When it comes to attitudes toward healthy habits during the holiday season, there are a few approaches you can take:
- Forget about it all until January
- Do everything to keep all your habits in place no matter what
- Find a happy medium between doing nothing and doing everything
I bet you can figure out which approach I suggest. Yes, it’s option 1. Maintaining a healthy balance over the holidays is possible, and here are some ideas for making that happy medium approach work in your own life this season. Give them a try so you can enjoy yourself without regret come New Year’s Day.
Choose Two or Three Healthy Habits You’ll Keep This Season
Pare down your healthy habit “collection” to a couple of pillar habits. These will be the habits you can stick with no matter how much holiday hustle your day holds. I aim for one or two basic healthy eating habits and one movement habit. For example, hitting your water-drinking goal or making sure you get protein at breakfast might be your chosen eating habits. Hitting your step goal or doing more abbreviated workouts are reasonable movement goals. The idea is to keep it simple. Choose things that you are 90% sure you can do even on your busiest day this season.
Adjust Your Weight Expectations
Most people don’t actually gain a lot of weight over the holiday season. But they usually don’t lose a bunch of weight between Thanksgiving and January 1, either. My advice: don’t sacrifice your enjoyment of special holiday foods for the sake of a few pounds on the scale. Instead, aim to maintain your weight throughout the season.
One way to do this is to focus on portion sizes. Research suggests that the more variety we are presented with, the more we will eat. (That’s why that overflowing dessert table is so hard to resist.) But instead of depriving yourself, choose your absolute favorite items (or those that are only around this time of year). And then just have one or two bites of each one—I call these “tasting bites.” Enjoy those two bites mindfully and slowly so you experience all the good flavors and textures. If you do this, you’ll likely find that a couple of thoroughly enjoyed bites are all you really needed anyhow.
Focus on Keeping Your Balance
As a dietitian, I talk about balance a lot. A balanced plate of food provides all the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) in appropriate amounts. But dietary balance isn’t just about what we are eating—it can also be about how we are eating. Maybe it’s too much snacking, drinking more alcohol, or celebrating every day of the season with rich food. There are many different ways the holidays can hijack your normally healthy eating plan and throw you off balance.
The holidays also place demands on your time and attention. To help keep your life and your eating in better balance during the holidays, consider implementing these strategies:
- Organize your calendar and write down only those parties, brunches, and holiday events that you really want to attend. Stretching yourself too thin never feels good, and saying “yes” to everything can lead to resentment. This way, you’ll be more fully present at the events you choose to go to. They’ll be more meaningful to you and you’ll probably enjoy them more too.
- The plentiful holiday treats can certainly have a place on your plate this season. But make a deal with yourself that you’ll enjoy them after you have a real meal.
- Find a few moments for alone time or self-care—daily, if possible. This can be whatever makes you feel good, centered, calm, and comforted. Meditation, prayer, a nice bath, journaling, time to read or do some yoga. Your personal needs are important and time to yourself helps mitigate holiday stress.
- Aim for at least 7 hours of sleep each night this season. Sure, some nights this might be tricky. But if you’re staying up late every night to watch holiday shows on Netflix, you’re not making a wise trade-off. Chronically being tired can lead to making poor food decisions and skipped workouts. And besides, those shows are available 24/7 for at least a couple of months—you’ve got time!