Navigating the silly season.

Bonjour,

I can’t believe I just had my first Christmas function and we are not even in December yet. The silly season is officially on and with it comes the risk of having our diet totally off track for a few weeks at least if not until the end of January…

The silly season is officially open! Enjoy!

Navigating the festive season without putting on too many kilos is always a challenge but it is critical: many studies show that the kilos that we put on during the holiday season are the hardest to lose. 95% of the time, they stay there on our belly or hips and add up every year. So it’s wise to think ahead and have a strategy ready. Many of my private clients ask me for a customised plan to help them stay healthy while having fun over the summer holiday. Their plan will of course vary according to how hard they play and how discipled they are with their diet and lifestyle.

However here are 6 tips that we can all follow…

SILLY SEASON 1: it’s all about hydration.

Make your own super vitamin water: delicious -with no nasties!

   I am a big fan of  ‘harm minimisation’ approaches as they work while most radical deprivation options will inevitably fail or leave you frustrated and make you eat-binge eventually. The first harm minimisation tip is an obvious yet essential one: stay hydrated! Heat and alcohol consumption mean that you need to be even more mindful of getting enough water. And I’m not talking about a few glasses a day. I’m talking about 2 litres at least depending on how much alcohol you drink and how much exposed to the heat and sun you are.

For each standard alcohol drink, you are likely to urinate 100ml more than you drink, leading to dehydration. So take any opportunity to have more water every day. Drink water first thing in the morning and last thing before going to bed. If you find plain water too boring, make your own multi-vitamin water by simply adding fruit like berries, lemons, oranges. Avoid sweetened pre-made drinks (like ice teas, energy drinks, sport drinks loaded with sugar). Reduce your coffee intake and instead drink heaps of green tea or herbal infusions (mint is very cooling for the body) throughout the day. Choosing fruits with high water and low sugar content like strawberries, melon or watermelon can also be a good way of increasing your water intake.

SILLY SEASON 2: Alkalise! 

Our diet during the Christmas season is highly acidic due to huge intake of meat, sugar and alcohol: it promotes inflammation, depletes your immune system, makes you feel tired, damages your skin and makes you inevitably put on weight! And we don’t want that! So it’s important to alkalise our body. Here is one quick fix: mix 3 tbs organic apple cider vinegar (acidic taste but alkalising food!) with 1 tbs honey in warm water and drink at least 3 times a day (you can do the same with lemon juice).  

You know I personally don’t like green juices but I also have some when I need a quick alkalising fix. Cucumber + spinach + lemon + ginger + coconut milk is my favourite.

SILLY SEASON 3: Red wine

If you’re not ready to cut your alcohol intake down during the holiday season, it is then a good idea to look at the ‘healthiest’ options. Red wine is definitely one of them. Full of nutrients, great to thin the blood, packed with phyto-nutrients, powerful antioxidants that protect the artery walls from free radicals, it is a heart healthy food. Experts analysed the death rates associated with moderate intakes of red wine, beer and spirits and found that wine increased longevity while beer had no effects and spirits decreased longevity. Please enjoy red wine always, always, always with food (the full taste of wine reveals itself only when paired with the right food) and always, always, always in moderation! Find out more about why red wine is good for you on my blog post HERE.

The best seafood with a view. I took this photo on the Ile de Re on the Atlantic coast last June.

SILLY SEASON 4: Everything from the sea

Fish and seafood instead of meat are definitely the best choices for your Xmas feast. White fish is a very easy to digest source of protein and minerals, fatty fish like sardine and ocean trout bring the best omega-3 and shell fish boosts libido and reproduction health – no bad for summer!

If you haven’t tried it yet, please look at my shellfish bisque recipe on my blog post HERE: this very traditional French recipe is a winner and will impress your guests.

Caviar is also a fantastic healthy food: it will give you a great dose of Vit B12 and omega-3, with anti-inflammatory properties you need to fight modern lifestyle diseases including overweight.

SILLY SEASON 5: Lemon and ginger

Grab plenty of (organic) lemons and a lot of fresh ginger, your 2 new best friends to cleanse your liver and recover from any hangover in no time. Wash and cut 3 lemons in 6 to 8 pieces and put all pieces (including skin, zest, flesh) in a pot. Add 1.5 litres of filtered water and bring to the boil. Store it in the fridge (with the lemon pieces still in the water). Drink warm first thing in the morning and throughout the day. If you don’t like lemons, blend some ginger. Then extract the juice and put it in a cup of hot water with some raw honey.

SILLY SEASON 6: Champagne, sacre bleu!
I had to finish with Champagne, French of course, THE celebratory and festive wine of choice. Quite low in calories (relatively ‘safe’ for your waistline), quality Champagne doesn’t trigger headaches – and we like that! If you want to enjoy its full flavour, don’t drink it with foods that neutralise it such asparagus, artichokes and chocolate. Remember: drink in moderation and always choose quality over quantity. More on why I LOVE Champagne on my blog post HERE.

Subscribe to The Good Life France magazine, it’s free!

Finally this might not help you survive the silly season but if you love Christmas, France and French food, you will love this new e-magazine, The Good Life France. I’m very proud to be one of the main contributors to this new magazine published by The  Good Life France, super popular blog, followed by hundreds of thousands France-lovers in Australia, New Zealand, UK… You can read it and subscribe for FREE here: http://joom.ag/lskb

YOUR TURN NOW. Any tips about the silly season you would like to share with us?

Have a fabulous start of the silly season!

Yves