Swaps to Boost Your Health Before the Christmas Season

Swaps to Boost Your Health Before the Christmas Season

It’s about two months until Christmas now but we all know that the celebrations start much earlier with Christmas parties to go to with friends and colleagues throughout December, Christmas themed Starbucks drinks and all those mince pies and Christmas chocolates that are bought and eaten long before the end of December!

It’s a good idea to give your body a bit of a health boost in the time leading up to Christmas if you’re planning to indulge over the holidays like most of us are. I’m looking forward to coffee with Baileys in and saffron buns — that’s a Swedish thing! We will definitely be indulging over Christmas, like I think you should, but we’ll try to be a bit healthier in the run up to the holidays by making the following swaps:

• Close the Bar & Drink More Water

Alcohol is a big part of the Christmas season for many — especially the British. We are cutting down on alcohol a lot and giving our livers a rest. Once you’re in a habit of drinking more modestly, you also want less when you do drink so the results are really good. Instead, we’re focusing on drinking more water. We all know it’s great for us but most of us don’t drink anywhere near enough.

• Ditch the Saturated Fats

The Christmas diet is full of unhealthy fats — buttery biscuits, pastry, animal fat from the meat and on the roast potatoes and all that double cream everywhere. Give your body a break and choose healthy fats like olive oil on salads or rapeseed oil for cooking.

• More Vegetables, Less Everything Else

When you dish up your plate of food, ensure that the healthy vegetables take up the most room on the plate. We should all eat more vegetables as they are great for our health. Make a conscious decision to make them a bigger part of your meal and your life, replacing less healthy foods.

• Cut Down on Coffee

I drink way too much coffee! There’s no need to worry about moderate amounts of caffeine but I definitely drink too much coffee. Being Swedish, I like my coffee really strong too so each cup is pretty much two cups and I probably drink fours cups each day. I would like to get that down to two cups and swap the others for tea as tea has less caffeine in it and other health benefits too.

• More Sleep, Less Screen Time

Instead of going to bed and looking at your iPad or smartphone, go to bed and go to sleep! Sleep in another thing that most of us need more of and my husband and I are guilty of staying up too late and taking our technology with us when we go to bed. Other than your alarm clock, you shouldn’t need any technology in the bedroom. I’m not using my iPad at bedtime anymore — I just go to sleep as I really need it. If you have young kids, you never know when they’re going to be up or get into your bed and kick you for the rest of the night… Sleep while you can!

• Less Indoor Time, More Nature Time

It’s good for the whole family to spend time outdoors and autumn is such an amazing season to go for nature walks and hikes. You don’t need to worry about sunscreen and it’s not so cold that you’ll be freezing. It’s a goal of mine to get the family out in nature more and moving more this season before the weather gets too blustery and cold and we just want to snuggle inside all winter.

Collaborative Article.