Well here we go again, a brand New Year and another chance to really focus on achieving your health goals. If all the rich food and alcohol over Christmas or simply the stress of planning, shopping, organizing and cooking it all has left you feeling jaded and run down then a detox is just the thing. The New Year is the perfect time to get your health back on track with a gentle detox diet.

I say gentle because the best form of detox at this time of the year is one that builds up your immune system and gives your digestive system a rest.   A detox plan that supports and nourishes the body is better than a severe detox that can leave you vulnerable to winter infections like colds and flu.

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Christmas is typically one of the most stressful events of the year but our everyday lives seem to have become increasingly more stressful. We all seem to have been affected in some way by the economic crisis and with the media constantly thrusting doom and gloom down our throats it’s hard to stay calm and maintain a positive outlook.

If you celebrate Christmas the chances are that you are stressed out right now. Stress, especially prolonged stress, is very damaging to your health. It can affect your whole body but your digestion, your immune system and detox system are particularly affected. This is accompanied by increasing levels of acidity in the body which always ends in disease.

Here are a few tips to help you cope with the holiday stress:

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Will eating and drinking over this Holiday Season ruin your waistline?

From what I hear even these hard economic times are not stopping the office parties or meals out although more people seem to be entertaining at home than eating out.

Whether it’s the office party, meals out or home dinner parties it’s easy to let all good intentions go and pile on the pounds during this festive season then spend January regretting it.  Did you know that on average people gain 5 lbs in the four week Christmas period?

It takes and extra 3,500 calories to put on 1 pound of body fat. Just an extra 500 calories a day over the month will do it – A mince pie (a typical British Christmas tradition) and a couple of glasses of wine for example.

While most people know what they should be eating my nutrition clients used to say that they still needed someone to spell it out for them.

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In these stressful times you might feel that your energy needs a boost and be tempted to try one of the energy drinks that seem to be taking over the soft drinks shelves in the supermarkets. In spite of hard times globally sales of caffeine energy drinks have apparently overtaken bottled water sales.

You might be thinking they could be good for you when they also contain herbs like Ginseng, Green Tea, Echinacea, Ginkgo Biloba, St. John’s Wort, Kava Kava, Damiana, Mate and Schizandra. But besides caffeine energy drinks  frequently contain other legal stimulants such as ephedrine, and guarana.

Beware of the stimulants in energy drinks

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