Have a ‘Merry’ Christmas and How to enjoy your alcohol!!!

Originally posted at Vitality Health Hub.

I bet this is a title of a Blog you didn’t expect to see on The Art of Living Healthy Blog was it? – How to enjoy your alcohol consumption this Christmas!

Well, I don’t personally drink (although I did up until a little over a year ago), and I realise that it is the one nutritional protocol that I find difficult converting my clients to. Plus, even though I was never a heavy drinker I also found it difficult to give up at first when I decided to. I feel fantastic since giving up, but this  Blog is designed to HELP you to  DRINK  safely, and ‘healthily’.

Ok, so how do you have a ‘Merry’ Christmas with your alcohol?

1. Cut the carbs. Alcohol is converted in your system as a carbohydrate, and responds by releasing excess insulin (the hormone that causes weight gain around the middle) as do other carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables and grains. However in my opinion most people eat far too many carbohydrates relative to proteins – meat, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds, avocado’s. When Weston A Price travelled the world in the 1930′s studying indigineous populations, he did not find any vegetarian societies, thus  influencing the argument for minimising carbohydrates. So, because alcohol acts like a carbohydrate, I suggest when you are drinking don’t have any (or very few) carbs and increase your fat and protein intake. This will not make you fat, or increase your cholesterol, as it is excess insulin (carbs) that will do that!
2. Drink more water. Every person should stay properly hydrated.  Drinking half of your body weight in pounds in ounces of water each day, or  multiply your bodyweight in kilograms multiplied by 0.033 will give you the amount of water you should drink each day. When you are drinking, AT LEAST reach this amount, plus I suggest to combat the dehyradting effects of alcohol, consume the amount of alcohol you had in water on top of your daily quota. For example, if you drink 1 pint of alcohol, you should drink an extra 1 pint of water.
3. Drink organic alcohol if possible. It is possible to buy organic alcohols. I suggest this so that you are just drinking the alcohol, and not getting the associated pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides and other industrial farming chemicals added to your cocktails. It is often these chemicals that create the hangover the next day. So go out of your way to purchase organic alcohol.
4. Minimise your other stress! Obviously drinking alcohol is not good for the body. It never has been, and never will be.  For this reason if you are going to continue to drink alcohol, you should try to reduce any other stress you might be put under. Now this might sound easier said that done, but here are some practical tips:

• Go to bed between 10 and 11 every night to ensure you are getting adequate physical repair, and wake up no earlier than between 6 and 7 in the morning.
• Eat as high a quality diet as possible, stressing organic produce, and minimising your exposure to table salt, pasteurised dairy products, sugar and wheat. Not easy this time of year I kn0w – but you will feel ten times better if you do avoid them!
• If you have been drinking it’s probably best to avoid the exercise! Exercise is an extra added stress to your system, so unless it is a soft-style exercise, then I would wait until you’ve had a day off drinking.
• Put your feet up, take time with your family, and don’t let them stress you out too much!

So there you have it. How to enjoy a Tipsy Christmas Season in a healthy way. And if you f ind it too difficult don’t beat yourself up, after all ’tis the season to be jolly.

There’s always the New Year Resolutions! Merry Christmas everyone!