Listen up Southampton, the Christmas box is back!

Now in its third year following last two’s phenomenal success, here’s your chance to banish the un-needed calorific Christmas stodge from your home, by donating it to families who would never normally be able to afford it. As always, all donations will be delivered by me personally to The Salvation Army on Christmas Eve.

Donate your un-needed stodge to make someone else’s Christmas!

The idea of an un-needed Christmas food Amnesty came to me two years ago, after several personal training clients expressed how anxious and stressed they were about Christmas – because all the unnecessary stodge it created in their homes year after year!

Even if they hadn’t actually put any of the incessant amount of crap that is on ‘offer’ in the supermarkets’ ‘seasonal’ aisles in their trolleys, these toxic ‘treats’ still appear in their offices, as gifts from families, at parties…it often feels there’s no escape from them!

Then comes the perpetual pattern of abandoning all fitness and health efforts for a good few weeks in December, only to have far more work to do come January. And is restarting a New Year health kick honestly going to be any easier with darker days, colder weather and post-Christmas blues?!

That’s the other great reason the Christmas box is there. DO NOT GIVE UP – give AWAY instead!

The sight of The Salvation Army’s shelter filled with food parcels as far as the eye could see, was honestly beyond heartbreaking. It made me even more angry with the incessant amount of crap on ‘offer’ that corporations make available to us each year. Do they care about the obesity epidemic of this country? Do they make wholesome nutrient dense foods just as cheap to help us out? I think we know the answers…

Please don’t buy into it and make yourself another New Year cliche. You’ll feel a hell of a lot better by a) not having stodgy crap in your house and b) knowing what would have once made you feel sluggish, guilty and stressed has instead gone to a vulnerable family as a Christmas treat they could never normally afford.

Just take a moment to think what a box of chocolates/ tin of biscuits/something stodgy that normally makes you feel guilty eating over Christmas, would mean to them. And it’s not just food that you can donate. Many of my amazing personal training clients had a clear out of their children’s old toys too. There were so many donations in total last year, I couldn’t actually fit them all in the car so had to make two trips!

The box is currently in the foyer of my Personal Training studio and will be for the duration of December. To donate your un-needed food, gifts or toys, please contact me today to arrange a drop off time. Please forward this post to your work colleagues, friends, family and anyone else you feel would like to get involved with donating and simultaneously having a happier healthier Christmas.

On behalf of myself and the Salvation Army, we would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone who has donated so far. Please keep them coming, no matter how small! Thank you and Merry Christmas! 🙂