BEATING BAD HABITS

We have talked about what causes cellulite and how to integrate them safely back into your life, but here we are going to cover indulgences: things like caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes.

CAFFEINE
While coffee was not banned in your diet, you should have cut down your intake to the recommended 2-3 cups a day. Once your cellulite is beaten, you can increase this 3-4 cups a day. No health problems have been found from this amount. Do not go over this, though not only is it bad for your cellulite, but high doses of caffeine have been linked to raised blood pressure and reduced fertility, among other health problems.

ALCOHOL
One alcoholic drink per day was allowed in your diet, and now you have finished you could even double this and still be within the limit for women. But again, keep this as your upper limit, alcohol increases the appetite and could lead you to eat more high-fat, high-sugar foods. Too much alcohol also decreases circulation and may overload the lymph.

CIGARETTES
Up until now we have not really talked about quitting smoking to fight cellulite, it is probably too daunting a task to add to the programme. However, once you have got all those other healthy habits in place and you are fighting free radical damage in every other area, perhaps now is the time. There is a very good chance that smoking significantly contributes to cellulite formation, so quitting will therefore help stop its return.

The best way to give up smoking for most people is to use nicotine, replacement therapy, success rates on this are double as the lack of withdrawal symptoms (because small doses of nicotine are still provided, usually via patches worn on the skin) makes it easier to break the physical addiction.

Often, however, the habit is harder to break than the nicotine addiction (which actually only lasts 48 hours). You can help yourself by looking at situations when you smoke and have safety tactics in place to counteract the feelings triggering you to light up. These are some good ones to try.

If you smoke when you are stressed inhaling oil of lavender is the fastest way to calm your system. Other tactics include drinking camomile tea.

If you smoke to help you think, try sniffing peppermint oil or drinking peppermint tea instead. Studies done found this helps people to think more clearly, in fact, those tested scored 28 per cent more highly in accuracy tests than the control group, who did not sniff any peppermint oil or drink peppermint tea.

If you smoke to boost energy, preventing blood sugar dips that can trigger cravings will help here. Try eating little and often or snack on fruit, which gives your energy a rapid lift without a subsequent fall.

If you smoke out of habit, if you find yourself wanting to smoke when you sit in a particular chair or when you watch a particular television programme, try inhaling some oil. This is used to help break ties with the past.

CONTROLLING STRESS
Stress can actually cause cellulite by encouraging direct fat storage. Learning to control stress, therefore, can help to control cellulite. Many of us think controlling stress is impossible, but it only takes four steps.

Find your triggers
Do you get stressed because you are always waiting for someone else to finish part of a project before you can get your part done? Are you stressed because you can never find your car keys and it makes you late? Think of as many triggers as possible and try to find ways to reduce their effects.

Just say no
Plan your day so you do not take on too much in too short a time, and say no to anything you cannot realistically manage.

Don't be a worrier
Many of us create stress in our heads by worrying about what might happen. Don't. If smomething is stressing you, ask yourself what is the worse that could happen, now ask how likely that is. If it is likely, ask how bad it really is. If it is really bad, ask what you can do about it, and take first step. There are not many things that really are as bad as we think they could be.

Keep your arousal level low
Stress is like a pile of playing cards, you are fine for a while, then something makes everything topple. If you can reduce little stressors (like the noise level in the office or the dripping tap that drives you mad when you work from home), you will reduce the effect that the big stresses can have on you.