Four healthy alternatives to 'Dry January'

‘If you are worried about the amount you have been drinking, the answer is not to swear off drink for a month’ Photo: Alamy

We’re now two weeks into the month after the festive binge before – which

means that, for many, the wheels are already starting to come off the Dry

January wagon.

In case you weren’t already aware, Dry January has become an increasing trend

over recent years, with its advocates vowing a 31-day alcohol abstinence to

balance out Christmas’s excesses.

Like many fitness fads, it’s an extreme line of action. Going cold turkey on

the booze doesn’t just effect you physically, it also poses a social

challenge. Adherents must either lock themselves away for a month, or

diligently order lime sodas when down the pub. Anyone with FoMo

take note.

Which suggests the question: is it worth the hassle?

As anyone who’s ever had a hangover knows, too much alcohol is poison for the

body. Giving it up is a good thing – but there’s an argument to suggest that one

month of abstinence really doesn’t help that much. All too

frequently, it simply leads to what’s known as the ‘denial/binge’ cycle,

whereby people drink more in February than they would normally because they

think they have credit in the bank.

Rather than living the start of the year as sober as a judge, you might want

to employ your marine-like self discipline on the following alternative

lifestyle changes, which offer strong health benefits without forcing you to

be Billy No-Mates for the entirety of January.

1. Temporary carbohydrate abstinence

No this isn’t a call for an Atkins or Dukan revolution. The

British Dietetic Association quashed the idea of a low carbohydrate

diet long ago (with a little help from the French journal of Obésité,

who found that 75pc of Dukan dieters regained all the weight they’d lost

within 2 years).

Instead, this particular form of detox takes inspiration from scientists

who wanted to study the effect that lowering carbs stored in the body

(muscle glycogen) has on our ability to burn fat.

Twelve healthy, non-obese subjects were asked to complete an “exhaustive

glycogen-lowering exercise”. The scientists then monitored the rate at which

they could burn fat

What they concluded was: “lean subjects are capable of rapidly adjusting fat

oxidation to fat intake when glycogen stores are lowered by exhaustive

exercise.” In layman’s terms, what this means is that when the body has less

stored carbohydrates, it begins to burn fat.

By exercising to lower carbohydrates stored in the body and by limiting the

amount of carbs you ingest, you can effectively teach your body to ‘shift’

it’s fuel source from Saturday’s carb-heavy pizza to the fat on your

waistline.

Importantly, this doesn’t mean you should vow a carb should never pass your

lips. Instead, It just means that once a week or once a fortnight, possibly

after attacking a chunk of chips or bowl of ice cream, a low carb day

coupled with a visit to the gym can do you the world of good.

It will tip your body back into a state where it’s better able to use body fat

as a fuel source. And that’s exactly what you want after a period of

binging.

2. Sleep indulgence

Contrary to popular belief, one of most cleansing and revitalising tools we

have doesn’t come in the form of a pill or potion. It’s free, easy to do and

is available to everyone.

Yes, sleep. Science teaches us that sleep aids the production of rejuvenating

hormones like the Growth

Hormone, helps refortify

our immune system and even replenishes the
critical neurotransmitters of the brain that keep us happy and

motivated. It’s basically nature’s oldest and most efficient form of

recovery – yet somehow we forgot this.

Sleep doesn’t get as much airtime as the latest detox fad, which is probably

because there’s little money to be made in selling it, but if you really

want to give your body a chance to recover after Yuletide indulgences, you

could do a lot worse than promising to be in bed by 11pm every night for a

month.

3. Juicing ban

Juice diets were one of the biggest fads of 2014. Let’s hope that’s where they

stay: despite being full of vitamin and minerals – and heavily advertised as

such – an increasing body of evidence suggests that juices could be

nutrition’s new evil. As researchers from

the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine slightly

prosaically put it, “Reduce fruit juice intake as a strategy for overweight

prevention.”

Why the anti-fruit juice campaign? It’s not the fruit that is the problem per

se, but rather the juicing method that leaves you with a cup sugar-ridden

calories.

According to research

from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, consuming fruit in

juice form compared to its original form can dramatically change how your

body processes it. Generally speaking, juiced fruit tends to bring about a

bigger spike in your blood sugar levels than whole fruit, which can

ultimately lead to fat storage and raises your risk of suffering from

diabetes.

Try to eat an orange rather than drink a glass of orange juice every day for a

month. It won’t test your willpower as much as giving up booze, but it will

give your body a timely boost for the new year.

4. Eat your greens

It’s easier to add something to your diet than to subtract a substance that

you’re used to consuming. So why not simply spend a month (or more) trying

to add an extra handful of greens to your evening dinner?

Take the humble broccoli. It isn’t as sexy as, say, the latest superfood berry

from Brazil, but
scientists from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, USA,

have found the allotment-dwelling vegetable is incredibly high in

antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

“The molecular basis of the biological activities of the chemicals present in

broccoli potentially responsible for health promotion, from chemoprevention

to cardio protection,” they say – which is science speak for ‘it’s really

good for you’.

So don’t worry if you’re struggling to survive Dry January this year: a small

green vegetable that looks like a stunted tree might be able to offer you an

easier way to combat past excesses.

Four healthy alternatives to "Dry January"