Gayle HMaking our way through the holidays can be a test of willpower, patience, awareness, resolve and grit.
Sure, the holidays bring wonderful things to our lives – good food, family and friends, community, celebration and a time to give, reflect and appreciate.
The holidays can also bring too much food, not enough exercise, ‘loving’ stressors and an easily misplaced appreciation for all that is good about the holiday itself.
Over the years I have come to an agreement with myself about how to best manage the holidays. That agreement has 3 main anchors:
- Don’t beat yourself up!
- Try to maintain some level of physical health (even if just a small bit of my regular routine)
- Remember that family and friends won’t be with you forever to enjoy them when you can
I use these as my guideposts. They are my saving grace. These thoughts keep me sane, healthy and from being disowned from my family because of some crazy resentment that was buried deep inside me since I was 15 years old that, after that unfortunate last glass of wine, has now popped out of my mouth and into the room.
These essential actions not only get me through the holiday season in one piece, but they also support my overall health goals for the year.
So instead of falling off my health/sanity/grateful life wagon, I am able to hang on – even if I’ve only got one foot and maybe a hand on that wagon.
While 80% of my normal may be hanging off that wagon getting a mouthful of dust, 20% of my normal is still fighting the good fight!
You Simply Need To Employ These 4 Easy Habits
First, Move Your Body
Planes, trains or automobiles – your mode of transportation does not matter – you will be sitting down WAY TOO MUCH! And you will be in cramped quarters. And your posture won’t be so great. And you’ll get a back ache. And….well, you get the idea.
Even if you are not traveling, chances are you will be sitting the better part of your holiday time. (eating, watching movies or sports, conversations with people you may not have seen in a while).
Adding to this physical body beating, your normal exercise routine is either disrupted or non-existent. While some of us are pretty good at maintaining our regular routine (because a good spin class the morning before you wolf down 3,000 calories is probably a good idea), most of us don’t exercise, or even move, as much as we should.
Lack of desire, potentially cold weather, lack of resources and excuses (I needed a break from my routine anyway!) kick us to the bottom of that wagon wheel.
Movement Is Your Exercise Savior
There are two very easy ways to make sure you take care of yourself physically during the holiday stretch:
1: Stretch
Nothing feels better than a big, beautiful body stretch. Like in the morning after a good night sleep – stretching yourself out is absolutely delicious. AND, good for you.
The main areas you want to think about stretching are your legs (hip flexors and glutes get tight and lazy with all that sitting around), and your neck/shoulders (we are hunched over our phones, computers, proper posture is difficult in traveling vestibules).
And there is nothing, literally NOTHING, that feels better than a good next rub/stretch.
When things get crampy, tired, underused or sore, take a few minutes to do a quick stretching routine (here are some stretches that I do and love when traveling).
2: Walk
You can walk literally anytime or anywhere. 10,000 steps marching in place, flights of stairs, the dog needs a pee break, quiet time with a family member, sanity time with your partner – walking is movement that requires no extra time, space or equipment.
In the airport, walk instead of using the moving walkway. Use the stairs instead of the escalator. Delay? Well, take a quick stretch break, then walk to Starbucks for a pick-me-up.
A quick walk before holiday dinner can help you keep some calories off, increase your appetite, settle your mind, and add just a tiny bit of cardio into your day.
Dogs need to be walked. Kids need to get outside for a break. You need to stretch your legs. See how these things all fit together?
Still need more? Make a game of running up and down the stairs in your house (or the house you are visiting) a few times.
Seriously, the options you have to fit in just a little bit of walking are endless. There is no excuse. And just a few minutes of walking vs. sitting could make the biggest difference in your overall health – not only during the holiday season, but longer life term as well.
Second, Eat Healthy – It’s Really Not That Difficult
Let’s be clear – the holiday season is NOT the time to start a new diet/eating routine. Ever. Never. Ever.
Having said that, maintaining easy healthy eating habits during the holiday season is extremely doable. I’d go so far as to even say EASY!
The trick here is to not bite off more than you can chew (see what I did there? bite off more than you can chew?).
Seriously though, that sentiment is your first rule: Don’t set yourself up for failure. Because if you set your healthy eating sights too high, and inevitably don’t meet them, you simply feel like a failure.
