HOW WILL YOU PLAY THE SOCIAL SEASON?

Follow these top 10 health tips and be one happy little party-goer!

- BETH GRANT

There’s always a reason to celebrate. Christmas, New Year, Australia Day, Easter, Valentine’s Day… not to mention birthdays, engagements and weddings. Each gives us an excuse to break routine and join in the inevitable food and drink fest.

It’s easy to view each occasion as an isolated event and adopt a ‘just this once’ attitude. But when you look at your calendar, you can sometimes find you’re more often in party mode than not… and, suddenly, it’s a lifestyle where the social rollercoaster is overruling your health needs.

Being healthy isn’t about being good and sticking to a diet. It’s about adopting a lifestyle that enables you to moderate your behaviour and manage everyday temptations so you can pick and choose your pleasures without feeling the sense of deprivation that can lead to blowouts and bingeing.

Sure, there are times when we might have a glass too many or enjoy an extra helping of dessert, but it’s all about making informed choices – knowing the consequences of our actions and behaving accordingly.

A healthy lifestyle isn’t black and white, it’s about existing somewhere in the shades of grey.

1 You’re celebrating a friend’s long-awaited promotion over drinks and dinner…

PERHAPS YOU share a bottle of bubbly before dinner and then, feeling light-headed, devour a three-course meal with bread and yet more wine. Result? You’ve blown your daily kilojoule count and your BGLs are anybody’s guess. Not knowing exactly what you’ve consumed, you could be in line for either a night-time hypo or sky-high BGLs.