As most of you know, the holiday season remains one of the most difficult times to maintain your healthy lifestyle with lots of social events happening and friends and family visiting. You have spent so many months trying to adapt to this new lifestyle, and here come the holidays to ruin your hard work. Do not fret!!
Listed below are five tips to help you get through the holidays:
- You don’t have to starve yourself to avoid weight gain. Eat during family meal times but try to pick healthier choices. To prevent overindulging, pile your plate with fruits and vegetables, saving a little room for your holiday favorites.
- Ring in the New Year with alcohol in moderation. Moderate drinking is 2 drinks per day for men and one drink a day for women. Your choices include a 12 Oz serving of beer, or a 5 Oz glass of wine, or a 1.5 Oz shot of 80 proof spirit, or a 1.5 Oz shot of 100 proof spirit.
- Remain active. The holidays tend to be busy with little time to go to the gym. That’s okay, you can get back to your regular exercise regime after the holidays when you are not as busy. In the meantime, you can increase your physical activity with your routine chores like power walking while shopping with a basket, doing heavy house hold cleaning, or taking the stairs instead of the elevators.
- Manage stress. The holidays tend to be pretty stressful. Remember to take time out to do your regularly scheduled stress relieving activity like yoga, tai chi, meditation, or creating art.
- Nothing is better than a good night’s rest. Be sure to get a good night’s sleep. The more well rested you are, the more likely you are to engage in mindful eating, and the less likely you are to overeat and gain weight.
Overall, take it one day at a time. And if you “fall off the wagon”, don’t be too hard on yourself. Remember that tomorrow is another day!
