Don't forget your health this Christmas
By Gaye Rutherford, Dietitian

Christmas can be a special time of the year, that one time when the whole family is together and when you actually socialise with friends and colleagues in person rather than a 2 line email or SMS. However, while we are busily wishing our family and friends a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year, many of us forget to make our own health a priority. A little bit of overindulgence enjoying some treats is fine if it’s limited to Christmas Day and one or two other special occasions, but the ‘festive season’ lunches and dinners are a bit like the football season – every year they start earlier and earlier! Making a few sensible choices and keeping active over the festive period can help keep your health on track and set you up for an energised, enthusiastic and guilt-free start to the New Year. Try some of these tips this year:

Too many nibbles and drinks at social events is one of the biggest causes of weight gain over Christmas. Avoid deep-fried, cheesy or creamy snacks including crisps, samosa-style canapes, creamy dips, and cheeses like brie and camembert. Instead, choose vegetable sticks with dips like hommous, salsas or bean dips, mini kebabs made with lean grilled meats, pumpernickel or sour-dough bread topped with smoked salmon and light cream cheese, and fruit platters. Keep a mental dinner plate in your head – every time you eat something, add it to your imaginary plate to help you keep track of exactly how much you are eating. Best of all, take the opportunity to mingle and catch up with as many people as possible – you’ll be too busy talking to be overindulging.

If you are hosting an event or Christmas Dinner, make a point of serving healthy options. Recognise that over-heaping guests plates does not show love and caring – but serving healthy portions does! Make your healthy choices a talking point – you’ll be surprised at how grateful your guests are.

Don’t “sabotage” others’ health with your gifts either. Instead of large boxes of chocolates or bottles of wine, support local industry and give a small box of premium local chocolates, or a jar of locally made jam (sugar free is best!), relish or pickles, or even gourmet olives or fresh seafood. Better still, give a voucher for entry to the local pool, a subscription to an inspiring healthy magazine like “Australian Healthy Food Guide” (only $49.50 for 12 issues full of great articles and recipe ideas), or a massage voucher – indulgence without added calories!

Don’t just spend Christmas eating and drinking with your friends and family – spend some quality time getting some activity together too. Instead of crashing on the couch after Christmas lunch, go for a relaxing stroll – you’ll be surprised how heart-warming it is to see the joy of children out playing on bikes and toys from Santa. Get out that backyard cricket set and challenge the neighbours to your own Ashes. Throw a frisbee. Not only will you get some activity, you’ll be out of the house and away from the tempting left overs.

If you choose to drink, watch your alcohol intake. The Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults recommend that for optimum health, adults, if they drink at all, should limit their average daily intake of alcohol to no more than two standard drinks a day for men and one for women. Don’t know what a standard drink is? A standard drink contains 10 g of alcohol, which equates to:

285ml or ~1 pot of full-strength beer 375ml or 1 stubbie of mid-strength beer (3.5% alcohol content), 100 ml of wine, 30ml of spirits

Beware that Cocktails can contain as much alcohol as five or six standard drinks, depending on the recipe. At least two days a week (preferably more) should be alcohol free. Don’t justify over-consumption of alcohol as being “good for your heart” – a reduced risk of heart disease has only been observed in men over the age of 40 who consume no more than two standard drinks daily, and women over the age of 50 who drink one standard drink daily or less. Conversely the health risks of alcohol affect us all, and include high blood pressure, damage to the nervous system, stomach inflammation and bleeding, higher risk of some cancers, cirrhosis, problems controlling blood sugar, and obesity – gram for gram, alcohol has almost twice the kilojoules of either carbohydrate or protein!