Staying Physically & Mentally Healthy During The Holiday Season
Even though collecting memories with loved ones is definitely the focal point during the holiday season, to indulge in treats is an important part of the gatherings!
Remember that you can still enjoy your time without depriving yourself and by just being more MINDFUL and INTUITIVE.
For that, I prepared for you 8 simple tips that not only take into account your physical health but also your mental health:
1. Most people try to skip breakfast or lunch to "save" all of their calories for dinner.
However, this typically leads to a headache and overeating because of depriving your body from energy.
You will actually reach dinner time feeling famished or HANGRY instead of feeling comfortably hungry.
This is why it is important to have home-made balanced meals during the day and in case you end up having a heavy dinner, you could listen to your body the following day and reduce your portions then.
2. During holidays dinners, focus on only eating the foods you absolutely love and skip the foods you are not so found of.
For that to happen, check out all of your options on the buffet table before serving yourself, you might be less inclined to pile on items in your plate.
3. Remember that it takes 20 minutes for your stomach’s fullness signal to get to your brain. This is why it is important to stay present: eat slowly and mindfully, savor your food and pause in the middle of the meal to check on your hunger and fullness levels.
After finishing your first serving; make conversation, drink water, and then recheck your appetite. You might realize you are comfortably full and if not, you have full permission as an intuitive eater to serve yourself a second portion.
For visualization, you can use the Hunger Scale which is a range between 1 and 10.
For your reference, 1 is Starving And feeling weak or dizzy and 10 is so full you feel sick. People start to feel hungry at 4 and have comfortable fullness at 6.
4. If you have health or weight loss goals; the holidays could be times of anxiety and uncertainty.
This is why, it is helpful to set realistic goals, to forget about the all or nothing mentality and take it one day at a time. My main suggestion would be to keep a food and mood journal.
While writing on it, you can ASK YOURSLEF the 5 Ws:
WHAT did you eat?
WHEN did you eat?
WHERE did you eat?
With WHO did you eat?
WHY did you eat?
You will then know what triggered emotional eating and you how to tackle those emotions differently next time.
5. Honor your cravings and enjoy every delicious bite of your cheesy appetizer of gooey dessert!
Keep in mind that when we say we can’t have something, we just want it more and that could ultimately lead to binge eating.
It is ok to not only have body-nourishing food but also soul-nourishing food and getting rid of the guilt!
6. If you're going to drink alcohol, avoid it on an empty stomach and keep in mind that it increases your appetite and dehydrates you.
For that reason, try to alternate between water and alcohol to minimize its intake and to stay hydrated. This way, you will avoid headaches and symptoms of hangover.
7. Put on those dancing or walking shoes!
Working out or targeting a realistic and motivational number of steps a day is one of the healthiest habits you can have during the holiday season.
Even if you can’t follow your usual workout schedule, staying active in any way possible not only helps with maintaining your weight; but it also eases digestion, stabilizes blood sugar levels and most importantly, it lifts up your mood!
8. If you indulged more than you planned during this holiday season or you gained a bit of weight, MOVE ON since guilting yourself will definitely not help.
Rather, simply get back to your healthy eating habits and regular exercise plan as soon as you possibly can.
Remember that you did your best and that the holiday season comes once a year!
What matters to our health is the food pattern over an extended period of time and our positive relationship with food that we intend on preserving!
Stéphanie