If only it was. The Christmas media machine would lead us to believe that this time of year is all about perfection – crisp clear winter days with just a hint of the possibility of a white Christmas, we all have at least 2 weeks off when we go walking in winter wonderlands, eat chestnuts roasting on an open fire and then retire to our beautiful, perfectly decorated homes where an enormous mountain of presents twinkles in the light of the starry night sky.

On Christmas Eve the children fall asleep at their normal bed time with smiles on their little faces, dreaming of the excitement to come. You then spend a relaxing evening with your beloved drinking mulled wine by the fire, ‘dreaming and conspiring to face unafraid the plans that you’ve made’, as the song puts it, before a long, refreshing sleep.

Christmas day is all about perfect food, everyone getting every present they wanted and more, a poignant yet challenging church service and all friends and family being overwhelmed with love for each other and simply revelling in the presence of those they hold most dear. Never a cross word, not a dull moment, just love, peace, joy and much laughter all over the land.

For a lot of folk elements of this will be the case, and I for one am thoroughly looking forward to some quality time with special people - but somehow I doubt we will make it through the entire Christmas weekend without several mishaps and a few fraught moments, and it certainly won’t turn out the way we plan it.

However, the reality for many is so often radically different from the dreamy ideal with overwrought kids, financial issues, family disputes and unwanted gifts all with a huge excess of food and usually alcohol thrown into the mix, or for others it can be the loneliest time of the year. In other words, Christmas comes with more than its fair share of stress for large numbers of people.

So this month let’s take a look at stress and what it does to weight. Some people cannot face food when under pressure but most hit the fridge in a big way. If this is you then can I recommend the Stop Dieting Start Living take on stress and eating but stress has consequences beyond the temptation to comfort eat and there is much to be said about it.

Stress causes increased levels of a hormone called cortisol, and in recent years we have discovered that this in turn leads to a slower metabolic rate and weight gain, particularly around the abdominal area. If you find yourself struggling to lose weight around your mid section then stress may be one of the factors that are hindering you – others include sugar and alcohol consumption, please address these as necessary while continuing to develop your Spirit controlled appetite!

Blood sugar levels are another system in the body to be disrupted greatly by stress, and the associated mood swings and fatigue will do little to help you in your quest to be slim.

Most stressed people I meet are also struggling with sleep deprivation and this is well known to cause problems with weight loss, partly because we tend to overeat to give us extra energy, and experts believe that inadequate sleep changes the levels of some hormones in a way that promotes weight gain rather than loss, and those who do manage to lose weight during these times will lose less fat and more lean tissue or fluid than they would if they were sleeping well – not good!

How about being too busy because of trying to deal with all the stress? Too busy for any number of things – exercise, food shopping, food preparation, sitting down to that relaxing environment that allows eating to become a satisfying spiritual experience as well as fuel intake? After all it is much easier to chomp down a McBurger than it is to buy, wash, prepare and enjoy fresh produce when the seconds count!

And lastly, stress changes what we want to eat. Yes, we have freedom to choose what to eat and we know we have to balance this with a certain amount of responsibility, but there is nothing like a big dose of stress to make this very easy to get wrong – whether you are a chocoholic or a high salt, high fat savoury craver (like I am), it is much easier to justify bad food choices when the adrenaline is pumping (unless it is pumping because you are exercising hard, this generally makes you choose the good stuff!), so even more reason to keep calm.

So what does all this mean for Christmas? I would suggest that most of us could do with a serious de-stress in the lead up to the big day, and that the most important aspect of all of this would be the spiritual one – Sue teaches on this in depth both in her book and on her course so I will leave that with her, but I do have some practical suggestions in other ways:

1 Get organised. Decide what you need to buy in terms of food and presents, set a time scale and a budget and stick to them. Don’t be too rigid but have definite boundaries, and buy in some healthy meals and snacks that you can have ready in a short time when temptation comes. And try the ‘work smarter not harder’ method by shopping on line where possible, hunting out the bargains and other time/money savers.

2 Sort out family feuds. If you are dreading seeing certain people during the festive season because of air that needs clearing then do it now. If the air can’t be cleared then do everything you can from your perspective and prepare yourself to enter that situation with the best possible attitude.

3 Delegate where possible. Get your loved ones to help you out over the coming weeks and make Christmas a truly family affair. Children in particular love being given important jobs to do!

4 Forget about perfection. Enough said!

5 Make time for ‘me time’ and use it wisely. Even if it’s just a few snatched minutes do something you love for a short while before returning to the chaos.

Most importantly on the big day, keep it all in perspective! Remember to remember the true meaning of Christmas, relax as much as you can and know that almost nobody else is having a perfect day either!! I sincerely hope you have a wonderful, virtually stress free Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I’ll be back in January.