Health Tip: Have A Healthy Night In

One of my New Years Resolutions was to see my girl friends more often. Living away from each other and only having the weekends free makes meeting up difficult. Well, I am pleased to say that my resolution is getting off to a good start, my girls are spending the weekend at mine for the first time since I moved away from London! With the Christmas period indulgence not yet a distant memory and my other resolutions being to lose weight and save money, I am going to suggest we have a healthy night in.

It’s always fun to have a night in with your girls and have a good old catch up, especially when you haven’t seen each other in a while and with two of my friends engaged, there is a lot to talk about! However, the choice of snacks and drinks can make the night just as unhealthy as if you were to hit the town. The next time you get your friends together, why not lay off the wine and finger foods and have a healthy night in using my guide below?

Girls TV Serious DVD

Entertainment

A DVD Boxset – This one doesn’t need much explanation. I was going to go for the typical Friends or Sex and the City boxset (I can never tire of watching these) but instead I went for something new. I have never seen Girls before or really know much about it, but the description ‘The assorted humiliations, disasters and rare triumphs of four very different twenty-something girls’ sounds very much like the lives of my girls and I!
Face masks – I love a good face mask, especially face masks with friends. It’s always a giggle when you cover your face in clay or green slush and go from looking like Beyonce to Shrek in 10 minutes. Give your skin a great start to the New Year with a cleansing and hydrating face mask.
A Slanket – Keep warm whilst still being able to use your arms and hands with a slanket. I thought they were a naff idea until I got one! I spent most, if not all of Christmas wrapped up in a slanket on the sofa whilst still being able to tweet and shop the boxing day sales – Heaven I tell you.

Healthy SnackingHealthy Snacking

Healthy Snacking

Urban Fruit Dried Fruit – To satisfy your sweet tooth, reach for fresh or dried fruit. Be careful though as dried fruit can have added sugars and bad ingredients – that’s why I love Urban Fruit, they don’t add sugar, oils, sulphites or concentrates to their fruit. Plus they bake them at low temperatures to retain all the good stuff.
Popchips – Swap your toffee popcorn and Pringles for popchips, crisps that are never fried or baked. A packet of popchips is less than 100 calories and half the fat of fried crisps. No fake flavours, colours, preservatives, hydrogenated oils or msg… Put down those bad crisps & pick up a packet of popchips.
Bounce Energy Balls – If you’re planning a more active night in (dancing to Mariah whilst singing into a hairbrush counts as active, right?!) then try out the Bounce Energy Balls. Nutrient-dense balls packed with quality carbs, proteins and heart-healthy fats, they make the perfect snack to fuel a long night.

Healthy Drink Sparkling Alibi

Lay off the alcohol

Alibi Sparkling Health Drinks – Alibi drinks are a lightly sparkling fruit juice blend, packed with 19 essential vitamins, minerals and natural herbal extracts. They are designed to hydrate, replensih and support your bodies natural defences. Sweetened with stevia, they make a much better choice than a glass of prosecco.
Smoothies – Freshly made smoothies are a much better choice than store bought juices or cordial as they have no artificial ingredients and retain the fibre from the fruit and veg. Thanks to my brand new Nutribullet I am going to be treating anyone who comes round mine with a fresh, homemade smoothie. Whether they want one or not… you have been warned, friends and family!

So that’s what I have planned for my healthy night in, thanks to Alibi Drinks for gifting me a box full of everything I’d need. What entertainment, snacks and drinks would you want to have for a healthy night in? Let me know in the comments below.

 

10 Comments

  1. Connie
    February 6, 2015 / 4:29 pm

    Love these tips! I especially love the drinks. I’ve always been adamant on serving sparkling drinks at parties versus alcohol. It’s more healthy; and the bubbliness makes it feel like you’re actually drinking champagne.

    Connie | Sponsored by Coffee | Bloglovin’

    • Cantara
      Author
      February 9, 2015 / 3:31 pm

      It really does feel like you’re drinking alcohol, just without the horrible feeling the next day! The next time I go out I’ll definitely be asking for a sparkling drink instead of my usual vodka soda. Plus they taste so much better! x

  2. February 8, 2015 / 9:29 pm

    Amazing ideas . That’s always the biggest thing when you’re hanging out with friends it’s tempting to have junk food and alcohol. I’m going to have to refer to this on a planned night in xo

    • Cantara
      Author
      February 9, 2015 / 3:32 pm

      I know! And once you have the snacks and nibbles laid out in front of you it’s so hard to resist. I definitely preferred snacking on these rather than unhealthier options and I plan to continue laying on spreads like this whenever I have my friends round x

  3. February 12, 2015 / 3:34 pm

    I love girls night’s in and I think it’s really far more easy that it sounds to have a healthy one, the other week we all ate veggies and dips, olives etc whilst nattering and it was great.
    I think you can do skinny popcorn, protein pancakes (if you want something that feel’s indulgent) or raw brownies then everyone’s sweet tooth is satisfied without it feeling like a ‘bore’.
    x

    • Cantara
      Author
      March 25, 2015 / 5:38 pm

      I think those are great suggestions!! Especially the raw brownies – I just love brownies haha. Your night in sounds like a great one, thank you for sharing :) x

  4. March 25, 2015 / 11:39 am

    Great tips, okay i’m a boy but I do still love the show Girls and most modern guys have probably tried the odd face mask at least once (if they’re honest about it)! Tried the Alibi drinks before and really like them, along with the Bounce Protein balls… need to try the Urban fruit and Popchips though.

    • Cantara
      Author
      March 26, 2015 / 6:08 pm

      Love that! I put face masks on my boyfriend – there’s no reason why boys can’t have nice skin too! Popchips are lovely, really strong flavour so great for replacing unhealthier crisps when laying out nibbles for your friends :) x

  5. Yeme Alemayehu
    April 9, 2015 / 5:25 pm

    I absolutely LOVE this! Hello Cantara I’m Yeme, a college student from Los Angeles and being in London itself for two months studying abroad/interning it’s quite tempting to party with your fellow students from home, going to pubs, etc. You’ve inspired me to not make that an excuse and continue being active and healthy in a new city! You’ve inspired me to try to give it up for the rest of April (hopefully my willpower magic works and I continue to May lol). I honestly would love to meet you one day, and have a chat about health, exercising, London, life……lol if you have the time of course. I’ll be here till June 4th, you don’t live in London anymore correct?

    • Cantara
      Author
      April 21, 2015 / 10:04 am

      Hi Yeme! I’d love to go to LA, how are you finding London so far? You don’t have to give up going out all together, especially as it is a great way to meet new people and socialise with your friends. I would recommend switching to vodka, lime and soda mixers if you’re going out drinking, choosing grilled meat/fish with steamed or roasted vegetables if you go out to eat and if you go to a house party where there are plenty of unhealthy snacks, fill up on a healthy dinner at home first and take along your own Popchips and dried fruit snacks instead. I’ve just moved back to London! Email me – gymbagsandgladrags@gmail.com x

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