By Linda Vezzoli / Nutritional Therapist

The holiday season is a great time to let your hair down and celebrate with friends and family - but most of us get to January not quite feeling our best and with a need to detox and recover from the Christmas indulgences.

Here are a few tips to incorporate in the month of December to ensure we start 2020 feeling invigorated and ready to take on the new decade!

1. Try to keep up your healthy habits. Aim to be as consistent as possible with your diet and exercise during the holidays, even with the planned indulgences. Something as simple as aiming to eat a healthy breakfast every day or getting a good amount of sleep most nights will make it easier to get to January without feeling like you need to completely overhaul your diet and lifestyle.
2. Keep hydrated. The holiday season is filled with parties, dinners and celebrations where cocktails, prosecco and other alcoholic drinks flow freely. Make sure you keep yourself hydrated throughout the day with water and herbal teas but also when drinking alcohol, try to have a glass of water in between alcoholic drinks. This will help slow down your alcohol consumption on the night and hopefully avoid a nasty hangover the next day. Staying hydrated in general will also help with keeping your energy levels up throughout the holiday season, as well as helping you make better food choices during the festivities.
3. Avoid drinking alcohol on an empty stomach. Drinking on an empty stomach will not only make you feel drunk quicker, but will also increase your appetite and hinders your decision making process when deciding what to eat.
4. Try to move every day. With family engagements and festivities, it may prove harder to stick to a regular workout routine. However, try to incorporate some movement every day, either by doing some simple stretches at home or by inviting the whole family to have a leisurely walk before or after the Christmas meal.
5. Don't forget your vegetables! Aim to fill half of your plate with vegetables, even at parties and Christmas dinners. These will not only help you feel satiated, but will provide your body with much needed fiber and anti-oxidants to counteract all the holiday indulgences!
6. Show your liver some love. Eating more rich foods, desserts and indulging in alcoholic drinks over the Christmas period can take a toll on your liver, so show it some love by consuming more bitter foods (artichokes, rocket, dandelion, or cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts) or by supplementing with a nutritive liver support formula like PRL Liver ND which delivers optimal detoxification, rejuvenation and liver nutritive support.
7. Manage holiday stress. The Christmas period is a joyous time but canalso be quite stressful with endless engagements, family gatherings andto-do lists. Incorporate some relaxation techniques into your dailylife, especially when things may start to feel overwhelming. Taking sometime out for a simple self-care act like having a quiet bath or simplytaking some long, deep breaths can reduce your negative feelings in amatter or minutes. Also make sure you carve out some time in your busycalendar for rest!

By incorporating some of these tips, you should be able to start the New Year feeling revitalised!