Holiday Bloat giving you the BLUES ? Try these Tips!

I am a firm believer in ” eat and be merry”  during the holidays !  Thanksgiving, Christmas , New Year come just once a year and there is no point in dieting during the season and depriving yourself of ALL that good stuff ! I do however practice some tips to rid  myself of Holiday Bloat and I am talking about Water Retention.  A lot of the foods we eat during the holidays are salty, high fat , high sugared : all bloat makers!  Some simple tips to Beat the Bloat  can make you look and feel a lot lighter and healthier during the holidays.

Some Adverse Effects of Water Retention : Swollen legs, Arthritis, High Blood pressure, Weight Gain.

 A picture gallery of some Natural Diuretic Foods.

 

 

Tips to Beat The Bloat

Drink Up :  Water is your best friend ! One of the main causes of water retention is dehydration. Drink at least 8- 10  ( 8 oz ) glasses of water / day . The more fluids you drink, the more fluids you lose.  Water spiked with lemon will give you great flavor and give you a diuretic boost.

Cran Water : This is nothing but a combination of pure cranberry juice and water which is in my opinion the best ” Bloat Beater ” ever. You make cran water by mixing one ounce of pure 100 % unsweetened cranberry juice with 7 ounces of water.  It’s tasteless and will pull water out of your body like crazy.  Drink at least 4 glasses of cran water / day for maximum effect. Just make sure you have an easily accessible rest room nearby. The cranberry juice I am  talking about is not the mixed fruity kind you find in stores, but the pure juice.  You would  usually find this at health food stores and some grocery stores like Trader Joe, Whole Foods, MOMs etc. Costs about $4.00 / bottle , but considering you’re getting 32 servings of cran water/ bottle which can last a week it’s great value.

Vegetable juices : Home made Veggie juices especially using veggies that have a high water content will pull water out of your body and give you a mega dose of vitamins and minerals. My favorite juice is a celery apple combo. I go on a detox quite regularly and this a great detox juice. You can also eat your veggies if you do not want to juice them, but will probably not get the same effect. High water content veggies are Celery, Cabbage, Cucumber, Brussels sprouts, Lettuce,Tomato, Radish and Asparagus. Try mixing the veggie juices with fruit juices to make them taste Yummy ! Some tried and tested combos that I can even get my kids to drink are Carrot + Apple, Watermelon + Carrot, Pineapple + Oranges + Carrots. be creative and you may hit jackpot 🙂

Fruit Smoothies : ( unsweetened) : fruits like veggies have a high water content, but please note that adding sugar to them will dilute the diuretic effect. High water content fruits are Watermelon, Melons, Grapefruit, Oranges, Grapes, Apples and berries.

Tea (unsweetened) : Another great diuretic. Green tea  and dandelion tea are touted for great benefits including the diuretic effect. Adding a safe sweetener like Stevia or Agave nectar will not dilute the diuretic effect.

Fennel Seeds : Have been used and are still used in several cultures as a natural diuretic. The way to use this would be to boil  1 quart of water with 1 – 2 tbsp of fennel seeds for about 20 minutes. Cool strain and drink warm or cold. You get a mildly flavored water drink that also helps with digestion.

 Just a note : water weight lost is always temporary, but you can easily incorporate one or more of these tips into your daily routine to keep water retention always at bay. I use the Cran water and vegetable juicing and although I gain some holiday lbs ( see I have a horrible sweet tooth)  I manage to keep bloat away. If these tips do not work , never fear ! There is always Spandex and Kymaro that can come to the rescue 😉

Try these tips .. any of them should work for you. If you have any to share, would love to hear from you.

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