How to stay healthy over the Christmas period

Christmas time, the festive period, is a time of precious times with loved ones and great holiday eating!  Even though it’s summer, the holiday season can mean we sometimes let go of our normal routines.  Enjoying a little too much good eating and letting go perhaps of some physical activity.  With a relaxed frame of mind, it can be really easy (a little too easy perhaps!) to undo all the great effort we’ve worked so hard on the whole year to achieve with careful eating and strict exercise.  It’s so important not to, so that we put your ourselves in a great position to kickstart the new year in fine mental and physical form.  This will leave you feeling great and empowered as the new year approaches. 

 

So how can you do strike the right balance between enjoying festive season food and not throwing away all the hard yakka with you’ve put in?  While cutting back on prawns during these endless summer barbies and Christmas hams may be one way, it’s probably more important to look at habits such as how many sweets you consume, potato chips and alcohol for example.  These can all easily overload you on unhealthy levels of nutrients like sugars and other carbohydrates.  When this is combined with the inevitable sitting around and chilling with mates, it’s a combination that won’t put you in good stead for the new year. 

Another way to give yourself every chance of a great healthy start to the new year is to maintain the right balance of your gut microbiome, through consumption of probiotics.  Add a probiotic side dish (fermented vegetables for example) to dinner, snack on a probiotic protein bar or opt for a probiotic yogurt to satisfy those sweet cravings.  These slight changes to dietary habits could just start to have a profound difference in your overall health and wellbeing, and not just for your digestive health. 

You may well be aware of the importance of consuming ‘good bacteria’ through probiotic foods or supplements, and the many health benefits that these bacteria can have.  These health benefits are not only for your gastrointestinal health, but your overall physical health.  However, there’s another beneficial link, not as widely spoken about - the positive impact of probiotics on mental health - it’s more than just speculation, let’s explore how having your regular dose of ‘good bacteria’ can aid in better mental health. 

A month-long study carried out a little over ten years ago by Messaoudi et al. (2011), found that dietary intake of two specific probiotic strains by heathy volunteers resulted in improved positive scores on a range of tests for stress, anxiety and the like.  Furthermore, another piece of work (Benton et al., 2007) has demonstrated that consumption of a fermented milk drink, by those already in a poor mental state was able to elevate their mood.  With the substantial body of evidence connecting (specific) probiotic consumption  with mental health improvements, Sivamaruthi et al. (2019) goes as far to say that the effects of probiotic on one’s mental state are so significant that they could be considered mental health treatments.  Overall, due to this association between (particular) probiotics and improved mood, reduced stress and a generally better mental state, it can’t harm to try some extra probiotic foods during summer, especially in December in the lead-up to the festive period and for the start of the new year. 

So where does that specifically leave us with how best to take care of ourselves over summer and especially during the Christmas and New Year period?  Well, our advice is this - try to strike a (healthy) balance between reducing consumption of food and drinks that don’t really serve any good nutritional purpose; sweets, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages and snacks like potato chips while still enjoying such treats.  Perhaps don’t overindulge on your own, but share the experience when enjoying time with family and friends.  Furthermore, maintain your physical activity, by still getting up at the same time each day and going for a morning walk.  You’ll be getting your daily exercise while avoiding the heat of the day and this will give you a good feeling of positivity, knowing that you are taking action to do something really good for yourself.  Then, look at incorporating (more?) probiotic foods into your diet, and a diversity of such foods would be the best approach.  Just remember that there is a difference between fermented foods and probiotic foods - probiotic foods may (kimchi) or may not (probiotic protein bars) be fermented and vice versa, fermented foods may (most yogurts) or may not (kombucha) contain probiotics.  Just because a food ingredients label includes “live cultures” doesn’t mean that they are probiotics.  The combination of going easy on the less nutritious foods, maintaining your physical activity and incorporating more probiotic foods into your diet will make you feel physically and mentally great, putting you in a great position if you choose to make a new year’s resolution around diet and health - it really will make it so much easier to follow through with.  Give it a go and here’s to a happy and healthy 2021!

 References

Benton, D., Williams, C. & Brown, A. (2007). Impact of consuming a milk drink containing a probiotic on mood and cognition. Eur J Clin Nutr 61, 355–361.

Messaoudi, M., Lalonde, R., Violle, N., Javelot, H., Desor, D., Nejdi, A., Bisson, J.F., Rougeot, C., Pichelin, M., Cazaubiel, M. and Cazaubiel, J.M. (2011). Assessment of psychotropic-like properties of a probiotic formulation (Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175) in rats and human subjects. British Journal of Nutrition, 105(5), 755-764.

Sivamaruthi, B. S., Prasanth, M. I., Kesika, P., & Chaiyasut, C. (2019). Probiotics in human mental health and diseases-A mini-review. Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 18(4), 889-895.