Christmas is an exciting time of year for many of us with food and alcohol taking centre stage at Christmas celebrations with family and friends. The temptation to go overboard with the amount of food you eat or drink, can be hard to resist, leaving you feeling uncomfortable and low in energy. Eating too much food, including the type of foods you’d normally only eat in moderation, or drinking too much alcohol, can overload and overwhelm your digestive capacity. If you think over-indulgence may be an issue for you, have a look at our top 4 tips to create digestive calm this Christmas.

Digestive enzymes

Eating large amounts, particularly those ‘once a year’ celebratory foods, can place stress on your body’s ability to produce the right amount of digestive enzymes needed to breakdown your food. Digestive enzymes not only help to unlock important nutrients from your food, they also reduce your risk of feeling bloated, windy and uncomfortable. Tip 1: Digestive enzymes reduce your risk of developing digestive disturbances and provide you with the energy you need from your food.

B vitamins

Eating lots of processed foods, alcohol and the stress of Christmas can lead to reduced levels of your B vitamins. B vitamins are required for the metabolism of your dietary carbohydrates, proteins and fats and are beneficial for those who consume a diet high in refined or processed foods. B vitamins each have their own health benefits, but when you combine them together in a complex, they have a synergistic effect that provides a powerful multipurpose health benefit. Tip 2: B vitamins not only provide digestive support, they are also heavily involved in energy production so can help to reduce stress and fatigue.

Liver support

Even if you’re a regular partygoer, or you only drink a small amount of alcohol every now and then (but anticipate a busy festive season), you should include some liver support. This means taking supplements before and after social functions to help minimise any hangover effect as your liver is heavily involved in detoxifying alcohol and plays an important role in digestive function. Tip 3: St. Mary’s thistle, Dandelion, Schizandra, Bupleurum, Globe artichoke and the nutrient curcumin from Turmeric are traditional herbs used to support and protect your liver. Choline and inositol may help prevent fatty liver and reduce alcohol damage, whilst taurine supports detoxification.

Probiotics

Eating too many of the wrong types of food and consuming alcohol can lead to an imbalance in your intestinal flora creating mild digestive symptoms such as bloating, pain and bowel irregularity.  Probiotics are dynamic, living micro-organisms that benefit your digestive health by helping to maintain balanced, healthy intestinal flora, inhibiting the growth of unwanted intestinal flora and helping to re-establish friendly intestinal flora. Tip 4: Probiotics help to relieve mild digestive symptoms and support digestive and immune health.

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Mr Vitamins recommends

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References

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