Well now that Halloween is done, it is full fledged Christmas season....actually it was full fledged Christmas season right along with Halloween. And where is Thanksgiving? Lost in the midst of it all. Whether you celebrate one of these, all three or something complete different, it all adds up to two things: being super busy and lots of food.
This can mean detrimental things for your healthy lifestyle. Too busy for a work out, too busy to cook, lots of friend and family parties with lots of food and second helpings of pumpkin pie!! This holiday season, I challenge you to stick with your healthy lifestyle!! Does this mean skip out on the Christmas cookies and cancel all party invites?! No, but amidst your holiday shopping and cooking, plan how you can fit in a quick work out or bringing a healthy dish to pass.
A few ideas I came up with to help:
1. Load up on veggies and fruits first at holiday get togethers. You need more of these than anything else, so make sure to get plenty. By time you fill up on these, you won't have room for more than a bite of the not-as-good for you stuff. Plus they are full of vitamins which will keep you from getting sick and give you energy, two things that are vital during this busy holiday time.
2. Plan your meals. If you know you have a busy day ahead of you (work, then Christmas shopping, followed by late drinks with old friends), bring a healthy dinner with you, so you are not tempted to scarf a whole plate of nachos at the bar.
3. Fit in fitness with the family. After Thanksgiving dinner, go for a walk with the family or get the whole family out shoveling. This way you're fitting in family time with exercise time.
4. Shopping, we all have to do it this time of year. To get extra exercise start out by parking farther away from the doors, the farther the better. It'll be cold out, so you can power walk to get inside faster, which will also increase your heart rate. Once inside get a quick walk in, by doing a lap or two around the store or the mall.
Here's an article by WebMD with some more tips and ideas for staying healthy during the holidays. As they state in the article, if you fall off the bandwagon during the holidays, brush yourself off and start again in January. I have recently fallen off my band wagon, so I'm going to get back into the habit before the holidays start or I'm really going to be in trouble!
Share with me some ideas you came up with for staying healthy during the holidays. Also any healthy recipes you bring to the holiday parties? Let me know, I'd love to try them!! I'll do a blog post in a few weeks sharing your ideas if I get any.
I'm listening to Christmas music right now and your post made me feel even more Christmasy. I'm vegan so I've been trying to think of ways to stick to it despite my dairy and meat pushing (but well-meaning) family. Thanks for the tips! :)
ReplyDeleteYay! This is cool. I've also gotten really interested in health and nutrition over the past two years, so I'll be reading your blog. (:
ReplyDeleteWalking as much as possible is definitely a good idea. I'm pretty horrible when it comes to exercising, so instead I just walk everywhere (easy when you don't have a car) and always take stairs instead of the elevator, etc. xx
mighty mighty - I am always against Christmas before Thanksgiving, because I feel like Thanksgiving is always forgotten and I love Thanksgiving...but I have to admit, I'm getting pretty excited for Christmas! Let me know if you come up with any good ideas for sticking with your Vegan lifestyle during the holidays! Thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteClaire - Thanks for the reading of this post and the possible future readings. Do you wear a pedometer? It'd be interesting to see how many steps you get in a day. Experts recommend 10,000/day. I'm betting you get more. I started taking the elevator at Zumberge instead of the stairs all the way up to 4th! Easy way to get my heart rate up!