Health and Wellness Resources

5 Ways to help your Health survive the Holidays

5 Ways to help your Health survive the Holidays

Every year, I see people using the “busy” holidays as an excuse for letting go of their health and saying they will “start in January”.   Why not start now?  You could be a month ahead of the masses.  In my office, I am often talking with patients about the same concepts over and over again.  I have summarized 5 of the best ways to avoid the holiday over-indulgence.

1) Prepare weekly menus and meals. Preparation is something that is necessary year round but even more so during the holiday season. The holidays mean busy schedules and loads of stress, so cheap and quick meals have a way of sneaking into our daily routines. Being prepared ensures success for healthy eating. Pick a day (I use Sundays) as your “meal prep” day. Plan a week long menu, go to the grocery, get everything you need for the week, come home and get to cooking! Separate out snacks into individual bags and containers that can be used for “grab-and-go”.   If you’re short on healthy snack or meal prep ideas, don’t worry! Pinterest has you covered!   A couple of blogs I have found that have great ideas are: http://www.eatsandexercisebyamber.com/home/meal-prep-for-beginners#.VHuFcIuYXGk

and this one even has free printables along with the recipe ideas!

http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/2014/08/100-meal-prep-ideas/

2) Schedule workout times like appointments. Your health is the most important thing you have. Don’t try to save time by skipping out on the gym. If you leave workouts for “whenever you have time” then chances are you will rarely find yourself sweating it out at the gym. Get out your calendar and schedule gym appointments. You will have dedicated time to spend working out and no excuses for skipping. Remember, working out isn’t just for burning calories! It relieves stress, releases happy endorphins, and promotes better sleep. Do it for your sanity this Holiday season 🙂

3) Offer to help the host! By bringing a healthy dish or two to Holiday parties you are ensuring there will be something at the party you can eat guilt-free. Now, just because the dish is healthy doesn’t mean you have to bring a veggie plate. There are tons of delicous recipes that are whole food and not full of preservatives. Once again, I choose not to reinvent the wheel. Thanks to the Internet there are endless blogs with healthy recipe options. One I use on a regular basis is:

www.paleomg.com .   One trip to Google will find you several others. Pick out a great dessert or side dish to bring and not only will you be helping out the host, but also your health.

4) Skip the sugary “mocha-peppermint-gingerbread-christmas” latte. These drinks ARE delicious. They really are, I know. They are also full of preservatives, empty calories, and the inflammatory devil- SUGAR. Stick to regular coffee or green tea if you need your daily caffeine boost. More importantly, DRINK MORE WATER. We tend to drink more water in the summer months because a nice cold drink quenches our thirst in the heat. Winter months roll around and all we can think of is warm cups of delicious coffees and teas (am I wrong here??). Remember, every day we need about half our body weight of water in ounces. So if you weigh 150lbs try to get at least 75 ounces of water a day.

5) Focus on positive choices. One bad meal or skipped workout isn’t a deal breaker that will send you spiraling downward. KEEP GOING. Just try to avoid making the same mistakes twice. If you indulged a little too much at a party or dinner, don’t bring home leftovers. That will just encourage you to eat poorly twice! If you skip a workout because you need to catch up on some holiday shopping, then just schedule a little longer gym “appointment” next time or try an at home interval workout. If you need workout ideas, then checkout the Explore Chiropractic facebook page.  New workouts are posted on Saturdays!

Stay on track this year! Start living healthy now so you can pick a different New Years resolution for 2015.