Health and fitness column: health and fitness doesn’t have to be forgotten at Christmas

Health and fitness column: health and fitness doesn’t have to be forgotten at Christmas

by Gen Preece.

Have you noticed the supermarket’s Seasonal aisles become filled with Christmas stodge earlier every year? This year I saw it on offer before Halloween had even arrived! It’s not always easy to say no to. Especially when times feel stressful and days are colder and darker. And that’s before tins even start appearing in the office.

It’s no wonder the annual perpetual pattern of abandoning all fitness and health efforts around Christmas, resulting in far more work to do come January affects so many (and means the health and fitness industry of personal trainers has a field day!)

Ask yourself if restarting a New Year health kick is really going to be any easier with darker colder days AND post-Christmas blues?

If you struggle with this every year, don’t worry you’re not alone and there is another way of avoiding this trap altogether.

You, like my amazing personal training clients and Boot camp superstars now have the chance to make your Christmas healthier, avoid unnecessary weight-gain and improve the Christmas of someone less fortunate than you.

The Un-needed Christmas Food Amnesty idea came to me seven years ago, after several Personal training clients and Boot camp attendees expressed to me how anxious they were, about all the Christmas stodge that magically ‘appears’ in their homes.

So I told them to bring it all to me, I delivered it to the wonderful people at The Salvation Army on Christmas Eve and have been doing so ever since.

I’m grateful for such generosity, yet at the same time mad at the (ever-growing) amount of cheap Christmas stodge that corporations make available to us every year! Don’t be another New Year cliché by buying into it. You’ll feel miles better by

  1. a) removing it from your house and
  2. b) knowing what would’ve once made you feel crap has instead gone to a vulnerable family.

We know corporations don’t care about the obesity epidemic. But WE can. Consider for a moment exactly what these ‘treats’ would mean to vulnerable families. There were so many donations last year, I couldn’t fit them all in the car so had to make two trips!

The donation box is currently in the foyer of my Park Gate studio and will be until Christmas Eve. To donate, please contact me today to arrange a drop-off time.

Sincere thanks and gratitude (from me and The Salvation Army) to everyone who has donated so far – join us in having a healthier Christmas today!