How to Stay Healthy During the Holidays

Whether you’ve finally reached your ideal body goals or if you’re still in route towards those goals, it’s hard to keep up the healthy habits during the holidays. Let’s face it, who can turn down endless desserts, Halloween candy, and Thanksgiving side dishes?

The struggle is real ladies, so I’ve put together 8 ways to stay healthy while still enjoying the holidays. If you haven’t mastered how to stay healthy during the holidays, this read is for you! The CGS Team knows it won’t be easy, but with some guidance, we’re confident you can fight through it. Check out these simple tricks and stay right on track with having a healthy lifestyle during the holidays.

How to stay healthy during the holidays

Portion Your Treats

Who doesn’t enjoy a good treat now and then? The key isn’t to deprive yourself from eating your favorite treats; the key is to portion how many treats you eat in one sitting. When Halloween comes around, it may feel impossible to turn a blind eye to not having your sweet tooth fulfilled. If there’s a jar full of treats take a couple instead of eating the whole jar! Small adjustments with your portions can help you stay healthy, avoid any cavities, and curb your sweet tooth.

Stay Hydrated

Drinking plenty of water is good your health, body, and metabolism. Making sure that you’re drinking enough water in a day is essential to keeping yourself healthy year-round, especially during the busy holiday season. Drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day will help keep you hydrated, and fueled through the day.

With all of the salt in most holiday dishes, water needs to be digested daily. Because we naturally lose water from our body quicker than we think, ensuring we get enough hydration on a daily basis is key for staying healthy. Don’t underestimate the amount of fluids that leave your body each day. It’s vital to stay hydrated and drink plenty of water to replace the lost fluids.

Steer Clear from Germs

Staying healthy doesn’t always mean you have to work out and eat right. You always want to stay healthy and keep your immune strong! In order to do so, you might want to stay clear from any germs roaming around. The colder months around holiday time are especially important, since that’s when the flu tends to spread. Getting your flu shot is a great idea. Most pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens and Duane Reade offer inexpensive flu shots.

Avoid close contact with friends and family members who appear to be sick or who already is sick. Keep a travel-sized hand sanitizer with you to clean your hands when touching something that doesn’t look clean. Most importantly, try to avoid touching things and then touching your eyes, mouth, or ears. Germs travel quicker than we think, so being proactive about staying clear form this is good.

Snack Wisely

There is no crime in snacking! Actually, it’s a known fact that snacking throughout the day (as opposed to 3 large meals) helps speed up your metabolism. Now that doesn’t mean you can snack on potato chips, gummy bears, and burgers. Snacking on healthy foods is good for your energy levels and great for your metabolism.

Snacking mindfully is important to staying healthy over the holidays because you don’t want to fuel your body with the wrong foods. Save that for the holiday parties! Many breakfast foods can be repurposed as nutritious snacks for later. Fruits and veggies are always a good go to for a quick snack, and pick me up. This holds especially true for your time at work. Check out our favorite 5 healthy snacks for the office.

Take Naps

It’s important for our bodies to rest and get the proper energy it needs to function throughout the day. A short nap can improve your mood, alertness, and performance. With all of the holiday parties, events, and functions, a power nap during the day can help you survive through the night.

If you’re afraid you might oversleep, simply set your alarm for 20-30 minutes. In most cases during the holidays, we are always going, going, going, and never have a moment to just relax. This can cause us to become sleep deprived and stressed out. Avoid that altogether by getting your rest.

Monitor Alcohol Intake

When family and friends come into town, it’s always a nice time to just drink and catch up. Monitoring the amount of alcohol you intake is important to staying on track over the holiday season. Since alcohol can be jam-packed with calories, limiting the amount of drinks you have will do your waist a favor.

Instead of going for the cocktail with tons of sugar, try opting for a glass of champagne or wine. Here are some suggested alcoholic drinks that are great for the holidays, and easy to make yourself:

• Basic bloody Mary
• Margaritas done light
• Red wine
• Guinness and light beers

Prevent Overeating

I would be lying to you if I told you I never go back for second servings over the holidays. Thanksgiving is the infamous holiday where you indulge on your favorite foods and desserts all day long. But if you are trying to maintain healthy habits and stay fit, then you need to prevent yourself from over eating. Here are a few simple ways to do that:

• Enjoy a tall glass of water before you start chewing down on your favorite dish. Most of the time our bodies are dehydrated which causes us to believe are still hungry.
• Eat mindfully. Being aware of how much you’re eating and not eating just to eat plays a huge factor on staying healthy through the holidays.
• Load up healthy items first. When you’re prepping your plate, add in extra protein, veggies and healthy sides, then finish off with a little bit of the bad stuff!

Stay Active

There’s no crime in still being active during the holiday hustle and bustle. Whether it includes you being the person running to the grocery store to get the missing item to everyone’s favorite dessert, or you being the designated person to take the kids trick or treating, there is always some way to be active.

I also want to stress that being active doesn’t mean you have to be in the gym 24/7. Simple walks around your neighborhood or trying out a new hike trail your friends have been mentioning are other forms of being active. Staying active is a major key to keeping your weight in check while enjoying the holidays!

When the holidays begin to roll around, don’t freak out! There are always alternatives to the things you can do and enjoy. How have you been able to enjoy your holidays while maintaining healthy lifestyle? Is it hard for you to find a balance between having fun and staying healthy? We love hearing from the CGS community so feel free to comment!

-Taelor

The CGS Team