Hacks For a Healthy Holiday

Ready or not, here it comes! The holiday season is upon us. These days it seems as though as we pack up our Halloween decorations + jump straight into stringing up Christmas lights. This makes for a much longer holiday season than just the few weeks at the close of the year. What used to be a few winter weeks is now a few months of events + invitations, travel, gift lists, decadent meals + drinks that can be a serious challenge for our routines + healthy habits. I am here to tell you that you do not need to feel awful by the time New Year’s Day rolls in! Today I am sharing my personal favorite hacks for a healthy holiday! What do I do to stay healthy during these next few months? So glad you asked! Let’s do this!

Tara’s Tuesday Tips:

Hacks For a Healthy Holiday

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like we are flying through time at warp speed into Thanksgiving?!?! Maybe it is living in sunny Florida where we are still in our shorts + t-shirts making it sort of surreal or maybe it is because the November + December calendars fill up so fast! Whatever the reason, I am feeling time flash by this year and I know I am not alone! Just because your schedules + to-do lists are filled to the brim does not mean that you have to say goodbye to feeling good + healthy + energetic + present! Let’s get to my hacks and get you on your way to your healthiest holiday season!

How I Stay Healthy During The Holidays

Maintain Routine

You do you + keep doing it regardless of the to-do list! Sleep, hygiene, exercise, nutrition, etc. With so much to do, it is so easy to exchange your hour of yoga or your walk with your bestie for baking a batch of cookies or going to get one more item from the store.

HACK #1: Do your regularly scheduled activities first – whatever “regular” is for you! Then, and only then, on to the to-do list!

Ditch the Food Rules

Confession. I used to be the kind of girl that assigned morality to foods labeling them as “good” or “bad”. What I learned over the last few years is that by assigning these values to foods that were meant to be nourishment + fuel turned into assigning guilt to certain foods. This makes some foods “allowed” only at the holidays + this is a recipe for disaster.

HACK #2: Swearing off a certain food until the holiday season gives that food a whole lot of control over you + guess what? You WILL eat too much of it! Find peace with your “holiday” foods + enjoy them in the company of your favorite people instead of assigning them to “good” or “bad”. Never ever give anything that much control!

Be Mindful of Your Cup + Your Plate

Fill your plate with color + fiber. Fill your cup with water. Every day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. If you do this, you will be ok! You will ward off dehydration, constipation, headaches, kidney stones, UTI’s, hunger, cravings, weight gain, should I go on? Yes, I can keep going + YES, I feel that strongly about it!

HACK #3: Fill your plate with color + fiber. Fill your cup with water … fiber + water = the recipe for successful holiday health!

Rethink Traditions

Not typical food blogger style here, but certainly Tara style. If the pandemic taught us anything it taught us that normal can be flipped on its head and shaken repetitively. It is alright to let go of a tradition if it doesn’t meet your needs any more! Make new traditions + most of all don’t stress out if every last little detail of every holiday tradition from the last 25 years of your life doesn’t look the same this year. Probably the only one stressing out about it is you!

HACK #4: Rethink your traditions, make new ones, and give yourself permission to be ok with it if they don’t look like they did before.

MOVE.

I know, I know. I say this ALL THE TIME! Purposeful movement is the key to health. The number one disease fighting tool. My statement is backed by pure science. Go out for a walk, plan an active holiday activity instead of a sedentary one, schedule exercise with someone who will hold you accountable.

HACK #5: Movement is a non-negotiable every single day during the holiday season. I’m not talking a 20 mile run every day. Find joyful movement + move!

Safeguard Your Health

Fight off the cold before you catch it. Wash your hands, sleep, eat the rainbow, keep hydrated, find a way to manage stress before it drains you physically. Create a calming mantra and repeat it, ask Alexa to find you some relaxing songs or podcasts, take deep cleansing breaths. Stress and illness are highly related. Just because COVID isn’t raging as it was in the last few years doesn’t mean germs aren’t out there! The flu + other illnesses are still present in the malls, stores, gyms, concerts, and on airplanes!

HACK #5: Fall + winter illnesses come in with a vengeance. Prevention is key during the holidays! Sleep, stress management tools, micronutrients + vitamins, hand washing, vaccines + masks if that is your thing … it is easier to fight it off then to get rid of it!

My Hacks For a Healthy Holiday: Food For Thought

Staying healthy during the holiday season takes a little planning + preparation but it isn’t impossible. These are my 5 favorite hacks for staying healthy over the holidays season + I hope they become yours too! Pay attention to what really matters, make mindful choices, pause + be present. Your mental health is just as imperative as your physical health over the holidays + always!

P.S. 🤎🧡🦃

Mr. MVF + I love to kick our holiday season off with a family 5K! I hope you find a healthy way to kick off your holiday season too!