Top Five Healthy Habits for the Holiday Season

These top five tips for the holiday season will help keep you on track to achieving your health goals, all while enjoying your time with family and friends.

Top Five Healthy Habits to Keep During the Holiday Season

1. Focus on spending time with loved ones during the holidays versus focusing on the food and beverages.

2. Stay active by doing things you enjoy! During the autumn months, go for hikes with family and friends to enjoy the colorful leaves; or sledding, skating, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing during the winter months. There are also fun exercise challenges to do with family, friends, and coworkers such as 25 Days of Fitness that can hold you accountable to finish the year off strong.

3. Practice mindful eating, gaining awareness of the foods you are choosing to put on your plate. Focus on incorporating lean protein, healthy fats, and fiber within each meal. By consuming well balanced meals, this will help keep you feeling full and satisfied for longer.

4. When consuming a meal, set your fork or spoon down between each bite. This will slow down the rate at which you are eating, which may help to prevent overeating.

5. Set realistic specific, measureable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T.) goals during the holiday season. 

Preparing for the Holiday Season

Plan for the upcoming holidays by focusing on healthy meals to consume between parties and events, and schedule your workouts in your calendar to help with consistency.

Focus on balance, both with eating and exercise. If you can’t get in your typical 45 minutes of exercise, what if you got in 30 minutes? 15 minutes? 10 minutes? Are there quick, at-home workouts you can do?

Consistency and balance are key. Keep focusing on the goals you set for yourself – write your goals down on a piece of paper and hang it where you can review them each day.

Be creative and bring appetizers to the party such as hummus and veggies (shaped like a wreath or Christmas tree), cucumber and tuna sandwiches, deviled eggs, veggie pinwheels, or the Fresh & Easy Guacamole.