fun instead of a 4-week landslide!
Combine the high GI with lower GI foods and drinks to combat blood sugar surges and keep yourself more balanced.
For example, if you want roasted white potatoes, have them with organic turkey, salmon, or a nut loaf. If you fancy a Christmas pudding, having a handful of nuts on the side for the added protein will level you out and reduce the ‘carb coma’ feeling after a sugary treat.
Remember, what you nibble on can make or break how your body responds, so choose olives, nuts, hummus & crudités in addition to the crisps or canapés.
2. Get Your Rejuv Party Pack
It’s no secret I love my wine, good food and fun treats on weekends. No guilt, just a choice of a balanced life. With that in mind, I formulated my Rejuv Party Pack to support my digestive, lymphatic, detox and immune systems and keep my blood sugar levels balanced.
The Rejuv Party Pack includes:
- Liver Support Capsules to support your detox pathways (take 2 each day before lunch or dinner, and you can increase that to 3-4 before a party)
- Digestive Support Capsules give your digestive system the help it needs to cut through fatty foods (take 2-3 before a rich meal)
- Blood Sugar Support Capsules to help keep your blood sugar levels balanced when eating a few treats (take 2-3 before a rich meal)
- Immune Restore Capsules prevent your immune system from becoming impaired with excess toxins from food and alcohol (take 2 each morning with your green juice or wellness water)
If you are to have a potentially stressful time over the holidays, I would also add in our Adrenal Complex Capsules to keep you balanced with our adaptogenic herbs to help your body process stress. Suppose you feel your metabolism can take a beating over the holidays. Add the Thermo Metabolic Support or Green Coffee Burn Capsules to keep your metabolism working. In that case, I can enjoy myself and not gain a pound.
See our online shop to get your Party Pack (saves you 20% compared to buying the individual products) and the Rejuv Adrenal Complex.
3. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
Overeating and over-drinking will dehydrate you, so do yourself a favour: make and drink two to three litres of Rejuv Wellness Water or herbal teas daily. Your liver and 50 trillion cells will love you for it. Drinking enough water will flush out toxins and help reduce appetite and cravings.
4. Embrace Intermittent Fasting
With potential excess more likely for brunches, lunches and dinners, start your day with 500ml of Rejuv Wellness Water and swap out breakfast each day for green juice.
An example of a green juice I love is 300ml of celery, cucumber, romaine lettuce, lemon & lime plus 200ml water plus 2 teaspoons of Super Greens powder such as Rejuv or The WelleCo. Super Elixir. Leave at least 12 hours between your last meal at night and your first meal the next day.
Your green juice and wellness water will not break your fast, as they are less than 40 calories, giving your system a chance to do a mini cleanse each morning and bombard your cells with extra nutrition.
It is the perfect detox before you re-tox with rich food and drinks during the day, allowing you to move through the holiday season with minimal damage to your system.
Enjoy the festive season holidays, have fun, maintain and then embrace your detox and cleanse in January.
Drink a protein smoothie If you know your lunch will be late. The protein will help you avoid eating too many decadent nibbles. Mix our vegan Rejuv or WelleCo protein powders with 350ml of unsweetened plant milk. Add 3 Rejuv Blood Sugar Support Capsules for some extra superpowers!
5. Move Your Body This Festive Season
Stagnation will make us feel worse if we overindulge, whether it is a brisk walk, a session at the gym, a bounce on your home trampoline or rebounder or a great dance around the house (as if no one is watching), choose to move. Not after a big meal, of course, but the key is to prepare the body before the onslaught of holiday delicacies this festive season.
I move my body each morning, even for 20 minutes on my home exercise bike, go out for a walk, or do an online class, for this sets you up to win and keeps constipation at bay too.
My dear friend and WelleCo business partner Elle Macpherson told me years ago she moves her body each day. I have embraced this habit, and it has changed my life. If it’s good enough for ‘The Body’, it is good enough for me!
6. Breathe It Out
Often, Christmas and the holidays can trigger us with certain family members, or our internal dialogue and memories can be a trigger.
So if another person triggers you or you hear your inner critic or past tapes starting to play with such things as ‘the holidays are always a let down’, ’they never go to plan’ ‘this person is such high maintenance’, ‘I can’t believe they just said that’ or ‘it’s December again. You’re still stuck in the same place all these years later; you’re such a loser’.
Some of these thoughts may be real and valid, but we can either keep playing the same tape or break these habit loops. So when you feel an external trigger, you need to create a state change and breathe it out.
Step 1: Get up and move away from where you were sitting or standing so you can physically move (or excuse yourself to the bathroom if you need to be removed from another toxic energy).
Step 2: Breathe & I like box breathing, where you breathe as if following all four sides of a box:
- breathe in for 4 counts
- hold for 4
- breathe out for 4
- hold for 4.
- Retreat 5 times or as needed if you feel triggered over the holidays.
7. Make A Plan Around Alcohol
Like all things in life, alcohol is all about balance, and no one wants to wake up with regrets. So, make a plan to have a certain number of drinks and stick with it.
White wine, beer, and sugary cocktails are high GI, so dry red wine, rosé wine, champagne, sparkling wine, and spirits are better.
I also love spritzers, so I have half wine and half sparkling water with my Rosé wine for a refreshing drink to keep the alcohol levels down.
I often add ice and have it with added berries or a slice of orange. You can make it into a lovely long drink with not much alcohol. You can do the same with spirits by mixing them with sparkling/soda water, but remember that spirits are harder on the liver, so moderation is always key.
Note if you are going to be around someone who triggers you, please limit alcohol, for as emotions go up, intelligence goes down, and when we add in alcohol, we can react or say things we can regret, so be mindful.
Here’s what to do if you do plan to have some extra alcohol this festive season:
- Before drinking: take 3 Rejuv Liver Support and 3 Immune Restore Capsules (with food)
- Before bed: take 2 of each with a pint of water
- The following morning: Repeat 3 of the Liver Support and 3 Immune Restore Capsules (with breakfast)
Following these steps helps your body hoover up those extra toxins and limit your chances of a hangover!
We wish you all a blessed Christmas & New Year, and I look forward to further supporting you on your wellness journey in 2024!
