Festive Cooking

It's Christmas! Time to tuck into some tasty nibbles and a hearty Christmas lunch. When you're eating out or buying food that has been prepared for you, it's often easy to have more fat, salt and calories than you realise. You can also end up eating more than you would have done if you had made the food yourself. Although it feels like good value for money when you get served a big portion, if you're trying to eat healthily this means it's all too easy to eat too much or have lots more fat and calories than you need to.

Visit the Health Challenge website for healthy Christmas cooking tips, advice and recipes.

Have a Christmas to remember

Staying within the recommended drinking guidelines of 3-4 units a day for men and 2-3 for women means you should have your wits about you, and be able to spot dangerous situations. If you do drink too much, you could easily get into trouble. The drunker you are, the more likely you are to do something risky. A survey conducted by the women’s magazine, ‘Company’ showed that 29% of respondents had lost keys, money and other valuables during a drunken night out, while one in ten had been escorted home by a stranger.

Visit the Health Challenge website for tips for surviving the party season.

Five safer sex tips for the party season

This party season, don’t find yourself with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or an unintended pregnancy. With a little preparation, you can prevent a mishap from becoming a crisis.

1. Stock up on your contraception
   If you use a method of contraception that you need to take every day, such as the pill, make sure you have enough to last over Christmas, especially if you’re going away. If you don't have a regular method of contraception, such as the implant, injection or intrauterine device (IUD), consider organising one before the holidays.
2. Stock up on condoms
   Keep some condoms with you. They're the only form of contraception that protects against both pregnancy and STIs. Condoms are useful to have in case you have sex with someone new, or if your regular method of contraception fails or runs out. You can get free condoms from some GP surgeries, sexual health or GUM (genitourinary medicine) clinics, and the Caerphilly Condom Card Scheme. You can buy condoms from pharmacies, supermarkets and vending machines.
3. Know where to get emergency contraception
   Emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy if you have had unprotected sex or your regular contraception has failed. The ‘morning after pill’ is for use in an emergency. Don’t rely on it as a regular method of contraception. It doesn’t work as well as regular methods of contraception at stopping unintended pregnancies. Contact your local Sexual Health clinic, GP surgery or pharmacy.
4. Know how to find a clinic
   All the information and local contacts for Caerphilly borough can be found in the Caerphilly Little Book.
5. Don’t panic
   Help is available if your contraception fails or you have unprotected sex over the holidays. Even if your nearest clinic or GP surgery is closed, you can go to a local pharmacy within 3 days (72 hours) of having unprotected sex……but the sooner the better.

Visit the Health Challenge website for further information.

Sexual Health Wales helpline

For confidential information about Sexually Transmitted Infections, sexual health or where to find local services. Tel: 0800 567 123.