You may not be able to stave off the constant questions from your concerned family as to where your life is going. You may not be able to escape from that overly “affectionate” 2nd cousin who thinks you two would “have gorgeous children together!”, and your aunt who agrees. You definitely won’t be able to escape the copious amounts of alcohol and food you’ll be consuming to deal with the crazy family you have; but what you can do is prepare your body for the assault and repair your body after. It’s all about the “bounce-back”! Survival is KEY!
Giving your body what it needs to deal with the assault that’s coming will keep your head above water, and keep you from being a zombie through New Year’s.
CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL 101
Coconut Water: Very important PRE and POST party. A Hangover is your body’s reaction to being dehydrated. The sugar in alcohol depletes your body of water and electrolytes like Potassium and Magnesium that keep our body’s water balance in check. Your brain swells, your liver can’t properly process the alcohol and BANG! A nasty morning after. Coconut water’s secret is that it has the EXACT balance of electrolytes that your body creates naturally for itself. It mimics your body’s plasma almost identically. This means that when consumed pre and post party you can stave off the hangover that you know is coming the next day.
Milk Thistle: Milk Thistle is a super potent herb that has amazing detoxifying effects on your liver. It has been used for thousands of years to help your liver with its clean up duties. It’s like the Mr. Clean to your cleaning lady, Windex to your windows, Cascade to your dishwasher. The recommended dosage is 200-400mg once a day. If you have a big night coming, you can take 200 mg three times that day and the next day to help your poor liver with the clean up!
CoQ10: Mitochondria are our little power plants living inside each cell. They are the primary sites of oxygen use in the body and are responsible for turning the food we eat into energy production. CoQ10 assists the mitochondria in their everyday workload. It helps them to be more efficient – and couldn’t we all use a bit of that during the holidays? A powerful antioxidant, CoQ10 is a potent protector against the free-radical damage that we will be forcing upon ourselves with bad food, sugar, lack of sleep and the borderline-alcoholic behavior that most of us exercise this time of year. Take one 30 mg capsule once a day with food.
Vitamin D: In modern society unless you’re a park ranger, most of us don’t get enough Vit D the natural way from sun exposure. In 1945 Dr. Hope-Simpson did a study on the correlation between flu outbreaks and the months when sun exposure was limited. He theorized that lower amounts of Vit D were responsible for these outbreaks, and in the year 2003 investigators confirmed that the good doctor was right; flu epidemics occurred during the colder seasons when getting Vit D was darn near impossible. With all the germ-carrying humans that will be hugging, kissing and spitting on you when they talk, you NEED Vitamin D to keep your immune system in tip top shape. 2500 IUs from a whole-food vitamin – meaning the vitamin was made from whole food extracts and not synthetic garbage. A great brand is Garden of Life, Raw D3.
Emergen-C or Airborne: Each of these vitamin fizzies delivers 1000mg of Vitamin C along with a host of other goodies. They are a boost to your daily multi-vitamin and during the holiday season you NEED that boost! Easy to carry with you, and great anytime.
So go forth Myntology brethren! Armed with the tools for survival, let them come and ask inappropriate questions! Talk too closely to you! Try to wear away at your sanity! You’re ready for them…..BRING IT! After all, they are family and we DO love them.
