Staying Healthy & Happy for the Holidays

The holidays are here, which means numerous gatherings with families and friends, an immense amount of delicious food, holiday drinks and often the ceasing of our fitness and nutrition goals for the year. We set aside these goals and decide that they'll be picked back up once the New Year is here; we'll hit the ground running to get in our best shape ever. Creating these goals for the New Year is great - but why not start now? Of course the holidays will include indulgences, but consider the differences in indulging for a day or two compared to the whole season. This will help to keep nutrition a priority throughout the holidays. And what about staying active?

Adding any movement into the day is better than doing nothing, so finding reasons to move is important. It can be as simple as parking farther away from the store during your holiday shopping to get more steps in or finding 10-minute breaks throughout the day to take a walk or adding some bodyweight movements into the day. The best way to ensure that physical activity is still a part of our holiday schedule is to actually include it in our schedules. Decide that you are going to work out for 20-30 minutes right after you wake up, at a set time, or after lunch or dinner. Regardless of when you schedule this time, it is important to have that reminder when the holiday season gets hectic. Finding time to move throughout the day will increase energy levels, decrease stress and help you feel better in general.

It's okay to slow down during the holidays, but it is important to still make time for our health and ourselves. Don’t set yourself back on that New Year’s Resolution by losing all the progress you made this year, but instead make it a “holiday resolution” and start now!