I’m totally going to stereotype and say that most Christmas days are filled with food and drink, laughs and family. Exhausting, but fulfilling.

People give themselves ‘permission’ to ‘eat all the food’, but will of course usually berate themselves for eating too much and over-indulging in the alcohol department a couple of weeks later. Cue New Years resolutions to lose weight and ‘do better’ this year!

So here are a few of my favourite tips to get the most out of Christmas Day so that you can enjoy it as it’s meant to be!

1. Have a GREAT breakfast!
If chocolate and maple syrup covered bacon are usually what’s going to start your day off, you’ll be heading for a spike in blood sugar levels, which will ultimately lead to a blood sugar crash and make you reach for the chocolate again mid-morning.
So balance out the sugar at breakfast time and you won’t crash so hard. Eat the chocolate and bacon, but in the same meal, try adding in some of the following:
*A large handful baby of baby spinach
* Leftover veges from the night before
* Chopped tomato with a drizzle of olive oil
* Avocado
* Eggs

2. Fill up on veges first!
Before digging into the succulent ham and roast meats made from Great Aunt Betty’s famous recipe, enjoy all those wonderful salads and plates of veges first. Filling up at least half your stomach with the veges, will give you all the good stuff and won’t leave you feeling bloated for hours. They also provide awesome digestive enzymes to help you break down the rest of your meal easier!

3. Eat until satisfied, not until you need to put your on elasticated pants!
Food coma sound familiar after Christmas lunch? How many people feel the need to go off for a nap mid-afternoon? Doing so means you miss out on a chunk of the day that you could be off enjoying more of the day and the company you are with.
So eat until you are comfortably satisfied. When you feel that way, get up and remove your plate from your view. Sit and enjoy the rest of the meal with by having conversations, instead of continuously eating until you realise that you’re fill beyond fill and can think of nothing by lying down.
Undigested food that sits in your tract for long periods makes you sleepy – hence the food coma feeling!

4. Move your body!
Have you ever noticed that the more you sit down, the less motivation and energy you have to get up and do something physical? Now that you didn’t over-eat at lunch, use the extra energy that you have and the extra time (because you didn’t need a nap), to move your body. Grab whoever wants to join you and go for a walk! Lap up the beautiful surrounds that you are in for the festive season. Chances are you’ll feel a lot better for it, even if it’s only 20 minutes!

5. Water! Drink more water!
If I had a dollar for the number of people I have spoken to that definitely do not drink enough water on a daily basis, I’d be a very rich woman. You don’t NEED to be told all the reasons why drinking water is important, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded just to DRINK. Keep the water flowing through your body between all meals. And between alcoholic and caffienated drinks even more.
Your welcome for the reminder!

Most importantly, use Christmas as a chance to relax, reduce stress and enjoy the people you are spending time with. As ultimately that’s the real reason we get together. It’s not the pavlova, brandy snaps, Christmas pud and cider that’s what is important (well, maybe for some! Haha), it’s you hanging out with the ones you love.

However, if Christmas does get the better of you and you feel it’s time to change some bad habits into good ones, send me a message and jump on the waitlist for health coaching in the New Year! I will be coaching women in online groups and one on one in ten week ‘breaking out of your rut’ packages. Reach me on [email protected] or book in for a chat at https://meetme.so/FiModderman

I look forward to helping you change the path you are on, to the one you wish you were on in 2018!