Keeping Your Body Fit and Healthy After Holiday and Welcoming the New Year

After Thanksgiving most of you will have been counting your calories for a few weeks. Unfortunately, following hot on Thanksgiving's heels, Christmas and New Year now loom large. A big Christmas dinner followed by a Boxing Day brunch and some heavy New Year's Eve drinking until the early hours of January 1st 2009 will take a toll on your body. Is there any solution to all this feasting that will ensure that you don't end up looking like the Michelin man this festive season?

From today onwards make sure you drink a glass of water every two hours in order to ensure constant hydration. The water will also help you to feel full, which can suppress the appetite and in addition will flush out the toxins accumulated from downing endless alcohol beverages. You will also be helping to cleanse your liver.

Sauna once a week for 15 minutes to help the skin excrete toxins and to clean the body. Not only will you be glowing on the inside but a sauna session is also a great pre-party preparation for obtaining healthy looking skin.

Eliminate all refined carbohydrates such as white rice and white bread from now until Christmas time when you'll really want to splurge on the Yorkshire puddings. This includes foods such as pizzas, noodles, cakes and pastries. Once ingested, refined carbohydrates turn to sugar in the body at a rapid rate, adding to your weight as well as increasing toxicity in the body.

Snack on fruits, nuts and seeds. Fruits are packed with vital nutrients that help detoxify the body as well as fibre, which makes you feel fuller for longer. Nuts and seeds are full of essential fats that help the body to function properly.

Introduce whole grains such as whole wheat, oats and brown rice into your diet. These types of food will help you feel full for longer so that you won't feel peckish and be tempted into gratuitous snacking.

Consume protein during every meal. The ratio of carbohydrates to protein in a meal should be 2:1 respectively. This will help balance blood sugar levels and prevent hunger pangs, which are generally felt mid morning and in the afternoons after lunch. Good sources containing all of the essential amino acids are meat, fish, poultry, cheese, eggs and Soya beans. It is possible to make a complete protein food for vegetarians by combining whole grains with lentils and beans. Christmas turkey with lots of vegetables on the side is ok!