It is that time of year once again where your calendar starts to fill up with a copious number of Christmas parties, end of year celebrations, friends and family catch ups. It’s like you have been spending 11 months building the dam wall and it is just going to come crashing down in 4 weeks.

So to make sure you get to Christmas in one piece here are my top tips for not just surviving, but thriving during the next 4 weeks.

1. Water. Seems simple but with the dramatic increase in alcohol and processed goodies you are going to need to increase your water intake. Make sure it is good quality and keep it readily available.
2.  Quality Nutrition. To offset the bounty of fried foods, chips, dips, canapes etc. you need to make sure the meals that you can control are highly nutritious. Stick with salads, quality fats and protein.
3. Fasting. You are probably going to consume enough food to feed and African village at each event so your body does not need more and more food. Ensuring a minimum 12 hour break after each event will allow your body time to digest and process the volume consumed the night before. During your fast just stick with the water and/or herbal teas.
4. Cold Press Juice. Consuming a high quality green cold pressed juice at the end of the night will give your body, in particular your immune and digestive systems a bit of a rev up and help them to process the back log of processed ingredients. 
5. Whole Food Concentrates. When we are increasing our alcohol and processed food consumption our bodies can and most probably will react in ways that are not enjoyable. IBS, bloating, hang overs are all results of excessive behavior. Including a Whole Food Concentrate either at the end of the night and/or first thing in the morning will, like the juice super charge your body’s immune and digestive systems. By increasing the amount of good quality nutrition consumed it enables the body to rid itself of the poor choices quicker. This time of year there is an increase in office sickness due to our immune systems taking a hit with all the partying. Whole food concentrates will allow you to solider on.
6.  Sleep. The goal is to enjoy Christmas, not get to the 25^th then crash and burn. So on the days where you are not celebrating make sure you catch up on some ZZZs.
7. Workout. Whether it is a simple outdoor walk or a full on sweat session, exercise will help improve your mood and put those added calories to good use.
8. Planning – You have got to have a plan of attack. Points 1-7 will not just happen, but with a small amount of planning you can put all of them into practice and arrive at work every day like a champion, while others are under their desks in the fetal position.

The last point is the most important. Enjoy it. You should celebrate. Christmas is a time of year that we make/find the time to catch up with people we don’t often see and look back on the year that was. Put the above points into practice and you will not have to worry about how you will feel the next day or if you are going to undo all of your hard work.