Christmas is all about enjoying yourself and indulging in different food and drink that you wouldn’t normally have during the rest of the year. It’s time to enjoy some treats, but it’s also important to treat yourself with kindness. Leave some time to re-charge your batteries to ensure you’re feeling fresh and ready for the new year ahead. Here are some tips on how to stay healthy over the festive period, from our partners’ at Hapi Nutrition:
Eat well
Outside of party time, make sure that you are eating as many whole foods as possible, while avoiding sugar and alcohol. Mix it up and eat lots of different coloured fruits and vegetables, healthy whole grains, nuts and seeds. This is to ensure an adequate intake of good quality nutrients, healthy fats and fibre. Make sure you also add generous amounts of lovely nourishing herbs and spices to boost your immune system. These can include garlic, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and oregano; which all have anti-inflammatory, disease fighting properties. Drink some green tea too as it’s packed full of antioxidants and catechins that are great for your health.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
If you’re eating and drinking more rich or unusual foods, you might find that your digestion gets a bit sluggish. Getting enough water is vital if you want to keep things regular. It’s also essential for a robust immune system and to keep everything in good working order. There’s no set amount when it comes to an optimal water intake, so it’s important to listen to your body and drink when you feel thirsty. Herbal teas are good to help boost your fluid intake, as well as containing lots of vitamins and antioxidants. Hydrating foods such as iceberg lettuce, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, spinach, bell peppers and cucumber are very good. As well as oranges, cauliflower broccoli, apples and grapefruit are all excellent too!
Keep your gut healthy
Our gut microbiota is different strains of good and bad bacteria and yeasts that stretch from our top to our tail. This microbe population underpin our immune system and encourage healthy digestion, so it’s super important that we look after it. We can do this by eating both prebiotic and probiotic rich foods that work together to provide a balanced and diverse gut flora. It’s a good idea to ensure daily servings of probiotic-rich fermented foods. These include raw sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha (without added sugar), kefir, natural full fat yoghurt, organic natto and organic tempeh. Daily prebiotic foods include raw garlic, cooked or raw onions and leeks, underripe bananas, chicory root, artichokes, whole oats, apples and linseeds. It might be worth considering taking a good quality multi-strained probiotic supplement on a daily basis.
Look after your liver
Our liver has over 500 functions, and clearing out toxins from party excess is one of them. It takes such good care of us, so we need to return the favour by giving it some support! Follow these top tips to ensure a happy liver over the festive period. Foods such as grapefruit, cranberries, blueberries and red grapes can all keep our liver functioning in a happy and healthy way. As well as cold pressed olive oil, beetroots or beetroot juice, dark green leafy vegetables, brussel sprouts, broccoli walnuts and oily fish. You may wish to consider taking a herbal liver support to help keep your liver healthy and in working order.
Take a Vitamin D supplement
If you want to protect your immune system, now’s the time to be taking a vitamin D supplement. We all need adequate levels to keep us healthy, aid organ function, keep our bones strong and fight infection. The NHS recommends adults and children over the age of one to take 10 micrograms of vitamin D daily. It’s hard to eat vitamin D through food. However, you can get small amounts from cod liver oil, oily fish such as sardines, salmon, mackerel, eel, trout and tuna. Also try eggs, mushrooms, butter, red meat, and full fat milk. Vitamin D is important for good health all year. So, use this top tip throughout the whole year, not just during the festive period!
From everyone at Incorpore, we wish you all a very merry christmas and we hope you enjoy the festive period.
