A Healthy Holiday: 5 Tips to Manage the Madness
Submitted by Kristen Secco of BOHO Core
It’s official. The holidays are here whether we like it or not. The music, the shopping, the movies, the ugly sweaters – they’ve officially arrived. So have the invites. Our calendars are filling up with tons of festive social engagements. We all know what that means: lots of delicious food and drinks. How do we stay healthy during the fun without missing the fun part?
Kristen of BOHO Core has put together five helpful tips to make your holidays healthier. It’s a simple list of attainable goals and valuable tricks. Her first suggestion? Reach for water…
1: Hydrate
There are so many reasons to focus on hydration during the holidays. Water aids in digestion and can help your body get back to feeling normal faster after a big meal. If you had a few festive cocktails at that meal, water is even more important. Alcohol dehydrates the body and we need to put that water right back in after a fun night out. A rule of thumb is to have one glass of water in between each alcoholic drink to minimize dehydration. Need more convincing? Drinking more water can help prevent your skin from drying out in the chilly December air.
2: Get cookin’
Unfortunately, most of our holiday favorites are not the healthiest. If your holiday table is full of dishes made with processed ingredients like canned soup, corn syrup, white flour or white sugar try your hand at making a cleaned-up, from-scratch version. A quick google search will give you tons of healthier holiday recipes that you can try out. That way you can still enjoy your favorite holiday flavors. Who knows, you may like the new version even better!
3: Keep Moving
If you have a regular exercise routine, try your best to keep it up through the holidays. If you are struggling to find time to fit in workouts, find other ways to move more throughout the day: take a walk during lunch, take the stairs as much as you can, park in a parking spot farther away from the building. All activity counts! The more you move the better your body will feel and function.
4: Focus on Friends & Family
It may sound a little cheesy, but the real reason for the season is spending time with our loved ones. It’s not about the candy, the cocktails, or the casseroles. Shifting your focus away from the indulgences and toward the people around the table will keep you happy and healthy – physically AND mentally.
5: Ditch the Guilt
This is by far the most important tip of the season. The holidays only come around once a year and they are meant to be enjoyed. So, you ate one too many cookies or you skipped the gym all week. We’re here to tell you it’s okay. Take a deep breath, don’t beat yourself up, and move on. No one is perfect, especially not during the holidays! You can always start over tomorrow and make better choices. Remember, your happiness is really the secret ingredient to your healthy holiday!
Join the 12 Days if Fit-Mas!
If you want more ideas for how to keep your holiday healthy, sign up for BOHO Core’s 12 Days of Fit-mas. It’s 12 days and 12 challenges to make your holiday a little healthier. We’ve got workouts, recipe swaps, festive activities, and more. The fun kicks off on Monday, December 3rd and runs through Friday, December 14th. The price to participate is $15 per person. Spots are limited and sign-ups go live on Friday, November 30th at 9am. Get on the reminder list to sign up here.
