So while austerity may have been 2010's buzz word, let's not allow it to be the same for 2011. After all, it's a contradiction of sorts to assume that happiness can be achieved by the process of deprivation and starvation.
If you are reading this article, hats off to you.
I am not sure I necessarily would be, for if there's anything more nauseating than the erection of Christmas regalia in early September, it is probably the widespread 'health-kick' jargon from which there is simply no escape at the start of January.
But I am most definitely not here to lecture you about the inevitable weight-gain and general sluggishness associated with the dreaded annual Christmas aftermath. I in fact write to you from my ornately decorated sitting room, in a chair whose red velvet-wrapped armrests are hugging my contours a little tighter than I remember them doing two months ago. I'm under no illusion that this sensation is because the inanimate chair is suddenly very pleased to see me, nor is it due to the thickness of my Inuit-style anti-winter layering.
It's my fault of course. For while most of it seems a distant memory now, I do occasionally recall hoovering chunks of cheese as though they were sticks of carrots, developing a new penchant for gelatinous foie gras on buttered toast and eating a chocolate-flavoured Panettone with an added strata of Nutella on its top for breakfast. Oh dear you may say, and believe me, I'm saying it, too.
But this year, like every year, I refuse to be pulled down the spiralling vortex plug hole of self-pity and self-guilt. I will not be joining a gym (I am already a member) and most importantly, I shall definitely not be embarking on a 'New Year Detox'.
'Detox' you see, has in recent times become a byword for a flash-diet which we like to believe undoes what we overdid at Christmas. But while detox prescriptions from qualified doctors may carry all sorts of nutritional benefits, the problem we average Joes face is that not all of us follow the ‘above-board’ kind. Instead, we tend to look at gamine actresses all the way over in Hollywood and imitate whatever new fad is whittling them down to looking like whippets. Last year saw the rise of the Maple Syrup diet - which consists of ingesting a cayenne pepper, water and maple syrup-infused drink for fourteen days. God only knows what we'll be faced with in the next twelve months.
So while austerity may have been 2010's buzz word, let’s not allow it to be the same for 2011. After all, it’s a contradiction of sorts to assume that happiness can be achieved by the process of deprivation and starvation.
I may be no diet guru, but these are some of the things with which I help my mood tick along nicely at the start of the year.
Health experts frequently recommend that over-indulgers reintroduce a good amount of antioxidants and wholesome foods to their diets. How do you get them you may ask? No panic necessary, because they already exist in so many things we already eat (we just may have neglected them for the odd pig-in-blanket in the last few weeks). Increase your intake of Vitamin E by eating nuts and whole grains, Vitamin C is in abundance in fruits, green peppers, broccoli, tomatoes and Vitamin A is swimming in pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes, kale and many other things. While this barely even touches the surface of the 'good food' shelf, what all these ingredients have in common is their raw, from-the-earth goodness. So if you were one of those who compensated for your lack of Brussels sprouts by having more stuffing, generous helpings of gravy and extra bacon on the sausages, now's the time to re-address the balance.
In terms of elimination - measured, of course, by the scale of your Christmas excess - many opt to cut out alcohol when they hit the month of January. Some even go as far as doing it until the middle of February. This may not work for everyone (I always attempt it but usually slacken my resolve mid-month), but of course with January guaranteed to be the time of the year with the fewest party invites hitting your doormat, it really can be an optimum time to put some distance between one's liver and that crate of Champagne. With the shedding of alcohol, so, the nutritionists say, goes lethargy.
This brings us on to another crucial element - exercise. For as much as we love Christmas for being a stay-on-the-sofa sort of holiday, there is in fact so much more enjoyment to be drawn from light and constant exercise. I know, it’s probably the last thing you feel like doing right now, but there’s no need to start an intense training for the marathon. An amusing trip to an ice-rink would do the tricky nicely, in fact. So once you’ve stored your leftovers in the larder and successfully hoovered up the last of the discarded wrapping paper piles, dust off your trainers and get moving .With a healthy and balanced diet, endorphins produced from exercise will do wonders for your general well-being, mood and health. Much more so than another sip of some devilish booze, that’s for sure.
With all this said, what I really enjoy banking on at this time of the year is that Christmas has finally gone. Why? Because with the natural elimination of all things indulgent (muffin-sharing in the office, turkey trimming picking and the hoarding of mince pies), things tend to swiftly return to the way they were before the festive season turned us all upside down with frivolity. This is what I call a ‘natural detox’. So really, with little need to take drastic measures, it’ll be easy to avoid the bilious advertising slogans ‘for a better you’ that will start appearing just about anywhere very soon. Instead, enjoy that at least for another year the helplessly enticing Christmas spread has been put to one side, and with it, the temptation for indulgence. That is, of course, as long as they don’t bring it all out again as early as September. Here’s to hoping!