Turn your back on temptation (From Barry And District News)

Turn your back on temptation

CHOCOLATE Yule logs, chipolatas, cashew nuts and those luxury biscuits...

With all these yummy foods on offer over Christmas, it's no wonder we feel a bit bloated.

Already Adult Education Centres in the Vale are offering 'Healthy Eating' cookery classes to help get us slim, while the many gyms in the area are offering special discounts to join.

It's a situation poor old singleton Bridget Jones finds herself in in the hit movie Bridget Jones' Diary, out on video and in many a Christmas stocking this year.

Barrians may relate to Bridget, who makes diary entries such as: "Friday, April 13: Number of calories eaten: 1,500 (v.good). Number of boyfriends: None (I'm destined to a life of ready meals for one). Number of cigarettes smoked: None (hurrah). Alcohol units: A bottle of Chardonnay..."

Bridget tries more and more to get 'the perfect figure', something many women can understand.

In fact this week, a new survey of 547 women carried out by MORI revealed some surprising results. Like Bridget, two-thirds of 16-24 year-olds would swap their body with somebody else given the opportunity. Ten percent of them would choose Jennifer Aniston, 18 percent Jennifer Lopez and nine percent Kylie Minogue. Ten percent of women over 55 would choose Joan Collins.

So what is the answer? How can we get these figures we dream of?

The answer is to control what you eat, and that doesn't necessarily mean dieting.

Expert dietician Deborah Wyles said: "Christmas is a feast and most of us will have over-indulged because of the tradition. The first question to ask yourself is how long does Christmas go on for - two days, two weeks, two months? You have to put it in perspective."

She added: "There will be left-overs. Some, such as chocolates and cake, which will be a disaster to have around, are an ever present temptation. It is difficult, but you have to be strong and ask yourself if you really need it."

You don't, says Weight Watchers leader Linda Brown. She said: "You can get rid of the temptation - pass your left-over Christmas cake to a neighbour or ask visitors if they would like a piece.

"People usually over-buy at Christmas. They over-cater and find that in January they have a lot left over. Often, because families have spent so much, they feel they should eat what they have left, and we're not wasteful creatures - we don't want to see food thrown away."

You can help yourself practically by drinking water with meals or eating water-based foods such as soup.

Deborah said: "If you are taking in a lot of water you will bulk up and feel full before you are tempted by fatty foods. Dried bread is an ideal, traditional accompaniment."

The importance of water in the post-Christmas period is also stressed by Peter Hood, a health and fitness manager at David Lloyd.

He said: "People drink enormous amounts of alcohol and then go to the gym to work things off. But because they've drunk so much, their bodies are not in a fit state - they're severely dehydrated. To hydrate, drink water. Every chemical process in the body, without exception, takes place in an environment of water. Drinking water flushes out the toxins of Christmas."

So, by controlling your diet and drinking plenty of good old H2O, you should hopefully soon be feeling less bloated, and more like your usual pre-Christmas self.

But if you do decide to go on a diet, as many of us do thanks to New Years Resolutions, Deborah Wyles suggests a system. She said: "Up to two pounds a week is fine, but any further loss is probably not true fat but water."

There are many slimming clubs around the area. For more information on local classes, phone: Welshslim of Barry on 01446 754101; Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs on 01509 620222; Slimming World on 08700 7546 669; Slimtone on 01656 870339; or Weight Watchers on 08457 123 000.