Healthy Holiday Hints © Dr. Eileen Silva

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly! – Jolly over-fed! Jolly tired! Jolly hung-over! In the festive Christmas season, it’s easy for you to lose sight of your health goals. Rich food, an abundance of alcohol, and less exercise are prime ingredients for a sluggish system. Be sure you get plenty of water, fiber, and exercise during the holidays. Not only will a good walk help keep your system moving, but it also relieves some of the inevitable stress associated with endless holiday celebrations, dysfunctional families, and over-spending. Maybe you can take advantage of the holiday parties to dance the night away at least two nights a week for a great aerobic workout.

Here a nibble, there a nibble, everywhere a nibble, nibble . . . beware that those nibbles are going to catch you! Chocolates, nuts, cookies, and candies --- beautiful to look at --- disastrous to the waistline! If you have fruit available for snacking, especially grapes and berries, you can avoid those tempting candy dishes. Plan to include good veggies (not covered in butter or rich sauces) in the Christmas dinner and cut back on meat, gravy, rich stuffing, and potatoes. Not all traditional seasonal fare is fattening, so make healthy choices, and you’ll be able to keep the nibbles under control.

And, by the way, does your body fat rival Santa’s at Christmas? Some seasonal foods such as turkey, salmon, sprouts, dried fruit and nuts in shells (As they take longer to crack, you’ll eat less.) have definite health benefits, so enjoy these and limit less healthy options like cakes, mince pies and canapés. Avoid fatty sausage rolls and gooey desserts. Sugar makes your blood sugar levels soar and crash, which will increase binge cravings. If you simply MUST have chocolate, select high cocoa content (60-70%). This dark chocolate has much less impact on blood sugar, so you’ll eat less.

Are you wishing for a silent night, but you can’t sleep because you’ve got a stomachache? Indigestion is a common Christmas complaint from overeating rich seasonal foods and attending late dinner parties. Banish the bloat by choosing small portions, not eating several hours before bedtime, and by waiting 20 minutes before deciding on seconds. Eat slowly, chew your food well, and save your beverage for after the meal. If you’re at a late party, look over the hors d'oeuvres carefully, choose fresh over fatty, so that your visions of sugarplums will not keep you awake.

Holiday stress can also contribute to indigestion. Herbal chamomile or lemon verbena teas not only help settle indigestion, but also calm you down. Herbal and decaf teas and coffees won’t jangle your nerves and raise your adrenaline level during this stressful time. Although Christmas is a happy time of year, it does have its stresses: shopping, decorating, family get-togethers, financial problems, and sometimes even painful memories. Plan ahead, exercise regularly, talk things over with friends, ask for help with responsibilities, and keep lines of communication with friends and family open to have a more peaceful Christmas season.

If your Christmas spirits come in bottles, choose your drinks carefully. Creamy cocktails, premixed drinks, and cocktails will kill your diet. Better to go for straight spirits, mixed with low-calorie drinks, or wine. Avoid sugar if you are planning to drink, as it’s harder for your liver to metabolize alcohol when your sugar levels are high, and thus the alcohol will affect you longer.

Definitely not a teetotaler? Although small amounts of alcohol have some health benefits (relaxation and increased production of gastrin and liver blood flow, which help digestion and absorption of your Christmas feast), too much alcohol severely depletes B-vitamins, thus contributing to mood swings and depression. It also dehydrates the body, which leads to that “wonderful” morning-after hangover.

If you normally find a hangover in your Christmas stocking from that work party on Christmas Eve, let me share a few tips with you that might help alleviate, or even prevent, that unwelcome gift:
~ Since dehydration causes many hangover symptoms, drink a liter of water before you go out and then drink twice as much water as alcohol.
~ Mix spirits with tomato juice and eat protein-rich peanuts to slow down alcohol absorption. Avoid fizzy mixers as the carbon dioxide can speed up alcohol absorption.
~ Avoid pre-dinner drinks. Only drink alcohol with your meal.
~ Stick to your chosen drink. For example, don’t mix white wine with red wine.
~ Take a natural liver cleanser capsule daily, starting one month before the party season, to support your liver and reduce alcohol damage.
~ Darker, sweeter spirits are more likely to cause hangovers than clear or pale ones. Hangover symptoms increase in severity from vodka, gin, white wine, whisky, rum, red wine, to brandy.

One last caution for the holidays . . . as you mix and mingle, watch out for those holiday germs. Christmas party smooching, mistletoe mischief, and New Year’s Eve kisses can all deliver more than holiday cheer if your partners have a cough, cold, cold sore, etc. Take extra Vitamin C and don’t spend your whole night hanging out under the mistletoe!