EAT, DRINK & be healthy

HOW TO TREAT YOURSELF RIGHT THIS FESTIVE SEASON

Christmas comes but once a year – surely it can be the one day when you let your hair down and forget about trying to be healthy?

There’s nothing wrong with tucking into food that’s not particularly good for you, or with enjoying a few drinks on Christmas Day. The trouble is that it’s called the festive season for a reason – our celebrations are not limited to December 25, but often spill into the several weeks leading up to it.

Function after function, treats sitting around the house, and a blowout on Christmas Day can take a toll. Here’s how to stay healthy this year.

• Don’t go mad at the shops

Those displays of Christmas food – chocolate elves that fizz in your mouth, mince pies, candy canes, Santa-shaped cookies – that seem to appear in almost every aisle at the supermarket can be enticing. But if you succumb and buy a few treats, it can be easy to give in to temptation and eat them before Christmas.

Hands up if you demolish them soon after buying them and replenish stocks next time you’re at the shops!

If you really want special treats for Christmas, wait until the last minute to buy them, and don’t go mad. If you do buy them early, put them out of sight and out of reach.

• Ditch bad habits

Are you are one of those people who gets into the festive spirit by putting bowls of treats around the house throughout December? It’s time to rethink this habit.

It just encourages you, your family and your visitors to eat more sugary, salty, processed and calorie-laden foods.

Get special treats out if people come around, but otherwise keep them in the cupboard – or better yet, don’t buy them in the first place. If you want nibbles