When she used to visit her in-laws during the holidays, Dana Santas and her husband kept to their schedule and went to the gym every day.
“They’re on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, in the middle of nowhere,” said Santas, a CNN fitness contributor and a mind-body coach for professional athletes. “We were leaving for a 35-minute drive to the gym, spending an hour at the gym and then another 35 minutes back.”
It can be hard to maintain the habits that make you feel good and promote health over the holidays –– especially when traveling to see loved ones. How do you leave the board game to get a workout? How do you say no to grandma’s legendary cookies when you already had pie?
Maybe you shouldn’t do either, our experts say.
It’s important to keep up behaviors that make you feel good over the holidays, but it isn’t worth throwing away all your enjoyment of the season, Santas said.
“We felt great about our fitness, but these are people that we only see like three times a year max,” she said. “His mom has passed away (now), and I just wish I could have that time back that I spent at the gym.”
The answer may be to let go of your expectations that you will eat and exercise as normal, and instead do one small thing to stay connected to your good habits. In this case, you can add some healthy micro-habits into your holiday celebrations.
Holiday enjoyment comes first
Guilt over neglecting an exercise routine or failing to maintain a strict schedule can interfere with your enjoyment of the holiday season.
But it’s important to keep some healthy behaviors in place to ensure you feel good, Charlotte, North Carolina, dietitian Natalie Mokari said. Not having fiber and protein in your diet can affect digestion and energy levels, which means you might not enjoy your holiday time as much.
Nevertheless, eating what you enjoy, sharing in family recipes and being flexible while with your loved ones are also important, Mokari said.
Being too strict on what you can and can’t eat might also backfire, because such rigidity often leads to overeating things you’ve labeled as taboo, she added.
“We place boundaries around food, then we want more of it,” Mokari said.
Guilt you feel around straying from your health routines — which might not be feasible while traveling and celebrating the holidays –– might also lead you to throw out any attempts to feel good at all, Santas said.
Instead of focusing on how little you have moved or how few vegetables you have eaten, celebrate the ways in which you can incorporate healthy habits while still enjoying time during the holidays, she said.
“It doesn’t mean that you let go of being healthy, but it means you let go of (a rigid routine), and you let go of any guilt associated with that. Otherwise, you’re just sabotaging yourself,” Santas said.
Add fruits and veggies but enjoy Christmas cookies, too
If you want to feel good after holiday eating, don’t cut the goodies –– just add some fruits and vegetables, Mokari said.
Traveling to visit family and friends for the holidays can often mean not being fully in control of your dietary options, whether it’s because you are going to restaurants or eating at other people’s houses, she added.
When looking at a restaurant menu, order what looks good to you and enjoy it, Mokari said.
“Also, is there an option to get some side of a vegetable, even if it’s like a side salad to get some greens in?” she said. “On a sandwich, adding lettuce, tomato, avocado or getting a side of beans with tacos (are) different things that you can do to kind of add some extra nutrients and fiber.”
You can pair things together to make sure you are getting the fun holiday foods and drinks as well as ones that are more nutritious. For example, whenever you have a caffeinated or alcoholic beverage, also order a glass of water, Mokari said.
Similarly, if you are on a road trip, it’s OK to have your favorite car snacks. If you want to make sure you stay feeling good, see if you can add in a fruit as well, she said.
To eat more vegetables while at someone’s home, you can always pick something up at the store or offer to make a side dish such as a fall vegetable or a salad, Mokari said.
To ensure you aren’t going overboard, keep in mind what you are most excited to eat and stay aware of your fullness level so you don’t feel uncomfortable, she said.
But don’t spend too much time thinking about the proportion of holiday favorites to more nutrient-dense foods, she added. The most important thing is to enjoy your holiday with your loved ones.
“One meal, a few meals, a few desserts –– it’s not a make-or-break situation for your health,” Mokari said.
Pair movement with family time
Getting in healthy movement over the holidays doesn’t mean you have to work up a sweat or even leave a gathering, Santas said.
“Any movement that you can get during this time is great, and it’s almost like gravy, because … what most of us do is we just say, ‘OK, well, I can’t do my rigid routine that I always do, so I’m not going to do anything,’” she said.
Travel can be hard on the body, so any movement is helpful that can counteract the stiffness, prolonged sitting, and aches and pains.
“Any time that you can, stand up and move in ways that your body intuitively is telling you to. That might be stretching out really long, rotating, squatting down, like just move your body and reconnect with it and just get a sense of what it needs,” she said. “Don’t wait until you can get back to the gym to give it what it needs.”
If you need to, stand up for family games and long catch-up chats to change your posture. Or tell everyone to bundle up and get outside for a walk, she said.
“It can be a 10-minute walk out in the cold, crisp air,” Santas added. “Any opportunity to take little movement breaks.”
Simple mobility exercises can help prevent injury, she said. Can you casually stretch or roll out on the floor while watching a movie with your loved ones?
To take your activity up a notch without overdoing it, Santas recommends bringing simple tools for simple activities. A resistance band, for example, is easy to pack, and if you put it around your ankles or just above your knees, you can get a workout in with wide walks back and forth, she said.
Lastly, Santas suggests playing.
“Exercise doesn’t have to be a chore. It’s fun,” she said. “Think about when we were kids, exercise was fun. That’s what we did when we went out and played.”
Keep an eye on what the kids are doing at the holiday gathering. Can you try out their new dance moves or join in on tag or hide-and-seek?
“Take the opportunity to play with your family,” Santas said.
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