The foods that are traditionally eaten for the Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day vary so much around the world but Turkey is eaten in a good number of countries. Turkey itself is quite healthy but it’s all the other high fat and high sugar things that are included in the feast that ruin it. Here are some healthy eating tips for Christmas dinner.

• Start the day with a good breakfast. You will be less likely to want to nibble unhealthy snacks to keep you going. Try oatmeal porridge, muesli with yogurt, or whole grain toast with poached egg if it is cold where you live. If it’s warm then a fruit smoothie with live yogurt , a bowl of fruit or muesli with fruit would be good.

• If you need a snack to keep you going until the Christmas meal have a couple of clementines or satsumas , a few dates, figs or a handful of walnuts. Raw vegetable sticks with hummus or guacamole dips would be good too.

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If you are struggling to lose weight and hate counting calories then the Alternate Day Diet with Green Smoothies could be the answer. Even if you do not need to lose weight you can get a tremendous energy boost and have incredible health improvements with this type of eating plan that includes a green smoothie detox on alternate days.

Scientists have known for the past 75 years that restricting calories in animals could make them live healthily for up to 40% longer than normal. They know that a very low calorie diet can keep arteries clear, give better blood sugar control, improve inflammation which is an underlying factor
in many diseases, keep brain cells sharp and prevent diseases associated with aging.

Lose more weight on the Alternate Day Diet

Well that sounds great but at what price? Very few people have the will power to stick to a tedious regime of very low calorie eating where you are feel hungry all the time.  But more recent research on animals showed that they still got all the health benefits if they restricted calories only on alternate days. In fact, you can lose more weight on the alternate day diet than on a conventional weight loss diet.

This way of losing weight does not slow your metabolism down like other calorie restricted diets. The alternate day diet can be followed indefinitely. Many people find that when they come off it they can maintain their weight without any problems if they eat healthily.  If you find though that your weight starts to creep up again just go back on the Alternate Day Diet  until you have lost the weight again.

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You might not be thinking too much about your health right now but it’s not too early to start making your plans for your detox next year. In fact detox has already been suggested as the thing to do during the weeks leading up to Christmas so you can eat, drink and make merry as you please! It’s being referred to as “Pre-Tox”. In effect, you detox with the idea of re-toxifying with all sorts of unhealthy food and alcohol! How crazy is that?

Pre-Tox is plain crazy

I am all for detox but the idea of going on a detox diet to lose some weight so you can pig out over the party season is just plain stupid. Anyone with any notion of health at all will realize that the the whole idea of a detox diet is to get rid of toxins to improve your health not to make it alright to eat a load of junk and avoid the weight gain.

Boost your immune system

If it’s Winter where you live then it’s not the time to be skipping meals and restricting calories. This is the time of the year to be trying to boost your immune system so you avoid catching those pesky cold and flu viruses. The extra stresses and strains increases dramatically at this time of the year.

Regular meals, a good breakfast, warming vegetable soups and lean meat stews, whole grains, plenty of fruit and vegetables and a few fresh nuts will give you the nutrients needed for good immunity. Don’t forget to add a little raw food too.

It’s vital to get plenty of sleep. The longer days of darkness mean that it’s natural to have more sleep .Late nights and stress will take their toll on your body. Too much alcohol, sugar or heavy meals before bedtime ruin a good night’s sleep.

Detox the alcohol

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With all the rushing about in preparation for Christmas wouldn’t it be wonderful to lie down and have a wonderful, relaxing and therapeutic body massage?  You might regard this as a luxury but the word therapeutic means something that is good for you and good for your health. The history of massage goes back thousands of years and there a numerous references to massage as a therapeutic healing art in ancient Indian and Chinese books dating from about 3000 BC

Massage done by a good and caring therapist is certainly very good for you and a great treatment to help natural detox or to incorporate into a detox program. Even if you are not detoxing just now a massage is very relaxing for both the body and mind. Massage treats the whole person.

Massage has gained phenomenal acceptance in the medical circles and is incorporated into treatment programs for cancer and cardiac patients and to relieve prolonged stress.

Dislodge trapped toxins

From a detox point of view It can help dislodge toxins that are trapped in tight muscles to enable them to be eliminated naturally. A good massage relaxes tense and knotted muscles and stimulates the blood and lymph circulation.

The Lymphatic System is one of the five main elimination channels in your body along with skin, lungs, kidneys & bowels. The lymph system takes the toxic waste from your cells and carries nutrients to them so they can function efficiently. The toxins are eventually carried to the liver and kidneys to be processed for detox or excreted directly into the bowel.

The theory of Eastern massage differs form Western massage in that Eastern massage such as Shiatsu or Thai massage centers on balancing the energies in the body.

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There’s no doubt that mankind is advancing by leaps and bounds; we’re progressing in every field there is, and although it has made our lives easier and more convenient, not all of it is good. Along with advancement and progress, we have also inherited sickness and disease because our lifestyles have become more sedentary, our food habits have become excessive and self-indulgent, and pollution has risen to alarming levels.

All this contributes to the rise of toxins in our body, the kind that our forefathers and ancestors never had to worry about because they ate natural foods and spent more time in fresh air that was unsullied by smoke, smog and all the other pollutants that we have created as byproducts of progress. Our internal systems are clogged with toxins that cause illness and disease, and unless we detox once in a while, we are going to be spending a lot of money on and time in and out of hospitals.

There are many ways to detoxify your body, the simplest of which is to ingest only water and fresh juices for a day. The liquids help clear your digestive tract and flush out all the toxins that have accumulated over the past few months because of unhealthy food. Some foods that help you detox are fresh fruits, green and leafy vegetables, beetroot, lime, garlic and green tea. When you want to detox, you must avoid acid forming foods that are difficult to digest like pastas, breads, sugar, meat, dairy, eggs, nuts, sodas, caffeine and alcohol.

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