Come On England!!

From the title of this post I think you can tell that I am from England in the UK. I love football, and when big competitions come around (especially the Euro's) then I get very excited. 

As I am typing this England is going to play Italy in the Euro 2020 final. The pub near where I live is screaming and going crazy! which would give me the opportunity to quickly go through my top tips to go for when eating/drinking during this very special occasion:

• Lay off the bear tonight, the reason is that in a pint of larger it can have up to 400 calories per go, they are also full of sugar, and of course no one is going to have just one pint of beer, especially during this exciting game tonight, so instead opt for spirits, because this can be tailored with diet coke, diet Pepsi, lemonade etc. It would be even better if Gin can be involved as well. Gin has the lowest calories out of the spirits. A great example is Vodka with diet coke, or Rum with Diet Pepsi, gin with tonic water. Wine is also fine to have as they have less calories than beer and larger. 
• Try to have water in between the drinks, alcohol dehydrates the body, so it is important to replenish the fluids which are lost during this process. We should be having up to 2 Litres of water a day, more if exercising. Water is important for the body so if this is lost it needs to be replaced quite quickly. I did a post into the importance of water here, so check this out:  Water

• For snacks I would suggest nuts, as they are full of healthy fats, protein, which is great for  controlling the bowel, building new cells, and keeping hunger at bay. It does not particular matter which nuts to have but typical snacks in the pub that they sell are peanuts, cashew nuts and almonds. Try to avoid salty crisps, and pork scratches, as they are full of salt. A reasonable consumption of salt is fine to have on daily basis, however too much salt can increase the chances of high blood pressure, heart issues, and high LDL cholesterol. I wrote an article on salt here, so have a look in greater detail into the dangers of salt: Salt Awareness

• And finally if you are going to binge on alcohol, it is also important to exercise this off, we always have to keep moving all the time, movement is important to keep our joints supple, improving heart health, and many more. The more we move every day the better it is for our bodies. The recommended amount is 30 minutes , five days a week, however the more we do the better. There are gadgets now that can track the steps, how much exercise we do, how much sleep we are getting. These are great to motivate us to improve our exercise, and our health.  I personally recommend the Mi-fit, as they are inexpensive, and does the job. 

Have a lovely evening, and fingers crossed England lifts that Euro Cup!!