I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that it’s less than one month away until Christmas! Living in a non-Christian country I’ve missed out on truly celebrating Christmas in the way many others do, but that aside, there’s always something to celebrate, birthdays, leaving dos, weddings, divorces… and hand-in-hand with celebrating comes food, usually plenty of it.  

The older I’ve become, the less tolerant my body is to eating foods that differ from my regular diet, and this means when I give in to tasty temptations I always pay the price, in the guise of feeling heavy, sluggish, bloated, windy and plain tired, and my skin becomes blotchy, red and quite sensitive. Feelings of remorse soon follow, and I ask myself was it really worth it?

Every day this week there’s been an occasion and gathering to celebrate: a 50th birthday yesterday, today a farewell, and it’s only midweek! There are a few more celebrations to come before the end of this week, and my body isn’t feeling happy, so what am I going to do about it, and what can you do if you find yourself in situations similar to this in the build-up to the Christmas and New Year period.

Unless you have a will of iron (or your jaws are wired up), opting out of (at the very least), indulging in some of these celebratory foods might be out of the question, but there are steps we can all take to minimize the unwanted effects of the party season and here’s what works for me the best:

1. Eat something fresh and healthy before joining the celebration, so you’re not hungry and really tempted when food is right there, tantalizing your eyes and your senses, calling at you “come on it won’t hurt”.
2. Drink plenty of water. Party foods can often be loaded with salt and sugar, and if you add alcohol into the mix there’s a good chance you will become dehydrated.  Keep drinking… WATER.
3. Try to prioritize early to sleep nights. Feeling tired can lower your resolve to avoid foods that you know won’t nourish and honor your body in the way you really want them to. When we are tired, our ability to make the best choices and decisions is lowered, so sleep as much as you can.
4. Move your body. It doesn’t have to be hard core or gym workouts unless that’s something you’re already doing, just get outdoors and walk for 20 – 30 minutes. If the weather where you are prohibits outdoor exercise, crank up some music and dance, or watch an instructional YouTube video, something that you like, yoga, pilates, rebounding, skipping or stretching. Just keep the blood flowing through your body, you’ll feel so much better for it.
5. Dry body brushing, just a few minutes in the morning before you jump into the shower will help to keep your lymphatic system moving and removing toxins from your body. There’s nothing quite like it to really help you feel tingly all over and keep the energy flowing through your body.
6. Eat raw for a day to reboot and reset your body. Try a day of just fruits and vegetables, raw and crunchy, or juices and smoothies.  You’ll be surprised how simple this can be to do if you plan ahead, and pick a day in the week that will make it easy for you to succeed. If that sounds like too much, try switching out just one or two meals in the day for raw.