Festivity Recovery
Chocolates before breakfast, champagne with (or without) orange juice, a day (sometimes several) long Christmas smorgasbord buffet of all the most delicious treats and food. By the end of Christmas, food comas will be a plenty and if not that, many will be very merry!
And let’s face it, the festive feasts and drinks are more than likely to span over a few weeks, rather than simply one day. So, rather than be the healthy party pooper and spoil the treat season, I’m going to share some tips on how you can let your system recover with more balance after an indulgence.
Flush it out
Your liver’s role is to naturally detoxify the body of alcohol and fatty foods. However, if it becomes overloaded, that usually means it needs some assistance to help it to function at is optimal capacity.
Obviously, water is key in this process. Adding in lemon juice which is cleansing and fresh ginger to help increase blood flow and circulation, is a nice touch with extra benefits.
You might also like to think about taking milk thistle capsules and a magnesium supplement. Both have important roles in assisting the different stages of detoxification in the liver, whilst also supporting the production of enzymes and compounds needed for the liver to carry out this function in the first place. These supplements will also take care of any issues within the bowels that may have arisen from a change in diet, such as constipation.
Go easy on the digestive system and include smoothies into your daily diet with any combination of the following ingredients such as spinach, Cavolo Nero kale, cucumber, carrot, ginger, blueberries, banana, turmeric, mango, pineapple, watermelon, celery, and green apples. Try to stick to the ratio of 2-3 vegetables and 3 fruit, with unsweetened almond milk or coconut water.
Lean more towards eggs for breakfast or lunch as they contain sulfur compounds in the protein which assists in the detoxification process.
Eat whole foods as much as possible. Have a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables stocked to make salads, stir fry’s, smoothies, or fruit bowls.
Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, bok choi, and kale are your liver’s friends in this time of need so make sure they are also included somewhere in your meals.
Pick higher protein nuts and seeds such as chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, and almonds.
Go for high protein gluten free grains such as boiled quinoa and soaked buckwheat.
Reduce your load on meat if you can for a couple of days, as usually they are in high consumption in a meat eaters’ diet. Giving the digestive system a rest from meat for a couple of days helps to reset the digestive system as a backlog will take more than 48 hours to pass through your intestines if you are willing to try this approach.
Move to flow
Move in ways that don’t stress out your body i.e., dance, yoga, swim, surf, stretch, nature hikes or walks, resistance training (that works with your level of fitness). Don’t push yourself too hard at this stage as your body will be using a lot of energy to get rid of a clogged system. Allow a sustainable progressive to build up strength and fitness (if it isn’t already a part of your normal fitness regimes).
Keep calm and carry on
You don’t need to go on a complete crash course diet. This is about assisting your body to process things as quickly as possible to allow you to come back to a balanced state for you, as a balanced state to everyone will vary.
From this point it may be that you decide to carry on with bringing wellbeing and balance to your body and start creating more regular healthy habits to bring more balance to your body.
Above all else
Remember to have a beautiful day with family and friends, making memories of joy and laughter, feeling the magic with the ones you love, being grateful for everything we have.
If we can do it on one day a year, let’s try to bring more of that magic into our lives every day of the year.
Warmest of Heartfelt wishes to you all
Danielle
