Have A Happy, Healthy Outdoors Christmas!

Butcher's Dog! Regular outdoor fitness tips from the canine on creatine. Cold wet nose and glossy coat guaranteed. Have A Healthy Christmas! Christmas is great, great for eating too much, drinking too much, putting on a load of excess weight and generally feeling like a bloater, but it doesn't have to be that way. Follow our simple guidelines and you could have a happy, healthy outdoors Christmas... Go for a walk on Christmas Day... It might sound like heresy, but Christmas morning is blissful for walking or running. It doesn't have to be an epic, though if you're local to the hills a good four-hour stomp is nice, just getting out and doing something in the open air will set you up for a cracking Christmas lunch or dinner. Don't worry, you can go for around a week without exercise without losing significant amounts of fitness, but it's a great psychological boost to get out and do something active. You'll feel less like a couch spud and more like an outdoors athlete. And if you can't get into the hills, try a run or bike ride. London's never felt so healthy. Go Easy On The Bad Things... No one's saying you should abstain from chocolate, chipolatas and festive booze, but come on, do you really need to scoff that entire family-sized Toblerone before dinner - yes, the OM editor once did that - instead, fill up with turkey , which is a pretty lean, healthy meat, sprouts and, erm, festive salad. Watch out for roast potatoes saturated with basting fat, chocolate and nuts, which contain handy protein but a load of fat as well. Booze, of course, is, well, rather nice at Christmas time, but don't overdo it. Alcohol is stuffed full of empty calories, and at 7 calories per gramme, has only 2 calories per gramme less energy in it than fat. Hmmm.... Plus you can't even carbo load on it as the stuff is processed slowly in the liver rather than going straight to the muscles. Don't forget to drink water as well, you dehydrate fast and rehydrate slowly and, of course, alcohol is a serious diuretic. See this previous Butcher's Dog article for more depressing info on the demon booze. But hey, go easy and you might even enjoy a proper day out on Boxing Day... Motivational Presents Ask for some stuff that'll motivate you to get or stay fit - it could be a climbing guide book, a coffee table trekking manual or a new heart rate monitor if you're feeling serious. It'll help to keep you focussed and help you turn down that tempting fifth helping of Christmas Pudding. The Get Out Clause Okay, maybe you have no willpower at all. So, what can you do? Our advice is to take a leaf out of American alpinism guru Mark Twight's book and use the whole things as a spur. Pig out, get wrecked, forget about walking, climbing, scrambling and biking for a day or two, but when you emerge two stone heavier, feeling like death and barely capable of movement, use the SELF DISGUST you feel as a motivator to train, walk or climb, longer and harder. Finally This probably doesn't need to be said, but there are a few things you shouldn't do at Christmas. Never, ever, eat the tinsel. Never steal Santa's milk and cookies - it's bad karma and he'll be back to get ya - and don't be tempted to smoke pine needles... Never borrow your nephew's brand new bike and try to show him your stylish BMX tricks and don't be tempted to snog Santa, it can play havoc with your hormones. And last of all, never, ever go climbing after an alchol-fuelled Christmas dinner. Unless it's a chimney route of course where wedged guts are the order of the day. And above all, have a good one. The Butcher's Dog