And beating yourself up about being a failure is one stress you really don’t need during the holiday season. You’ll have many, many more stressors coming at you from different angles. Don’t allow yourself to be a source of your own stress.
Because that just doesn’t make any sense.
So set your sights at doing small things. Tiny things. Small, tiny things that will keep you directionally healthy, but at the same time, allow you to enjoy yourself.
Small, Tiny, Easy, No Fail Healthy Holiday Eating Ideas:
1: Water!
You can never, ever, ever, ever go wrong with drinking your water. And frankly, if you can find something easier than pouring and drinking a glass of water, I want you to contact me and tell me directly.
Here’s what you do: At then end of your day as you head to bed, pour yourself a glass of water. Put that water by your bedside. In the morning when you wake up, drink that full glass of water before you step foot outside your bedroom.
Bam. Water. Water in the morning will clean you out, wake you up, contribute to your hydration needs for the day, and frankly make your skin glow.
You have that nailed? Great! Try some of these variations to make water drinking even healthier.
2: Portion Size
I love, love, love food. I especially enjoy holiday food because it brings me back to warm memories of my childhood and comfort food.
But my body just cannot digest that food like it used to. Gluten makes me bloat, potatoes give me a belly ache, and I used to be able to eat a lot more than I can now without falling asleep rubbing my belly!
But I still want to eat all the foods I enjoy. So I do two things: I eat smaller quantities of the food I love so that I don’t feel like crap and I make strategic food choices.
What are strategic food choices? Well, I enjoy my wine. But, I really don’t care much for dinner rolls. Or even dessert for that matter (sorry, I am serious about that, I’m not a treat person. sorry.).
So I choose. I’ll have my wine, but no dinner rolls. No biggie really, but man is it saving me calories and belly bloat in the morning!
And maybe I choose to enjoy an after dinner drink with my parents (my mother has the best library of cordials). A nice cordial instead of a piece of pie for me.
Be aware of what you love and what you can do without. Eat all that you love in smaller sizes, and just don’t eat what you don’t really want.
3: Start With A Healthy Breakfast
If you can have one light healthy meal during a holiday marathon – do it.
And breakfast is your perfect healthy meal choice because you start your day energized AND you have one healthy meal in your pocket so you can’t beat yourself up!
We travel for the holidays, by car, and stay at my sister-in-laws house. Before we leave, I make hard boiled eggs, buy green juice and small greek yogurt packages, pack a bag of granola, and bring a bag of lemons (for lemon water in the morning of course).
If I’m feeling really energetic, and have some time, I’ll also make some healthy fun breakfast items – muffins, mini-quiche, chia pudding. Here’s a great list of ideas to consider (especially if you are not traveling).
Set yourself up for success with your first meal of the day. Make it healthy. You’ll be eating enough food for the rest of the day that may not be as healthy, or even as predictable, so when you have the chance to control your destiny, do it!
4: Climb Back On Your Health Wagon Next Week
We covered this already, so I won’t go into too much more detail. But, if you can keep your leg and arm on your health wagon by drinking water, portion sizing and making strategic choices, and eating a healthy breakfast, you are golden.
So, pat yourself on the back, know you did a good thing, and get back on your fuller health game when you get home.
Don’t set yourself up for failure, celebrate small steps, and then yank yourself back up into that wagon next week!
Third, Manage Your Holiday Stress
Yes. Holidays are fun. Holidays are full of love. Holidays are a the perfect time to be fully invested in family, friends and community.
But come on – they are stressful!
That stress is good stress – trying to catch up with everyone you love, too many meals too little time, beautiful memories of holidays past. Stress, but all good.
And then there is the fact that you haven’t really forgiven your sibling for that stunt they pulled when you were 12.
Or the fact that your happy memories of your childhood are now being challenged by seeing your parents age, or worse, are not even there for the holidays any more.
Stress – whatever it’s wrapper, it’s real. And to be able to enjoy all the people you love, let go of your 12 year vendetta, or enjoy/remember your parents with love and fondness even if they aren’t what you are used to (or no longer there for you), you have to find ways to ‘take a break’.
1: Breathe
Just breathe. The best thing you can do when situations start to get the better of you is to take a break from the situation.
