How To Navigate Your Health During The Holiday Season
How To Navigate Your Health During The Holiday Season
In an ideal world, the festive season would be a time of awesome presents that everyone loves, perfect weather and peaceful downtime.
But life rarely matches up to the holiday montage.
For most people, holiday season means:
Hectic schedules and back-to-back social events
Hours looking for a car park at the shops followed by spending far more on gifts than you budgeted for
Stress-eating food that you don’t even love (but it’s there, so maybe one more slice will help…)
Last minute changes that throw off your entire plans
And if you’re unprepared? The season is likely to leave you feeling stressed, overwhelmed and unwell.
But not all is lost – there are some simple ways that you can keep yourself healthy and balanced throughout the festive season (without resorting to chicken and rice for your Christmas meal!) All it takes is a focus on easy habits and some planning ahead.
Don’t skip your meals
If you want to be mindful about what you eat over Christmas and New Year, the last thing you want is to get hangry! That’s why it’s critical to eat your main meals each day.
Breakfast is the biggest non-negotiable. Eating a high-protein breakfast can help to not only increase satiety and reduce hunger for the rest of the day – it also reduces the brain signals that cause you to use food as a reward or eat out of desire (rather than hunger). These can help you to make sensible, mindful decisions when you’re eating out or at a social occasion.
Stick to your regular workouts
Your body thrives off structure and routine, so we want to make sure you keep your fitness up over the holidays! Now of course, you may not want to hit the gym straight after Christmas dinner, so you can tweak and modify if needed. But generally speaking, you want to continue a similar frequency of exercise.
And if you’re away over the holiday break? Find ways to incorporate movement into your day to maintain your fitness. Hikes, walking around the local area, swimming or even some quick bodyweight workouts at the hotel or Airbnb can help to prevent loss of fitness or muscle without interfering with your vacation!
Keep yourself hydrated
It’s a simple tip, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work! Staying hydrated helps with so many common symptoms and concerns during the holiday season, including:
Increasing satiety
Helping to detoxify and eliminate caffeine, alcohol and other substances
Preventing headaches
Aiding digestion and minimising symptoms such as constipation or bloating
Supporting the brain and nervous system function under stress
Replacing lost fluids through diuretic loss e.g. alcohol and high stress
One easy habit to get into? Start your morning off with a big 500ml glass of water. That way, you’ve already ticked off a good percentage of your hydration goals first thing.
Use a plate as a visual tool
When you’re at events, it can be tempting to graze on the many delicious foods around you. But I make sure to use a plate for everything I eat.
Why? Because it allows me to see my portions and stick to a balanced approach. There is no need to weigh food, count calories or restrict myself because I know what my ideal balanced plate looks like visually.
I explain my balanced plate approach in more detail here.
This can also help to reduce the risk of mindless eating – consuming food that you’re not focused on or even really aware of. Mindless consumption can lead to a lot of extra calories, which really isn’t worth it if you’re not going to enjoy them!
Moderate your alcohol intake
When it comes to alcohol, it’s important to be aware of the effects it can have on your health – both short and long-term. There are some ways you can mitigate some of the side effects, but it’s best to keep your intake on the lower side to prevent serious damage long-term.
The easiest way to do this? Set yourself a target or limit around your intake for the holiday season. For example, you might aim to have 2 glasses of water before each drink, or limit yourself to 2-3 drinks per night out.
Get back on track
Had a day (or a week) where the above habits went completely out the window? Not a problem – don’t beat yourself up for it, just get back into the routine.
We cannot control everything, particularly during the holiday season. There is a level of unpredictability that can throw off your workout schedule, your meals, or water goals. But the last thing you need to do is guilt yourself for it – all that’s going to do is push you into stress eating/drinking/social media scrolling and continue the cycle.
Each day is a day to restart.
And even then, the entire day isn’t necessarily a write-off. So what if you miss breakfast? It doesn’t mean you can’t get back on track with a high-protein lunch and a big glass of water.
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Hey there, I’m Rachel!
NUTRITIONIST, PERSONAL TRAINER, WELLNESS COACH
Here I share healthy recipe ideas, training plans, and nutrition & wellness advice you need to know.
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While we make every effort to make sure the information in this website is accurate and informative, the information does not take the place of medical advice.