The holidays are here, and so are the cookies, and cocktails, and tighter waistbands! Despite popular belief, it is possible to enjoy the holidays without gaining weight. The following tips will teach you how to maintain a healthy weight during the holidays, while still drinking eggnog.
Indulge in Moderation
There is nothing wrong with indulging around the holidays, in fact, I encourage it! Eat that extra dessert, enjoy a festive cocktail or two, just don’t do it everyday.
The truth is, we don’t gain weight around the holidays because of indulging at a few holiday parties. We gain weight because we continue to indulge in between parties. You may have a big holiday event to attend every weekend, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop eating healthy the rest of the week.
Yet, many of us throw our diets out the window this time of year, and stop eating clean altogether. It’s easy to do. Psychologically it can be difficult to moderate your eating habits during the holidays. We go to one party where we over do it on food and alcohol, and end up feeling guilty and angry at ourselves.
In a sense we feel like we’ve already failed, and the easiest thing to do is give up and start over in January. Unfortunately, this feeling is reinforced by society, as virtually everyone else is doing the same thing.
Here is a healthier approach to food this time of year.
Go to your parties and eat and drink whatever you want. Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t get angry and beat yourself up. Enjoy yourself! The next day, go back to your normal healthy diet. Continue to follow your health routine until the next event or party.
The key here is not to feel like you’ve failed because you had a few extra cookies at a holiday gathering. Those extra calories are not going to make you gain weight overnight. Especially if you jump back into your normal clean eating routine the next day. This is where moderation comes into play. Don’t let a few holiday indulgences keep you from eating healthy the rest of the time.
Keep Up with Your Workouts
I love going to the gym this time of year, because it becomes emptier the closer we get to the new year. It’s the calm before the January fitness frenzy when the gym is packed again. It’s easy to lose momentum around exercise this time of year, especially if we stop eating healthy.
The mentality of waiting until January to get back into your routine applies just as much to working out as it does to diet. Yes, it can be more challenging to squeeze in your workouts this time of year with travel plans and holiday gatherings, but it’s not impossible. Especially since you don’t need to go to the gym to workout. Fifteen minutes of squats, sit ups, and pushups in your living room is actually a pretty effective workout, and certainly better than nothing at all.
Just because you don’t have time for your hour spin class, doesn’t mean you can’t move your body and sweat a bit. Maintaining your regular exercise routine will help keep that extra weight off, and raise your metabolism. Keeping up with your workouts also helps you maintain a healthy diet. You are much more likely to make healthy food choices after you exercise. Plus, working out is a great way to release some of that holiday stress!
Sleep, Don’t Stress
Cookies and eggnog are not the only things that put on the pounds. Stress is a huge contributor to weight gain. And of course, stress tends to run high around the holidays. Physically when we experience a stressor our body puts out the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is part of the fight or flight response and is how our body prepares for stress. When we have too much cortisol in our system it can lead to all sorts of issues such as fatigue, immune suppression, and weight gain. Specifically weight gain around the belly area.
Too much cortisol can also throw off our sleep cycle. This causes insomnia and restless sleep. Lack of sleep comes with it’s own host of issues, including weight gain. When we are sleep deprived we tend to be more hungry and our willpower is lower. Which means we are more likely to snack on those holiday cookies!
The best way to remedy this vicious cycle is to get a handle on your stress. You can dive deep into that topic with our blog 3 Habits to Have Yourself a Stress-Free Holiday Season. Make sure to prioritize sleep during this time of year. You may have more late nights than normal during the holidays, but do your best to get as much rest as you can.
Bonus: The Cleansing Secret
I’ll let you in on a little weight loss secret that only my patients have been privy to. This is for all of you that have previously done our Gut-Tox Digestive Cleanse.
If you haven’t done this cleanse yet, you can learn more about it here.
For those of you that have, you may have noticed that you have some extra supplements left over. This is because the detox is designed to be self regulating, supplying extra to those who need it. But, the majority of you will have an extra supply at the end of the cleanse. With those leftover doses you can do a mini cleanse during the holiday season.
For instance, if you attend a really indulgent holiday party you can follow it up with 2 or 3 days of cleansing to balance your system out. This will not only help with your diet, but it will help reduce any inflammation in the gut, and help you detox from the extra sugar and alcohol. It’s always great to do a full detox in January, but getting in a mini cleanse is a great way to keep you on track.
The holidays should be a time to indulge and enjoy yourself. And you can still do so, without giving up all your health habits. Focus on these key principles and you’ll find yourself starting the new year off in a healthy body and sound state of mind.