When December arrives Christmas hits hard and fast; it hits our waistlines, our weight, our exercise routines and sometimes even our patience with family.
Get ahead of the curve this year and prepare yourself for the coming storm of calories with these few gifts of advice from your very own wise man, our Health Club Manager Jimmy Bradford:
Lot’s of people say “try to stick to an 80:20 ratio of healthy to unhealthy food.” I say, who really has the time for that over Christmas? Just try to eat some healthy food, if anything just stock-up on some fruit and keep an apple in your bag.
If you can, eat a lean breakfast which is high in protein and healthy fats. A really simple example would be eggs and avocado on toast. Eating a breakfast such as this will really reduce your sugar cravings during the day and hopefully slow you down on that tin of Celebrations or Quality Street.
Stagger the booze. This is a tough one but I promise it will make a difference and you will be thanking me in January. I am not saying don’t enjoy yourself on Christmas Day, just lower your pitchforks. However, if you are anything like the people I spend Christmas with, then the whole holiday is an excuse to be walking around with a wine glass in your hand. The units add up, and they add up fast, as do the calories which your body just loves to take onboard especially as you are eating no fibre. The advice here is to moderate the alcohol with water or soft drinks, this will drastically reduce your units and give your body a short break.
Make sure you are getting enough sleep. Running to the shops, dropping off the kids, picking up family, driving up country, preparing food, cleaning the house, wrapping presents, hanging tinsel, catching Santa Claus. You are busy. Just make sure you are sleeping well, poor sleep quality has been strongly linked to weight gain, I will not bore you with the details (it’s all about hormones and motivation) but just trust me a good night’s sleep will help you keep the weight off and help you keep upbeat, positive and healthy. At this time of year viruses are rife, sleep will help to keep your immune system strong so you are ready to fight off colds and flu.
Keep active, even if you can only manage a small amount – just get moving. Anything, literally do anything that gets you moving. The easiest is to go for a walk, it will give you some fresh air, raise your metabolism and endorphin levels and thus increase your mood. If you can fit a walk in after dinner that’s even better, it will aid digestion. The Health Club is only closed on Christmas Day so you can pop down for a gym session, a swim with the family or a game of tennis. Even if you are just passing by on a walk, you can pop in for a coffee at the Bear Bar.
If we don’t see you before, from everyone at The Point at Polzeath – we wish you the very best for Christmas and New Year’s, we hope you all have a wonderful, stress-free time.
