Easter is going to turn up, whether you like it or not. Chocolate and hot cross buns are all around; in every shop and TV commercial. It’s enough to melt away your good intentions and, with this much pressure, binging feels almost inevitable.

Of course, chocolate is available all year round. The trouble seems to come when there’s too much chocolate, as is the case at this time of year, which leads to too much temptation, eating too much in one go, then feeling miserable because you overindulged. The worst parts of a binge are the feelings of guilt and failure that you feel afterward. So let’s fix that.

Let’s accept that Easter will mean chocolate indulgence on one level or another. Here’s how to make the best of it.

1. Try to discourage family and friends from buying chocolate for you. This puts you back in control of how much you have.
2. Ideally, you’ll want to choose the darker chocolate eggs or chocolate selection. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the less room there is for sugar. Aim for over 70%.
3. Quality is important. Darker eggs from higher quality suppliers, like Green & Black’s, have less sugar, so won’t throw out your blood sugar as much.
4. Don’t eat too much in one go with the intention of getting ‘rid’ of the chocolate sooner. Eating a whole egg will lead to an energy crash later on, not to mention, for many, feelings of disappointment in yourself that you ’gave in’ or ‘failed’ with your diet.  It’s healthier all round, both for your body and mindset so have a small amount of chocolate more regularly and try to cancel out the sugar rush by eating a small handful of nuts at the same time (protein slows the speed at which sugar enters the bloodstream).
5. Save Easter eggs for pudding. Eating chocolate on an empty stomach spikes blood sugar levels. Have yours after a protein and veg-based meal.

Plan so you can make the right choices. Don’t give yourself the excuse that there was nothing else to eat. Ensure you have plenty of your usual healthy foods to hand.

Make sure your decision to eat chocolate is a conscious one. “Some chocolate would be nice, but I choose not to have one right now”. Don’t take orders from an Easter egg! Choosing puts you back in control. Remember, the responsibility is yours. You are the one who puts food in your mouth, even if it sometimes feels as though it is out of your control, it never is.

If the Easter egg (and everything that goes with it) genuinely plays a big part in your family’s tradition, consider doing something a bit different this year. Here are some great alternatives to the traditional Easter egg hunt https://www.parenthub.com.au/education/easter-egg-hunt-alternatives

Consider that even the healthiest people overindulge – but they don’t beat themselves up about it. They just go back to eating normally.

Even after an Easter indulgence, you can still rescue the situation and stop it from turning into a binge, sabotaging all your good work. Say: “It’s done, it’s in the past and I choose to move on”. Easter is ONE DAY, that’s all. Don’t be on the rollercoaster for the rest of the month.

But most of all, enjoy the chocolate you do have and you know that the only way you can feel good in body and soul about it is to eat consciously. Don’t forget that small amounts of the best quality, dark chocolate has the following benefits: anti aging, reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, is packed with antioxidants and important minerals like iron, potassium, zinc, and selenium. Chocolate also contains phenylethylamine; the same chemical your brain creates when you’re falling in love…

PS If you are the kind of person who KNOWS you will have a problem with the Easter binge because this kind of bingeing and self-sabotage is what you do or you need some help to get healthy, don’t hesitate to contact me at hello@themodernglow.co.uk and book a FREE 30-minute health review.

Would you like to join me on the FREE Deepak Chopra 21-day Meditation Challenge starting on Monday 18th January?

Every day there will be a published task, affirmation of the day, an audio file with an explanation, and a Deepak Chopra meditation.

You can do this at any time however, the meditations are better done in the morning to give you a focus to carry with you throughout the day.

The practice is set around abundance with the final week mostly dedicated to this.  The first couple of weeks are based around gratitude and the practice of letting go.

I shall be posting guidelines on the Sunday evening prior to starting, but in the meantime, you may wish to get yourself a journal book or notebook for the wonderful journey which lies ahead.

I truly hope you will benefit from and enjoy this daily practice.

By following four or five of the points below and sticking to them, you will boost your natural health considerably, as well as reducing the body’s stress and therefore supporting the immune system.

Nourish your body with an abundance of fresh and seasonal foods.  Enjoy cooked, seasonal fruits and vegetables in casseroles, soups, stews, and home-made curries to nourish the body’s natural energy and create warmth from within.

Drink plenty of water!  A dehydrated body is a tired and often toxic one. The body’s immune system thrives on hydration and many headaches, lack of concertation, and low energy are often the symptoms of dehydration.  Enjoy your water at room temperature and add lemon slices or cucumber and mint if you struggle and need some flavour!

Sleep has healing powers!  Be kind to yourself and get early nights as often as possible, especially when the demands of work are high.  If you are struggling to sleep or stay asleep – please see my article on sleep with practical tips to help you get more.

Move your body every single day.  Gyms may be shut but you can still go for walks.  In fact, walking can greatly improve your health and happiness as it boosts endorphin levels.  Yoga is another form of exercise that focuses on building strength, flexibility, and breathing techniques to boost both physical and mental wellbeing.

Try and avoid, or at least reduce, your sugar intake.  If there is one message you take away from this article… let it be this one!  Refined sugar plays a fundamental part in many health problems, weight gain, and a compromised immune system.  Breaking the habit can be easier than you think with nutritional support.

Reduce your coffee intake.  Caffeine compromises immune health by robbing the body of essential minerals and is very dehydrating.  It can also disturb our natural sleep cycles.  Enjoy a cup or two of good quality coffee but stop drinking coffee after twelve noon.

Consider taking a good quality probiotic formula.  The healthy bacteria help to improve the body’s natural defences against the unhealthy bacteria which encourage viruses and bacterial infection to thrive.  This, together with cutting sugar from the diet, is a super effective way to boost immune health!

Eat plenty of oily fish, such as wild salmon.  This is particularly rich in omega 3 as is flaxseed and flaxseed oil.  Omega three essential fatty acids have a significant role to play in immune health, such as increasing prostaglandin production.  Prostaglandins are hormone-like substances that are anti-inflammatory and help kill germs and viruses.  Just as the wrong foods are linked with disease, the right foods can be used for treatment and prevention of disease.

Take a Vitamin D Supplement.  Vitamin D is good for strong bones, but the benefits don’t stop there.  There are many receptors for vitamin D in the brain, and there’s evidence showing that vitamin D has good effects on the brain including antidepressant properties.
Most of our needs for vitamin D are met by sunlight at certain times of the year.  However, during the winter months, the sun is just not strong enough.  Coupled with that, we are often covered up.  This is even more evident for darker skins which need longer exposure to sunlight to make enough of this critical vitamin.  There is a chronic deficiency of vitamin D for a variety of reasons and we are only getting a fraction of what’s optimal.
Research has linked an association of vitamin deficiency with many acute and chronic diseases. Suboptimal levels of vitamin D may be a potential risk factor for COVID 19 infection.  In a recent article in the British Medical Journal, Dr. Gant and his colleagues recommend that people at risk of influenza and/or covid -19 should consider taking a supplement.
This is when supplements can be useful as well as improving the quality of our diets.

Nurture your soul: Mahatma Gandhi taught us to remember that our thoughts generate words, words generate actions, actions generate habits, habits generate character, and character breeds destiny.  Watch what you are feeding your thoughts, this is just as important as what you feed your physical body.  Being kinder to others can only be a good thing, but it’s vital to be kind to yourself as well.

For more detailed support on this and any other health concerns for all the family, please get in touch.  It is best to seek professional advice before embarking on a supplementation program.