And what better way than drinking yourself warm with a fancy holiday latte, hot chocolate, or mug of mulled wine?

But be warned, it’s not just the mince pies that add up to a festive muffin top. Looking at the nutritional value of some of these festive drinks, you might be crossing the finish line of the eat-athon sooner than you expected.

Here are some numbers:

Calories in a mug *

Your normal, everyday skim latte has about 190 calories. Go for some caramel syrup on top and you can add about 50 calories. If you feel more festive, you may choose to drink a small meal worth of calories and have a gingerbread latte (320 calories) or a hot chocolate (370 calories – this includes whipped cream because you’re treating yourself). But if you want to top it off and drink ¼ of your daily recommended calories, go for an eggnog latte which has 470 calories.

That’s not a problem, you say. You’ll just skip your lunch or have a smaller dinner to make up for the calories – you’ll still fit into your LBD at the upcoming Christmas party. But then you find yourself going for a cheeky after work drink in Winter Wonderland, and soon you’re sipping on more calories in a mug, approximately 230 in your first mulled wine.

Here’s a thought to take on board: skipping meals will not help you lose weight, and neither will swapping your lunch for a fancy latte. It will only cause your blood sugar levels to drop rapidly or rise very quickly (due to the high sugar content in those winter warmers), which means you will quickly hit the keyboard wanting another of those yummy sweet warm drinks (or one of the mince pies you saw in the kitchen).

Now let’s have a look at the sugar content of some of those warming festive drinks.

Sugar in a mug

When looking at these numbers, remember what I wrote about previously: Your body can only ever deal with one to two teaspoons of sugar circulating in your system. One teaspoon equals about 4.2g of sugar. (I will leave some of the maths to you when converting the sugar content into teaspoons.)

Your normal skim latte has about 16g of sugar (because of the sugar in milk), but choose one of the festive lattes and you can easily double the sugar content and drink up to 39g of sugar in a medium sized cup. A hot chocolate might even have up to 43g of sugar which is about as much sugar as your daily recommended allowance. And if maths has never been your strengths, this equals about 10 teaspoons of sugar. Now imagine having your morning cup of tea adding 10 (in words, ten!) teaspoons of sugar. I would like to know if you will still be able to enjoy it.

The problem with all this sugar is that you will not only get an energy slump, but your body will also release more insulin to take the sugar out of your cells. And if you don’t end up using all this energy, your body will eventually store it, and your LBD won’t be looking as good anymore.

Why not choose an equally warming herbal tea that’s full of spices, such as yogi or chai tea? After all, you don’t want to be first to cross the finish line of the six week eat-athon. Because you most definitely won’t be wearing your LBD.

Think you might be addicted to sugar? Drop us a line and get in touch so we can help you getting back on track!

Enjoy the festive season,

Lisa

P.S. And if you’re still looking for a christmas present, why not give away a consultation with the Nutrition Coach in January!

A detox works by ‘resting’ the organs that eliminate waste – liver, kidneys, gut, lungs and skin. And don’t you freak out now; I’m not going to tell you to drink fruit and vegetable juice for a week straight while sitting cross-legged on your yoga mat.

A detoxification plan doesn’t have to be completely restrictive and boring. Actually, it should be fun and tasty. (In fact, the better the food tastes, the more likely you are to stick to your plan.) What we eat can be very much a matter of habit, and a detox is a great way of realising you may not be as dependent on some of your unhealthier eating habits as you might think. Undertaking a detox eating plan will help your body rebalance, release built-up congestion, and restore itself to strength and health.

The definition of my Detoxmas plan is pretty simple: remove the foods and ingredients that have the highest toxic load and are causing problems with your health – caffeine, alcohol, refined sugars, (white, sweet and fluffy) carbohydrates, artificial sweeteners, and food additives. Now try and focus on simple, fresh foods – foods you would find in the hunter-gatherer diet – foods that grows on trees and in the ground (such as abundant, colourful fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, plenty of water and vegetable protein). Start off by writing out a plan of what you’re going to eat, keeping track of it in a food & mood diary, going shopping beforehand and cooking larger portions of healthy meals for your lunch (think soup – easy to throw in all those delicious vegetables!).

So, how long should I detox*?

