*Cue eye-roll*, but I actually look forward to being healthy over the holidays. I figure there’s more time to exercise, practice yoga and not worry if I go off on a tangent and spend 2 hours doing handstands or take an extra long savasana and fall asleep on the floor! I love to swim, play cricket in the sun and just be active. I also like to watch cricket from the couch and play board games or card games with the family! I definitely eat chocolate but I’ve never really liked lollies. And I will absolutely be eating christmas pudding with both custard and ice cream on Christmas day. And probably on boxing day!
But the real problem is that we often don’t have just one day of festivities. If you include work parties, end of year lunches and dinners and champagnes, social club break ups, family catch ups etc etc, the festivities and therefore the opportunities to throw away a healthy diet and lifestyle can end up lasting almost 2 months!
So here goes… my top-secret strategies are……..
1.) Knowing about real nutrition and IMPORTANTLY 2.) Listening and being in touch with my body (No 2. is my reason for eating well 90% of the time, exercising and escaping the crowds when I need to – so don’t overlook this one!).
So here’s how I will be approaching Christmas and New Years this year, plus my general guidelines for attacking the party food table and getting some exercise on days off:
- Practice yoga every day – this one would seem a bit of a given for me being a yoga teacher but often with a busy schedule that sees me starting at 530 or 6am and finishing at 7 or 8pm, with some driving around in between, the opportunities for a good 90 minute practice can be few and far between. But the principle of this applies to everyone –> Have a regular practice of some sort and do it every day. It might be gym training, running, walking the dog, rehab exercises from your physio, stretches, a movement practice, swimming laps, gardening, rock climbing(!) – whatever your thing is. If you don’t have a ‘thing’ that involves being active, it’s time to get one. If your thing is knitting, then great, we all need jumpers in winter! But having a hobby, passion, activity, ‘thing’, that you enjoy, that also counts as exercise? Absolute gold. When you see people older than you who are healthy and happy, you know, the ones who make you think ‘wow I want to be like that when I’m 60, 70, 80’, I bet that they all have some kind of regular exercise activity that they have been doing almost daily for years – whether they are good at it or not! (So no “I’m not good at it” excuses!)
- Last year Andy and I did a few strength sets and then a crossfit conditioning workout on Christmas morning! It was awesome! We jumped in the pool straight after and then had a big breakfast and felt great for the rest of the day. Getting some (any) exercise done early in the day means you won’t be thinking about how you should be exercising later on, you’ll eat better intuitively because your body will be craving good protein and hydration, plus you’ll already be glowing and feeling positive with ‘happy hormones’ like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins floating around in your system. –> Organise a few exercise sessions over the break with a friend and catch up with a walk, swim or weight session instead of another lunch date. I’m pretty lucky to have my husband Andy with me who needs to exercise every day to feel human! But we don’t actually train together very often because of our schedules. So holidays are a great time to go to the gym together. And like I said, having some extra time off or being able to sleep a little later means we can challenge ourselves to fun, hard workouts or perhaps try out new things knowing that it is perfectly acceptable to fall asleep at 3pm or snack on leftovers!
- Walk more often. With a bit of extra time on our hands its nice to walk places – to the shop when you need something, to visit someone or just to stretch the legs after sitting for a meal. In Australia a night time walk is wonderful in the balmy summer air, just star-gazing and wandering…
- Play! Join in with the kids or grandkids, have a bowl (might have to do an article on rotator cuff care here!), kick the soccer ball, play table tennis… fun, fun, fun and secretly all exercise (sssh – don’t tell your brain).
- Choose wisely… Ah… the food part. There are a few little rules I try to stick to at this time of year or when going to parties and functions (which is not often!!) and they include what and when to eat and drink.
EATING & DRINKING, & EATING &…
- Don’t hold back! By that I mean eat good, well-rounded meals and try not to eat small meals because you’re afraid to put on weight. That will inevitably lead to more snacking and chocolates and lollies more often.
- Look for real food in the spread. Most Christmas dinners contain plenty of meat, seafood and veg – perfect! Reach for these the next day as well.
- Snack on fruit, leftover veg, meat, cheese, roasted nuts… or not at all! If you’ve eaten enough proper food you won’t really need to snack 🙂
- Get involved in the food preparation. Scrub the potatoes, cut the carrots. It makes you appreciate what you eat, plus you are on your feet and moving around instead of sitting on the couch, again.
- Skip the bread and other processed carbs.
- Skip the food altogether! If you had a massive lunch you may only need a bit of salad or something light in the evening and that is fine. I am NOT saying go hungry. I am saying listen to your body. It is the reason our species has survived so long on this planet and it is actually pretty awesome at telling you what you need! (If you pay attention…)
- Pass on the sweet drinks. Mineral water and lemon all holidays.
- Alcohol only with food and don’t start early in the day!
- Have dessert. At the end of the day. (And not every day.) If you eat sugary foods early in the day you will be craving sweet things (and probably eating sweet things) all day! Leave the cycle of guilt (and inflammatory, weight gaining sugar) out of your holiday and just save yourself for a nice bit of dessert after dinner if you feel like it.
- Even better – make the dessert from scratch. Make a custard. Make chocolates. Google a sugar-free/paleo/superfood dessert and have a go at it. That way you know what goes into your treats, both ingredients and time.
- Don’t forget to have a cup of tea now and then. Tea makes everything better. Right?!
- Relax. Chill time. Time out. Time alone. Time to recharge.
Did I miss anything?? Merry Christmas!
by Kelly Moriarty
Image from @bowwow_bauer_thegolden instagram account! So cute!