Drinking alcohol is a vicious cycle. Alcohol is a powerful dehydrator and just 1 drink makes the body lose water. If you are in a social setting, that water is likely to be replaced by another drink, which makes you lose even more water, and so on.
Alcohol also affects your judgment, making it more likely that you will keep drinking, even though you know you've had enough.
One easy way to avoid drinking too much is to have plenty of water between the cocktails. This way you break the cycle by replenishing lost fluids. Make it a rule to alternate non-alcoholic, sugar-free drinks between each alcoholic drink. As a bonus, you might lessen that hangover in the morning as it is caused partly by dehydration.
Alcohol and weight gain
Alcohol affects weight gain in 2 ways: 1 It provides energy, which can be stored as fat, particularly around the mid-section. Moreover, it is usually consumed as additional energy to your normal food intake. These calories are empty of nutrition, but are all too easy to over-consume.
2. It frequently leads to overeating. The infamous beer gut, for example, is not only a result of the calories in alcohol but also of the additional food that accompanies drinking. One of the first effects of alcohol on our brains is to suppress the centres responsible for decision-making. By losing our normal inhibitions, we tend to eat more and eat less mindfully while drinking. We are also more likely to eat food we might hesitate to touch when not affected by alcohol. The social, relaxed situations in which we drink alcohol can also have a significant effect on weight gain by encouraging over-indulgence.
Party planning
Approach parties and the festive season in the same way you approach your weight loss program: be organised and honest. Check with the diary before you go to get an idea of how many calories you might end up eating and drinking. Start by drinking a glass or 2 of something non-alcoholic, preferably water Set limits before you go – say 3 drinks and/or leave by 11 pm Alternate each alcoholic drink with a glass of water Drink no more than 1 alcoholic drink per hour When it’s your round, don’t buy anything for yourself, or get a glass of water Go for low alcohol, low carb drinks if they are available Remember to eat something filling before you go Have a couple of big glasses of water before you go to bed Take care of your health this festive season! |
 It's when we hit the shops over Christmas that caution tends to fly out the window. To avoid overspending – especially with a high interest credit card – take a tip from the big man in red himself. Make a list. Then check it twice.
Allocate a spending limit for each person you plan to buy a gift for and consider whether you really need to lavish big sums of money on distant relatives or acquaintances.
Shop smart Hit the stores early to snare the best deals on gifts. Doing your gift shopping online is an easy way to make cost comparisons. Online auctions can also be serious money savers.
Maintain a sense of perspective Rather than getting swept up in a frenzy of festive season spending, aim to keep up your regular financial regime during December. Pay a bit extra off the mortgage, stick with your dollar cost averaging strategy for super or other investments and, where possible, try to pay off credit cards in full. Cash is king If you're buying big ticket items this Christmas, aim to pay with cash and don't be afraid to ask for a discount. You may be surprised at how many retailers will shave off a few dollars or throw in a sweetener when you pay with cash.
Using cash may mean dipping into your savings, but it makes a lot more sense than paying with a credit card charging 15%. You can always rebuild savings. Debt can be far harder to pay off.
Better still, think about delaying big ticket buys. The post-Christmas sales could see the same item available for a fraction of its pre-Christmas price.
With your finances in good shape and credit card debt under control, you're well placed to celebrate the festive season knowing you can take advantage of investment opportunities in 2012. |
Boxing Day
December 26 was traditionally known as St. Stephen’s Day, after the first Christian martyr. It is now more commonly known as Boxing Day. This expression came about because money was collected in alms-boxes placed in churches during the festive season. This money was then distributed to the poor and needy after Christmas.
It is thought the Boxing Day was first observed in the Middle Ages. It found renewed popularity in the 19th Century when the lords and ladies of England presented gifts in boxes to their servants on December, 26 in appreciation of the work they had done over the Christmas celebrations.
If December 26 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Boxing Day takes place on the Monday. Christmas Trees It is told that Saint Boniface, a monk from Crediton, Devonshire, England who established Christian churches in France and Germany in the 7th Century, one day came upon a group of pagans gathered around a big oak tree about to sacrifice a child to the god Thor. To stop the sacrifice and save the child’s life Boniface felled the tree with one mighty blow of his fist. In its place grew a small fir tree. The saint told the pagan worshipers that the tiny fir was the Tree of Life and stood for the eternal life of Christ.
It is also told that Saint Boniface used the triangular shape of the fir tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. By the 12th Century, Christmas trees were hung from ceilings as a symbol of Christianity. However, in that time, for a reason no one could yet explain, the trees were hung upside down.
Christmas Cards Though wood engravers produced prints with religious themes in the European Middle Ages, the first commercial Christmas and New Year’s card was designed in London, England in 1843.
John Callcott Horsley (1817 – 1903), a British narrative painter and a Royal Academician, designed the first Christmas and New Year’s card at the suggestion and request of his friend Sir Henry Cole, who was the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Horsley designed the first Christmas card in 1840, but it went on sale only in 1843, when one thousand cards were offered for 1s each.
The card was not received without controversy, for it showed a family raising their glasses to toast Christmas. Puritans immediately denounced it. The idea was a hit with others. Christmas card became very popular, and other artists quickly followed Horsley’s concept. A particularly popular card was designed by English artist William Egley in 1849.
The first Christmas cards were printed in 1843 in lithography by Jobbins of Warwick Court, Holborn, London, and hand-coloured by an artist named Mason. They were lithographed on stiff cardboard, with the greeting, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” It also states that is was “Published at Summerly’s Home Treasury Office, 12 Old Bond Street, London.
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