With the holiday season upon us, eating healthfully probably isn’t the first thing on your mind. Between family, presents, and decorations, who has time to think about eating well? Lucky for you, we do! And we’ll tell you how you can stay on track so that you don’t have to spend too much time thinking about how to do it while you’re focusing on the holidays.
The holidays bring stress and anxiety, which can majorly affect your health and wellbeing. To counteract the negative effects brought on this time of year, it is crucial to nourish and take care of yourself! Here are a few tips so that you can stay healthy during the holidays:
1. Drink lots of water! Water will help you stay hydrated and awake throughout the day. Make sure you stay away from juices, and try to limit alcohol; both arehigh in calories so they can easily add extra weight around your waist. . An average female should drink about 9 cups per day, and an average male should drink about 13 cups per day.
2. Steer clear of sugar! Sugar is loaded with calories and not nutrients. It can increase your appetite and cause energy highs and lows; this is especially true of sugars in processed foods like cakes, cookies, jams and pies!
3. Get your zzz’s! Sleep is very important for your body since it’s during the sleeping hours when your body heals and rejuvenates itself. Sleeping an adequate number of hours per night (7.5-9 hours for both women and men) will allow you to be awake and fully functioning the next day! Plus, adequate sleep will help to keep cortisol levels low—cortisol is a hormone that favors fat gain around the middle, so bring on the zzz’s please!
4. Schedule time to exercise! Holidays are one of the most hectic times of the year, but don’t let exercise get shoved aside. Make workout appointments with yourself 3-5 times per week and you will be ready to go.
5. Don’t skip meals! This will lead you to feel hungrier than you truly are; which then leads to overheating. Eeks! So before you go out, munch on a light snack like veggies and drink some hot tea to help to pacify you and take the edge off hunger.
Use these tips to stay healthy and be ready to take on the holidays!