Velvet Magazine December 2016

Health
It’s All About
balance
Drop that white flag, December doesn’t have to
be as detrimental to your health or waistline
as you think. Adam Prescott tells us how...
Every year people say “Oooh December must be a quiet month
for you guys,” but it is in fact by far the toughest month of my
year. If there’s one thing you should have taken from my previous
articles, it’s that people’s happiness and self-worth directly
correlates with their health. But here it is... December - a month
of festive parties, alcohol, Christmas chocolates and an ‘I’ll
get back on track in January’ attitude. You’re smiling right now
because you know it’s true.
As much as we want to engulf ourselves in the enjoyment of
the Christmas period, we psychologically struggle to deal with
the very real physiological aftermath of so many food-focused
celebrations. The average daily consumption of toxic-sugary
treats creeps up considerably because ‘Jane’ in the office has
brought in yet another box of Quality Street!
Now imagine, actually we’ve all experienced it, so think back to
what a long month of excess consumption does to the body.
Yes, we gain some extra inches, but what other effects do we
commonly see? The same as we would do any other time of year
from poor food consumption and lack of nourishment.
To name a few:
• Afternoon energy dips
• Increased waistline
• Drop in self-confidence (particularly towards the end
of December)
• Drop in performance and drive!
As you can imagine, offering a service that gives our members
their own Nutrition and Support Coach via text and call 24/7 (yes,
literally 24/7) keeps me and the Rev Fitness team firmly glued to
our phones!
On average, people gain 5lbs over the Christmas month, and
evidence from the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development suggests that we haven’t lost the Christmas weight
by the following September. Nine months later, and on average
people still haven’t lost 5lbs! We have members who lose that
much within the first 2 weeks!
So how do we nutritionally and physiologically deal
with December’s dirty dealings?
First off, even the most socially-active Velvet readers aren’t
socialising seven days a week! In fact, due to the intensity of
December’s social calendar, you’ll find that most of us are only
out two nights a week in the run up towards Christmas. That
leaves five days and five nights where we don’t need to neglect
what we are consuming. Try these really simple rules to help you
stay on track.
1
Buy a juicer. Juice up some fruit and veg (mostly veg) every
day. This tasty little cup of nutrients will keep you hydrated
and awake, and is an excellent hangover cure. There are so many
juicing combinations out there. Try 1 apple, 1 stick of celery, fresh
ginger, 2 carrots, a couple of inches of cucumber, a wedge of lime
and 3 heaped handfuls of spinach.
2
Plan and prepare your meals. Not only should your meals
fill you up, they should also satisfy you. If I gave you a
huge bowl of broccoli to eat, of course it would fill you up.
However, it would leave you wanting a sugary little something
extra afterwards. Plan your meals and play around with herbs and
spices. This will keep your taste buds satisfied in an office full
of sugar.
3
Add something raw to each meal. We are the only species
on the planet that cooks its food. The more you cook
something, the more it lowers its nutritional content. With every
meal, add something raw to the plate. If I have an omelette, I’ll add
half of the filling ingredients (red onion, peppers, spinach etc.,)
to the pan, and the other half l put straight on the plate. This will
bolster each meal’s nutritional content without any extra work.
The greater our nutrient intake, the better we perform and the
lower our cravings.
4
Drink plenty of water. Did you know we should all be
drinking 15ml per pound of body weight?
74
Velvet Magazine | December 2016