It’s been about a week since Christmas, I’m sure a fair few of you are feeling a bit lethargic, bloated and have slipped out of your exercise routine temporarily.

It’s the thing to do Christmas time, eating and drinking is the thing. I myself over more than over indulged this year and while writing this on the 29th of December I’m feeling a little bit rubbish! But over the next few days I’m going to get back into the swing of things and I’ll be feeling good in no time at all.

In today’s article I just want to give you some quick easy to do tips to get you over the bloat and back to your healthy ways, try not to leave it too long and get yourself back exercising and eating well ready for the new year.

I’m sure a lot of you feel like you have gained a lot of weight and your stomach may look twice the size, the good thing is you are probably just bloated and won’t have put that much weight on YET. But by using a few of these tips below you’ll ensure that the weight gain is minimal and you’ll be feeling energetic and motivated soon.

So I’m sure you’re all back in work/enjoying your time off work/planning your New Year’s Eve party so I won’t keep you long.

5 Tips To Get Over The Christmas Bloat

1. Cut Down Your Salt Intake – Too much salt can make you swell right up and hold loads of water. The recommended daily allowance for adults is 2,300 mg of sodium a day. Eating loads of processed foods and take aways and things mean you’re probably eating too much salt. Salt intake at Christmas is super high with all of the crisps and other snacks. By reducing your salt intake your will ease the water retention and allow you to feel better. Drink more water and try green tea to help flush everything out of the body. You’ll notice your stomach shrinking by the day.

2. No Fizzy Drinks – All that fizz really causes your belly to swell right up, so ditch the fizzy drinks (diet versions included as they’re just as bad). Many people will drink fizzy carbonated drinks every day and just by cutting these out can lead to weight loss and feeling better. Stick to water and green tea as much as you can. Add a slice of lemon or cucumber to water to give it a bit more flavour if you don’t like it.

3. Workout – There is nothing like a good workout to make you feel better. I would recommend just a nice long easy jog or walk to begin with. The exercise will help to get your digestive system into gear. The feeling of getting a good sweat on can’t be matched. If you still aren’t feeling up to exercise why not try going to the sauna, the increased perspiration will help.

4. Lighter Lunches – It may be a good idea if you are bloated to eat a little bit less, cut down on your meat intake slightly and eat loads of raw natural food. A light salad for lunch/loads of green veg with extra virgin olive oil helps with your digestion and gets things moving. If you don’t feel hungry don’t eat as much. Listen to your body. Also try and cut out foods such as bread, pasta and cereal as these all add to the bloating.

5. Try Fasting or Juicing – I’m not one for starving myself or meal replacements but if you’re feeling super bloated these methods can work. When used properly fasting can be extremely effective. You could try for a week missing breakfast and eating all of your calories say between 12:00-7:00pm. You could also try a full day fast and just drink water and take vitamins, that’s great for helping to flush all the bad stuff out the system. Another thing you could try is swapping your usual heavy breakfasts or evening meals for a vegetable smoothie. I got a Nutribullet for Christmas so am looking forward to blending up some veggie smoothies for breakfast as another option, you get a tonne of goodness absorbed straight into the body. These methods need a bit more thinking and planning so just comment below with your questions.

By adopting these strategies I guarantee you will be feeling better in just a day or two.

You’ll then have loads more energy to keep on eating well, training well and living well getting 2015 off to the best possible start.

80% of your serotonin (which makes you happy and feel good) is produced in the lining of your gut, so get rid of the bloat and you’ll feel happy.

If you want to get a free 7 Day Healthy Eating Nutrition plan just pop your name and email address in the sign up box on the right, this will help to get rid of all of the bloating and get your healthy eating back on track (plus there’s loads of nice enjoyable foods on there).

Thanks for reading,

Jamie Stedman

PS I’m doing a 31 day January fitness challenge on my facebook page click here to like the page and get involved.