With less than three weeks until Christmas no doubt you are starting to feel a tad pressured, with presents to buy, food to organise, family to manage and invitations out more often than you may like.

It’s very easy at this time of year to put yourself on the back burner while you put everyone else’s needs first. When that happens you probably find that good habits with your food and exercise start to slide. The key is to make time for yourself. If it means getting up half an hour earlier so that you can fit in a quick walk before work and have time to eat a healthy breakfast, so be it. Exercising first thing in the morning helps set you up for the day. You are also more likely to eat a healthy breakfast and stick to your healthy eating plan if you have made the effort to fit your exercise in. Getting up earlier also allows you time to pack a healthy lunch.

Hydration
It’s getting warm out there! Ensure that you take a water bottle with you wherever you go as it’s easy to become dehydrated very quickly on warm days.

About 60% of your body weight is water. The average adult loses around 1.5 litres of fluid a day via urine plus another litre through breathing and sweating. Obviously on hot days or while exercising this can increase. We receive about 25% of the fluid we need each day from food while the remaining 75% has to come from fluids we drink.

Here are some good reasons to drink sufficient water throughout the day.

• It’s easy to confuse hunger with thirst! Sometimes you ‘feel like something’ and reach for food when really, its fluid your body is asking for.
• Dehydration can lead to your blood becoming thicker and more difficult to pump through your body. This can put pressure on your heart.
• Water transports nutrients around the body.
• Water allows our muscles to contract easily.
• Your brain needs water! Once you are 2% dehydrated your mental and physical performance is affected.
• Dehydration can be a cause of headaches. Don’t let it get that far.
• If you are exercising or working in the heat, insufficient fluid may lead to fatigue and nausea.
• Not drinking enough water can affect your saliva production and dental health.
• Dehydration can lead to kidney stones, saggy skin, urinary tract infections and also be a factor in other health issues.

How much water do you need? There is an equation which will give you an approximate indication. Multiply your scale weight by 0.034. So for a 70 kilo person that means 2.3 litres per day. Are you drinking enough water?

Lack of routine

A big issue that comes up with holidays is lack of routine. You know how it is. During the working week you eat your meals at similar times, you tend to make similar choices for many of your meals and snacks, you go to bed and get up at similar times and it all flows along nicely. Then, along comes the weekend or worse still, days or weeks of having no particular routine in your life and bingo it all falls to pieces.
If you are having a few weeks off work over the Christmas period – and you don’t want to whack on a few kilos of fat during that time, it’s probably a good idea to have a think about how you are going to handle the lack of routine.
Here are some suggestions for surviving the holiday period without excessive weight gain:

• Make a deal with yourself that you will do some kind of exercise at least four times a week. It’s not like you don’t have the time to whip out for a 45 minute run or walk!
• Aim to eat plenty of fresh, raw food. This is absolutely the easiest time of the year to prepare interesting salads. We are fortunate to have available a great array of fresh vegetables and most of them have a high water content, adding to your water intake.
• Use the BBQ if you have one. How easy is it to throw a piece of steak/chicken or fish on the BBQ. Make kebabs, grill vegetables, experiment with new ideas for cooking food on the BBQ. Maybe buy the man of the house a BBQ cookbook for Christmas and let him do the cooking.
• Ask now that family and friends don’t give you boxes of chocolates or other treats if you don’t want to be tempted by having them hanging around. If you do get given treats, then only open them when there are other people around to share them with. (remove your favourites first of course)
• If you are invited out, check to see whether there is a meal involved, or just nibbles and drinks. Check also if you can bring something. If it’s just nibbles and drinks, perhaps you can take a healthy platter. Click here www.nutritionforlife.co.nz/recipes/entertaining-platter to get some ideas. A “normal” nibbles platter can be a disaster. High fat cheeses, high fat crackers, high fat dips………oh the list goes on. If you are invited out for just nibbles and drinks, then eat something before you go and avoid the nibbles at your destination. There can be more calories in the nibbles than in your normal, healthy dinner!
• Don’t use a plate. If do you decide to indulge in the nibbles, then don’t use a plate. You will eat a lot less if you only have one thing available at a time. It’s too easy to try one of everything and load it onto your plate.
• Don’t stand by the buffet table. Get your food and move away – and stay away. Don’t go back for seconds. Eye up the offerings first, load up on salads and a moderate amount of cold meat and go easy on the bread and stodgy stuff.
• Decide before you go to the function how many alcoholic drinks you will have there – and stick to that limit. Be the sober driver, that way you have to keep your resolve and limit your intake.
• If you are unsure whether there will be non alcoholic drinks served take your own. Sparkling mineral water, soda water and diet drinks poured into a nice glass can all replace alcohol.
• Use low fat cream cheese, lite sour cream and lite Greek yoghurt instead of the full fat versions in your desserts. Buy lite ice cream instead of the full fat version.
• Pop seedless green grapes in your freezer and snack on them instead of lollies. They taste like sorbet and are very refreshing.
• Buy mini versions of Magnums etc and keep them in your freezer instead of the giant sized ones which come in at around 330-400 calories each.
• Freeze your own pots of lite yoghurt, for about 90 minutes or until just thickened and creamy, not hard. Delicious with berries.

Scary fact
A 420g box of chocolates contains around 2100 calories! It also contains the equivalent of approximately 195g of fat (over 1/3 of a packet of butter, eww) and 210g of sugar. That’s why when you wolf down that box of chocolates in a day you feel so ill!

If you blow it, despite best intentions and end up feeling like you have an alien glued to your tummy after the holidays, just move on and get back on track as soon as possible. Generally, the weight comes off pretty quickly once you get back into good habits, so don’t delay after New Year, book an appointment in with me now!

Remember: Planning and organisation will always be key to success. Failing to plan, is planning to fail. Don’t let that be you.

Devine Whey Powder
I’ve just got my last whey order in for the year so if you need whey before mid January let me know and I’ll put some aside for you to collect.

Another idea for a platter
Make crostini by cutting thin-ish slices of French stick and baking them until crisp. Cool then spread with this mixture.
125g each of lite sour cream and lite cream cheese mixed with ½ tsp lemon zest and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, some finely chopped dill and salt and black pepper. Top with small pieces of smoked salmon.

Holiday break
I’ll be working 9-6pm on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 December and I will be available for a few hours on the 22nd if required. My first day back will be Saturday 7 January.

Special deal
Pay for two x 30 minute sessions between now and 21 December and receive a discounted 30 minute session in the New Year to set goals and get you back on track for 2012. Pay just $115 instead of $135 and lock yourself in for the New Year. The January session must be used by 19 January.

That’s it for the year, thank you for custom during the year and I wish you all a happy, healthy and safe holiday period.
Lynda

PS: Check out the recipes on my website if you are looking for inspiration www.nutritionforlife.co.nz/recipe-index