We often celebrate the best snacks of the season – for example peppermint lattes and cookies with icing – since it’s only available once a year. But these goodies are packed with sugars that are not good for your body.

A peppermint latte is often made with flavoured syrup that’s high in sugar, sugar can trigger irritation and inflammation in your body, and in the long-term contribute to signs of ageing.

So try getting a peppermint tea latte instead. It’s not only on-brand with the Christmas season, but it’s the same flavour without the harmful sugar, and peppermint helps eliminates harmful waste from bowels. Milk can cause breakouts, so try substituting with almond or coconut milk. Similarly, cookies with royal icing or buttercream are full of sugar, so try looking out for cookies that are made from almond or coconut which reduces the amount of sugar!

To reduce everyday bloating or indigestion after a big meal, taking Amazing Grass’ Green Superfood Alkalize & Detox powder with lemon peel, turmeric, ginger, fennel seed and more alkalizing greens can be added to a glass of water, juice or smoothie to promote detox, aid digestion and give you a boost of natural energy.

If you’re tight on time and need to look good for all the Instastories at a Christmas party, try these quick and easy tricks you can prepare at home:

Get radiant and dewy skin with Starskin’s Master Cleaners Detoxing Sea Kelp Leaf face mask (left) which has powerful organic ingredients to deliver up to 72 hours’ hydration and enjoy the natural detoxifying properties of sea kelp leaves. 

Or throw on a pair of Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Detox Depuffing Eye Cubes to reduce puffiness, dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles around the eye area that hinder you from looking your best. The blend of cucumbers, arnica, green tea, chamomile, aloe, caffeine and hyaluronic acid in a fuss-free frozen“ice-cube” form will refresh and awaken fatigued eyes.

For a little more pampering, try Ikeda Spa’s Ganbanyoku Detox massage which involves you lying on a special heated Hakone volcanic rock  bed while the therapist works on the knots. When heated to 49°C, these Hakone volcanic rocks bathe skin in infrared rays and negative ions to accelerate metabolism, boost the immune system and improve blood circulation to give you a glow.

An hour of this treatment is claimed to be equivalent to running 15 km, which means burning up to 1,500 calories. 80-85 per cent of the sweat you lose during this treatment is water, the rest consists of cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, sulphuric acid, sodium, ammonia and uric acid.

READ MORE: The Best Massages You Can Get In Singapore Starting from $48

Before you go to sleep after a night of drinking, take some activated charcoal which is odourless and flavorless and cannot be absorbed by the body.

It goes through the digestive tract binding to toxins and alcohol before they reach your bloodstream so this reduces both inflammation, dehydration effects on your skin. Don’t forget about the sugars in mixed drinks or white wine, which can lead to further inflammation of the skin.

READ MORE:
30 Items You Should Toss Or Replace Before The Year Ends
11 Essential Drugstore Medications You Should Always Have At Home
18 Genius Hacks That Will Save You Time In The Kitchen This Christmas

Photo: 123RF

Text: Debby Kwong, HerWorld