Overall Health During the Holidays

by Pounds Staff

NUTRITION 

• Remember one meal won’t make or break your progress and health. Enjoy the holiday celebration and most importantly, get back on track the next day.
• No matter what you ate the night before-start your new day with a good breakfast 
• Manage daily/weekly stress eating- What you do most frequently is the culprit, not one meal
• Keep up with normal prep for the week as there tend to be a lot of temptations around

EXERCISE 

• Consistent exercise can help motivate you to make good food choices 
• Don’t use exercise to “earn” food choices. You cannot “out-exercise” poor food choices, it’s better to focus on the overall health benefits of exercise, not just calorie burning
• Use exercise as stress reduction. Here are some fun ideas:
  • Turkey Trots on Thanksgiving 
  • Family flag football or backyard games 
  • Letterboxing or geode hikes 

STRESS 

• Stress leads to mindless and more spontaneous eating instead of planned eating
•  Identify triggers of holiday stress such as finances, travel, and celebrating the holiday with or without family members 
• Once triggers have been identified, plan how to manage them:

SLEEP 

• Holidays are fun but exhausting! When people are sleep deprived they often feel hungrier and less satisfied after meals. 
• Aim to maintain your normal sleep pattern

HYDRATION 

• Harder to stay hydrated during colder months 
• Thirst/hunger center in the same place in the brain 
• Staying hydrated means less hunger! 
• Try herbal teas to increase hydration when it’s cold: 

• Harney & Sons- Chocolate mint 
• Tazo- Dessert Delights, Passion 
• Celestial Seasonings- Apple Cinnamon, Sleigh Ride Sugar Cookie