Juice away holiday weight gain

Don't let your good intentions fade along with your tan, try resident GMTV nutritionist Amanda Hamilton's 'love your liver' juice recipe to help shift those pesky pounds

The groggy feeling you get after drinking alcohol comes from liver sluggishness. The liver is the largest organ in the body and performs up to 500 functions, which range from storing vitamins to detoxifying and eliminating wastes from the body and breaking down fat. This means a toxic or overloaded liver can actually cause weight gain and an onslaught of alcohol, particularly sweet cocktails, is a sure-fire way to pile on the holiday pounds.

The way to help the liver, and tackle weight gain, is to boost nutrient intakes and work with certain fruits and vegetables known to support the organ well. Cutting down on sugary drinks and refined carbohydrates is also a good idea if you want to avoid the 'apple shape' where fat accumulates around the midriff. This is also the type of weight gain that is known to be more dangerous for health in the long term.

The liver is not able to work effectively if it is missing certain nutrient 'co-factors', (think of them as the fuel your body needs to burn fat effectively). So why not try a liver loving cocktail to help lose any extra pounds and put the summer bounce back in your step?

Love your liver juice

Ingredients

1 lemon or lime peeled

2 tablespoons of flax/linseed oil

Small piece of fresh ginger

3 apples, cored

1 orange, peeled

Juice all ingredients and add in the flax oil - or take that separetely if you don't like the flavour. Take this juice fresh in the morning for a great kick-start to a healthy day. Remember to cut down on sugar intake - from food or from alcohol - if you also want to shift some pounds.

Amanda Hamilton is resident GMTV nutritionist and also presents BBC2's 'Something for the Weekend' every Sunday. Away from TV, she runs a selection of exclusive detox retreats in the UK and Europe. For more information visit www.amanda-hamilton.co.uk