Healthy Eating
Content
Healthy Eating after the Holidays The Christmas and New Year celebrations are occasions to eat and drink to excess. We enjoy big family dinners with lots of alcohol and huge bowls of pudding for dessert. A few weeks of eating like this howe!er can make us feel extremely unhealthy. "ortunately #anuary is the time for New Year$s %esolutions and they usually include impro!ing our diet. &et$s look at some things you can do to reco!er from the Christmas excess detox your body and feel better. The first step to take to impro!e your diet is to eat se!eral meals a day. None of them howe!er should be !ery substantial. 't is not a good idea to only ha!e a coffee for breakfast a !ery big lunch and a sandwich at ele!en o$clock at night. 'deally you should eat fi!e times a day and ensure you start the day with a proper breakfast. This should include fresh fruit for example a glass of freshly s(uee)ed orange juice. You should also a!oid eating late at night and going to bed on a full stomach To cleanse your body after the holiday excess one option is to ha!e a *detox week+. "or this you need to eat lots of certain foods and a!oid others. "irstly drink lots of water ideally a litre and a half e!ery day. A!oid coffee and alcohol. The best hot drink is green tea which is low in caffeine. A!oid meat especially red meat and dairy products and eat plenty of fruit. ,erries are especially good for cleansing your system. After a few days of radical detoxing it is time to establish a balanced diet for the rest of the year. A healthy diet does not necessarily mean eliminating types of food and drink. The important thing is to eat e!erything in moderation. The good news is that a few glasses of wine and a little chocolate a day are good for the heart- Try to eat fi!e portions of fruit and !egetables e!ery day and a couple of ser!ings of oily fish a week. .se extra !irgin oli!e oil for salads and cooking but some butter on your toast will not kill you.
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%emember that you should enjoy your food and eating a wide !ariety of different produce will ensure your body absorbs the correct nutrients. 0ealthy eating is easy and fun but is re(uires a little bit of time and planning. Your diet has to include a lot of fresh !egetables and fish. "ind a good greengrocer$s and fishmonger$s and buy what you need for the next few days. 1egetables keep their nutrients better when they are eaten raw or steamed. %emember that you can use !egetables like asparagus cabbage or peppers 2red or green3 in many different salads without ha!ing to cook them. 'f you cook them you do not need to prepare sauces with lots of cream and butter. 4teamed !egetables with salt pepper and extra !irgin oli!e oil and perhaps some ,alsamic !inegar are the perfect accompaniment to grilled meat or fish. 4ome people like wine with their food but take care not to ha!e too much- A glass of wine has a similar number of calories to a glass of beer. Alcohol is bad for your diet for !arious reasons. "irst of all it makes you eat more. 4tudies ha!e shown that an aperitif before a meal leads to people consuming more calories. Alcohol also suppresses the fat calories your body burns for energy. The result can be the famous *beer belly+ which does not look !ery sexy. A healthy diet on its own is not enough to ha!e a healthy life. You need to combine it with regular exercise and lots of sleep. You should also try to reduce your le!els of stress. Yoga and mediation classes can help you with this. Also try to be realistic in what you can do. 't is better to do fewer things but do them well. You do not ha!e to spend all day in the gym to be healthy. A long walk se!eral times a week is a good start. You should aim for /5 555 steps a day. ,uy a pedometer to make sure you do this e!ery day. 0owe!er as always start off little by little gradually increasing the number of steps you do.
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7!erybody starts the year with good intentions but they are usually a distant memory when it is time for more family celebrations complete with big dinners and large portions of pudding. ,ut this does not mean you should not detox and try to eat better only after the New Year. 8n the contrary you can start the process se!eral times a year 9 resolutions do not necessarily ha!e to be for #anuary-
:lease think about the en!ironment before printing this podcast.
;
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%emember that you should enjoy your food and eating a wide !ariety of different produce will ensure your body absorbs the correct nutrients. 0ealthy eating is easy and fun but is re(uires a little bit of time and planning. Your diet has to include a lot of fresh !egetables and fish. "ind a good greengrocer$s and fishmonger$s and buy what you need for the next few days. 1egetables keep their nutrients better when they are eaten raw or steamed. %emember that you can use !egetables like asparagus cabbage or peppers 2red or green3 in many different salads without ha!ing to cook them. 'f you cook them you do not need to prepare sauces with lots of cream and butter. 4teamed !egetables with salt pepper and extra !irgin oli!e oil and perhaps some ,alsamic !inegar are the perfect accompaniment to grilled meat or fish. 4ome people like wine with their food but take care not to ha!e too much- A glass of wine has a similar number of calories to a glass of beer. Alcohol is bad for your diet for !arious reasons. "irst of all it makes you eat more. 4tudies ha!e shown that an aperitif before a meal leads to people consuming more calories. Alcohol also suppresses the fat calories your body burns for energy. The result can be the famous *beer belly+ which does not look !ery sexy. A healthy diet on its own is not enough to ha!e a healthy life. You need to combine it with regular exercise and lots of sleep. You should also try to reduce your le!els of stress. Yoga and mediation classes can help you with this. Also try to be realistic in what you can do. 't is better to do fewer things but do them well. You do not ha!e to spend all day in the gym to be healthy. A long walk se!eral times a week is a good start. You should aim for /5 555 steps a day. ,uy a pedometer to make sure you do this e!ery day. 0owe!er as always start off little by little gradually increasing the number of steps you do.
6
7!erybody starts the year with good intentions but they are usually a distant memory when it is time for more family celebrations complete with big dinners and large portions of pudding. ,ut this does not mean you should not detox and try to eat better only after the New Year. 8n the contrary you can start the process se!eral times a year 9 resolutions do not necessarily ha!e to be for #anuary-
:lease think about the en!ironment before printing this podcast.
;
