Rance Costa
StyleNest teams up with Kim McIntyre, Sports Nutrition Expert at sports supplements supplier Bodybuilding Warehouse, bringing you top tips for a New Year detox.
After all the delicious over indulgence that Christmas brings, New Year feels the best time to get back on track with fitness and nutrition. Whether you’re struggling with a post Christmas slump or looking to up your fitness levels, follow these top tips to detoxify and kick-start a new healthy regime.
Flush
Too many glasses of fizz and mulled wine over the Christmas period can leave your skin dull and blotchy. The key to restoration is hydration and detoxifying your liver after having put it under a lot of stress. Up your water intake and stock up on peppermint tea to aid your digestive system in removing toxins. Forget expensive face scrubs and creams and cleanse your body from the inside. Try the Pure Omega 3 Fish Oil Softgels, which will boost your intake of this essential nutrient that promises to help maintain healthy skin, hair, teeth and gums.
Stretch
Yoga and Pilates are both well known ways to increase energy and flexibility. Find a class suited to your ability, stick with it, and watch your all-round fitness soar. There are certain positions that incorporate twists to remove toxins, poses which stimulate digestion and stretches that encourage muscle growth, which are all crucial to the detox process.
Clear out
Have a clear out of your fridge. Throw away any remnants of Christmas indulgence and stick up on luscious seasonal greens such as kale and cabbage, famous for their anti-inflammatory properties and high fibre content.
For those in a rush
If you don’t have a lot of time to cook fresh food, consider supplementing with a phytonutrient-dense blended drink like Warrior Greens. It contains wheat grass, spirulina and kelp, all of which help to detoxify the body and improve overall health.
Juice your breakfast
Apples, pears and beetroot are all in season at the start of the New Year, so invest in a juicer to make super quick breakfast juices that will pack a powerful nutrient punch. Experiment with different flavour combinations – you’ll be surprised at how many healthy vegetables you can sneak into a juice, simply by masking their taste with one or two sweet fruits. For an extra boost, add ginger to the mix, which will reduce inflammation of the colon.
Aim for the stars
There is no better time to start a new exercise regime than the beginning of a brand new year. Home exercise equipment and gym membership passes are usually offered at discounted rates around this time of year, so keeping fit can be done on a budget – even if you went a bit spend-crazy at Christmas. Try to choose something you have never tried before by thinking outside the box, this way you’ll be less likely to get bored of just running on a treadmill. Check your local fitness centre for specialised classes; Hot Bikram Yoga, Ribbon Trapeze or Pole Dancing are all great ways to push your boundaries.
Avoid the crash
Starting an exercise routine is one half of the battle; the other is fuelling your body correctly so that it can maintain the results. After a month of gorging on fat-laden foods and sugary treats, kicking the habit will send your energy levels crashing and your hunger pangs soaring. Get out of the addictive cycle by snacking on nuts and seeds to provide long lasting energy and heart-healthy fats. If you’re on the go but fancy a treat, do your body a favour by choosing a Protein Flapjack over a sticky chocolate bar, which will only leave your blood sugar levels crashing in an hour anyway.
Sleep your way to a better mood
Christmas is full of family gatherings and office parties, and whilst having a lot of fun, the hectic festive season means most people aren’t getting enough REM sleep. This is the vital type of sleep that boosts cognitive function and mood, so try to avoid alcohol, nicotine and heavy dairy-laden meals before bed as these will disrupt your quality of sleep.
Stubborn pounds
According to medical studies, weight gained over the holiday seasons is more difficult to shift. Perhaps because we’ve enjoyed celebrating with family and then have to go back to work, which can potentially lead to stress and comfort eating. Make sure your holiday eating habits stop when the holiday does! It might help to re-boot your system with a meal replacement shake if you have a few stubborn pounds to shift. This Performance Diet Whey V2 shake is a leading weight control shake for those looking to optimise fat loss.
Stick with it
Shedding those pounds and restoring your body to its former toned glory might be a gruelling process, depending on just how fun your Christmas was, but stick with it. Rome wasn’t built in a day – keep a food diary, invest in a new set of gym clothes that make you feel good, and give supplements time to work their wonders – in the meantime, get moving, it’s only six months until summer.
www.bodybuildingwarehouse.co.uk