The dangerous season

We’re heading into that time of the year when everything gets multiplied by ten, that’s right it’s excess season. Over the next few months you are going to be eating out more, attending BBQ’s, having a few more drinks than usual (and I don’t mean sport replacement drinks here), and you will be offered more chocolate than any other time in the year. How can you not love this season?!  

While the ‘silly season’  is so much fun it can come at a cost. You may wake up on the first of January 2010 vowing to make your new year’s resolution to lose that ‘Christmas weight’. The challenge I have for you is to have fun but not at the cost of your health. Success with health during this period has a lot to do with planning and setting limits to the excesses.  

A school teacher friend of mine, Kate, was telling me that when they teach the kids about responsible drinking, the first thing they ask them is what do they want to get out of drinking? Most of the kids respond with answers that are based around ‘having fun’. Next they ask what they don’t want? Here the kids don’t want to lose control, put themselves in bad situations and so on. Then they ask the kids how much alcohol do they need to achieve the ‘wants’ they had responded with. These questions make the kids aware that they really don’t need to drink that much to have fun. Plus when they are drinking they can identify when they have hit that ‘fun’ stage and start to slow down.  

What can we learn from this? In this ‘excess season’ identify what you are wanting to get out of the occasions you go to. You’ll find that you never come up with answers like ‘eating until I get sick’, ‘getting smashed in front of my workmates’, ‘getting no sleep on a Tuesday night’. Instead you’ll be able to set some healthy limits which when you are out and about you will be aware of. This will give you a much better chance of staying healthy.  

So before heading out identify what you want out of the event, set your limits and then stick to them. This way your New Year’s resolution can be about something a lot more exciting, like writing that Mills and Boon novel!