Detox for one day a week, one week a month, or one month a year. All of this will bring your body benefits. The great thing about a detox is that you can usually achieve results in a very short time. Depending on how healthy – or toxic – you are, you may start to feel better immediately, simply by removing caffeine and your afternoon sugar treat, though a long caffeine and sugar-addict is likely to notice some withdrawal symptoms, like headaches, tiredness and mood swings. But hang in there, the first days are the worst, and then it only gets better. You’ll feel more energized, your digestion and skin is likely to improve, and the pounds will drop off (great for that upcoming Christmas party). If you have been feeling very run down, or have been burning the candle at both ends, detoxing for a month may help restore you to top condition.

There are some great nutritional supplements and herbs to support a longer detox plan, but for now I’d suggest to keep it real and focus on all those delicious foods out there. And if you don’t have time to go shopping, go and get one of those organic fruit and vegetable boxes delivered straight to your door.

It doesn’t have to be hard: you can order it while you’re doing all your Christmas shopping online!

Let us know how you get on!

Lisa

* Don’t detox if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, and always consult your GP if you’re going to change your diet drastically.

Here are our top five foods for great looking skin

1. Water.  Not a food as such, but essential for life, and for your skin too.  Nourishing from the inside is just as important as moisturising from the outside.  Have a 1.5 litre bottle of still water at your desk at work, or near you at home, and sip throughout the day, aiming to finish by the end of the day.
2. Oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel, trout, tuna).  Apart from water, your skin also needs good fats to keep supple.  Include oily fish as part of your meals at least twice a week.
3. Fresh nuts and seeds.  Nuts and seeds (except peanuts) are all a great source of good fats that help keep the skin supple and wrinkle free for longer.
4. Fresh vegetables.  Most vegetables offer an abundance of nutrients that nourish the skin, but broccoli, red and yellow peppers, cauliflower, spinach and sweet potato are particularly good as they contain vitamins A, C and E which can protect the skin from ageing.
5. Fresh berries.  Berries are an amazingly rich source of vitamins and minerals relative to their size.  Have them as snacks, or mix into yoghurt or porridge to give a real boost to your breakfast.

If you think your skin could do with some more personalised support, get in touch with and book in for a nutrition consultation.

Psoriasis is one of the most common skin complaints and whilst it can flare up for reasons such as stress, as with many skin problems, there is a significant link between gut health and toxin overload.  Poor digestion can result in proteins being insufficiently broken down, which creates excessive toxicity in the gut.  Any build-up of toxins also has a knock-on effect of burdening the liver, which usually filters out the toxins from the gut before they circulate round the body, but if it is overloaded it becomes less efficient at this.

A diet to help psoriasis therefore needs to support good digestive and liver health.  This is why detox principles are perfect, as negative foods such as alcohol, sugar, common irritants (such as wheat and dairy) are avoided and pure whole-foods are emphasised.

Find out more about how a detox plan can help psoriasis and contact us to make an appointment for a consultation at one of our London nutrition clinics.

Julia Alderman

Do you suffer from a skin problem such as eczema, psoriasis, acne rosacea or acne? If you do then you are certainly not alone. We often see clients with skin problems many of whom have suffered for years and come to us as a last resort having tried every pill and potion available.

Whilst creams and medication can help to control skin problems it doesn’t get to the root cause of the condition. In our experience skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, acne or acne rosacea can be caused by an underlying health problem such as poor digestion, sluggish liver function, a lack of nutrients, and food intolerances.

For example, I recently saw a client at my Blackheath nutrition clinic who suffered from psoriasis. He was managing to keep it under control using various creams but he felt like it was getting worse and it was starting to affect his self-confidence. The client was a big drinker – he worked long stressful hours and a few drinks at the end of the day and binge drinking at the weekend was his way of relaxing.

I explained that his alcohol intake and stressful lifestyle was likely to be affecting his skin health. High alcohol levels and stress can take its toll on liver function, which is often shown in the skin. In addition, his diet was high in sugar and low in key nutrients required for skin health.

We got to work by cleaning up his diet and reducing his alcohol intake. I also recommended some supplements aimed at improving digestion as his gut health was far from optimal and this could have been contributing to the psoriasis. We also discussed some stress management techniques to help him cope with his hectic lifestyle.

Just a few months on the client’s psoriasis is greatly improved – he no longer relies on the creams to keep his psoriasis under control. He also feels much calmer and more energised.

Find out more about how we can improve your skin health and get in touch to make an appointment at one of our London nutrition clinics (Central London and Blackheath)

Kim Porter

Welcome to The Nutrition Coach Blog; your resource for news and opinion on matters related to health, nutrition and vitality.

Find out more about the team at The Nutrition Coach:

Kate Cook
Kim Porter
Sanna Anderson
Julia Alderman
Hilary Davies