For festive indulgence without the guilt

Party Time At Christmas, grazing on party food is so easy and, well, you can always sort it out with your New Year resolutions... but the next morning you regret it as you feel bloated and sluggish. So what can you do? You could make better choices at the time: olives instead of crisps, salad instead of fries, fish instead of too much red meat, fresh fruit instead of stodgy pudding.

Actually plenty of Christmas foods are healthy: turkey, Brussels sprouts, smoked salmon, nuts and dried fruit. Make a point of emphasizing these foods over sausage rolls and the cheese balls. The morning after a fatty Yuletide meal you can redress the balance by enjoying a fruit whiz made in a blender (choose three soft fruits like banana, pear and apricots, which will give you loads of fibre and antioxidants, and add water, soya milk or skimmed milk). For lunch follow this with oily fish such as tuna, sardines or salmon and a salad with walnut oil dressing.

Banish bloating Bloating and indigestion are sure signs that help is needed breaking down food in your digestive trace An enzyme found in pineapple, Bromelain, helps to digest protein foods, and herbs that stimulate digestion and reduce gastric discomfort, such as Fennel, Ginger, Aloe Vera and Gentian will help: two or three tablets of these with each meal can help relieve the burden on your poor innards. You could also try Artichoke Extract, a remedy for overindulgence. The benefits include enhancing fat digestion by up to 60%, relieving bloating and lowering cholesterol levels – never has the humble artichoke sounded so good.

If you are prone to digestive upset, a course of Probiotics started before the holiday season could go a long way towards helping. These beneficial bacteria will help to normalise bacterial colonies in the large bowel and reduce wind and bloating. A good Lactobacillus supplement will include prebiotics, such as FOS (fructo-oligosaccharides) which acts as food for the beneficial bacteria and helps them to get established more quickly. Lactobacillus Sporongenes is best used because of its stability, meaning that what’s stated on the label is what you end up taking (instead of the bacteria deteriorating as many bacterial supplements do). Lactobacillus also has a good track record against the ‘ulcer bug’ Helicobacter Pylori and Mastic Gum can help to coat the damaged gut lining thus protecting against ulceration.

Aloe Vera, which has remarkable healing properties for skin and read more