And the best thing about breathing is…….you don’t even need to take an obvious break. You don’t need to get up from the table and leave the room. You don’t need to tell everyone you are going on a break.
All you have to do is take a deep breath in (count to 5), then exhale it slowly (to a count to 5). Automatic reset.
And if you don’t reset the first time, do it again! No one noticed you taking that breath the first time round, doubtful they will pick up on it the second time around.
Breathing is even easier than drinking a glass of water in the morning – if you can believe that. Because we breathe all the time! So, take one of those every time breaths and make it a stress relieving, moment pausing, I’m not 12 anymore reminder.
Deep breathing is also a great way to get yourself a good night sleep after all of that food, entertaining, entertainment, family time.
In fact, there are so many breathing options, you can choose one, two, or more – depending on time, situation, need, etc. Here are some ideas.
2: Let It Go
Easy to say, hard to do.
Aunt May still has no idea what you do for a living even though she asks you every year.
Uncle Frank thinks that what you do is crazy and you need to get a real job.
If you are US based, well, let’s not even get into politics!
So and so said something that was so insensitive to you and now you are pissed.
Mom/Dad still don’t support my choices/partner/lifestyle.
The list can go on and on. We all have some variation of this list. Ego, circumstance, differing opinion, differing generations, beliefs, life circumstances – everything is real.
And sometimes we just spend too much time getting spun up trying to make others see things are way, annoyed by what we perceive as ignorance because people don’t think the same way we do or frustrated that people don’t focus on us as much as we believe they should.
The holidays are not the time to harbor these resentments. The holidays are not the time to change people’s minds. The holidays are not the time to change generations of beliefs.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not advocating being silent on issues that are important to you or entering into a really good debate with people who think differently. Be nice and try to listen as much as you talk, but hey, have at it!
But for those things that can’t be changed, let them go. Focus on love, forgiveness and moving on. Reduce your stress, as well as the people around you.
Lastly, Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is knitted into the fabric of holidays. No matter what holiday you celebrate, being thankful for who and what we have in our lives is a foundational building block.
And the simple action of writing down one thing you are grateful for can change your day astronomically.
In fact, let’s try it now. Take a moment and think of one thing that you are grateful for today. Big, little, meaningful, funny, ironic – doesn’t matter what your thing is, write it down.
The sun is out.
I have a roof over my head.
My husband made dinner last night and it was delicious.
My kids actually smiled at me this morning.
My health. The health of a loved one.
What is one thing that made you smile today? What is one thing that you are grateful for today? Even if today is crazy for you, and there were things that have happened that weren’t so great, we can all find one small thing that we are grateful for.
Identify what that is for you right now and write it down.
During the holiday season, we sometimes get so caught up in travel stress, preparation stress, family stress, too much to do stress, work stress, eating stress, sleeping stress.
It becomes easy to miss the small stuff that is truly the big stuff.
So take a moment every morning, before things get crazy, before you get caught up in the holiday flow, before you get overwhelmed – take a quiet moment and identify one thing you are grateful for that day.
And if you have more than one, by all means, put them out there! The more you add to your list, the more you change your approach to the upcoming day, before things get out of your control.
Try Habit Stacking for More Powerful Results In Less Time
I’ve talked about this idea of habit stacking in other posts because I find it so powerful. Basically, you are ‘multitasking’ your health, but in a really good way.
We teach the concept in the work I do at Thrive Global, and I also really like the approach that James Clear takes to his habit stacking recommendations.
You can approach the idea of habit stacking in two different ways.
Double up a few of the recommendations above for biggest health bang for your buck.
Take a walk, focus on your breathing, and let go of something that is bothering you.
Drink a glass of water in the morning while doing some stretching.
Drink a glass of water while you write a gratitude list.
Take a walk and when you return drink a glass of water.
Add a healthy habit to your current routine.
Do some squats while brushing our teeth.
Drink a glass of water for each cup of coffee you drink.
Drink a glass of water in between each glass of wine/beer you drink.
Name three things you are grateful for while taking a shower.
The more good habits you can stack together, or stack on top of existing routines, the more you can fit into one day. Without ever taking additional time.
And then the holidays are over. And you go back to your original routine. You hoist that other leg, arm and the rest of your body back up on your health wagon, and you RIDE!!!!
Gayle H
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