Start the year with energy by doing some exercise and looking after your diet

Christmas was great. Family, friends, gifts, parties around the table… But, I am sure you had more to eat and drink than you should have, admit it. Now you feel tired and have no energy at the start of the year.

Do you want to make up for the holidays and start looking after yourself seriously?

Of course!

Here are some ideas to make it easier for you:

1. Look after your diet. You could not resist those sweet delicacies that are our downfall, but Christmas has passed and there is no need to actually finish the box. Take them out of your sight or you will not be able to resist having more.
2. Try to have more seasonal vegetables, like Swiss chards, courgettes, broccoli, cabbage, etc. You can have them puréed as a soup for colder days. They will help you cleanse your body.
3. For dessert, as recommended by the Mediterranean diet, always eat fruit. In this case too, it is better if it is seasonal, like oranges, mandarins or persimmons, which offer extra vitamin C, or apples and pears, which help your beleaguered digestive system.
4. Have low-fat dairy products, which provide calcium, proteins and no fat, and raise your intake of wholegrain cereals (including pasta and rice) in order to get more fibre and improve your intestinal transit.
5. Drink a lot of water. You will improve the working of all your organs and eliminate toxins, which the excess of sweet and fatty things and alcohol may have left in your body.
6. Don’t skip any meals. You need to have five meals a day to ensure that your metabolism does not rest on its laurels. If you don’t feel like it, at least have some fruit or a low-fat yoghourt.
7. Start doing exercise. No more excuses. It is cold now but there is sure to be a gym nearby where you can join a spinning class in order to strengthen your legs and body, or do body pump in order to tone your muscle groups, or swimming, to improve your lung capacity, or global fitness, to combine cardio and muscle building exercises. And if you are keen on running or “power walking”, wrap up and keep it up.
8. Physical exercise will help accelerate your metabolism (especially if you mix aerobic and muscle building exercises), and that way you will burn these extra calories and reach the desired weight.
9. Wear an activity bracelet, to count your steps, calories and measure the distance you walk every day. Record your data daily and set yourself objectives in your health platform. This will encourage you to climb stairs instead of taking the lift, or make you park a little further away in order to reach the famous 10,000 steps a day.
10. Sleep for eight hours a day if you can. In winter, as there is less light, more melatonin is segregated, so you will feel sleepier. Make the most of it. If you are incapable of sleeping so long, at least relax while listening to music or reading a good book.

Follow these healthy tips and you will start the year full of energy and vitality.

This post is also available in: Spanish