Just when you think your life is stressful enough…BAM! Here comes the holidays and guess what gets put on the back burner…Your health!
“Whats The BiG Deal.. Its Not That Bad”
Lets see…A piece of pecan pie here and a few tumblers of eggnog there. Oh and all those lattes while shopping and some butter cookies while at work. Its actually easy to pack on a few extra pounds of actually fat over this 5-6 week period through the holidays. If the weight gain is any more then a few pounds its likely due to bloating from all the extra carbs and salt.
The #1 excuse I hear all the time is…
“Im gonna eat what I want now because my New Years resolution is to start my diet”
“Oh Yeah, how did that work out for you last year?”
The truth is that we are not robots! HOLIDAY EATING is a time to be with your friends and family and enjoy all the great food!!!!
Here are some of my tips for getting through the holiday season happy and healthy
Whether you’re on a low carb eating style or not here is a great carb cycling plan to start the week prior to a holiday party so that you can enjoy all the food and none of the guilt….And maybe even burn some fat😍
- Eat Lower Carb all week until your holiday party. Focus on eating lots of protein, healthy fats, and veggies.
- The goal here is to deplete your glycogen stores before the party so that you can then be primed and ready for a high carb day.
- Get Moving! Get as much movement in has possible throughout the week. Depending on your fitness level add in some intense 10-15 minutes workouts….but make them intense. HIIT or Tabata workouts are great. Try to find extra ways to move. With all the holiday shopping this is a great opportunity to park far away and walk more. If you’re an online shopper then set an alarm for every 20 mins. Then get up and do some jumping jacks, squats, planks or put on some music and dance!
- After following steps one and two, your body will be primed and ready for an epic high carb day.
BEFORE and DURING A Holiday Party.
- Don’t starve yourself all day the day of your event in anticipation of eating your face off. Eat your healthy meal leading up to the event. That way you will not feel deprived or super hungry which will cause you to overeat.
- Fill your plate with the veggies and proteins first. Save the desserts for a few hours after you eat. This will lessen the possibility of fat storage.
- Don’t drink a ton of alcohol. Not only is alcohol empty calories but it also lowers your inhibitions so you are less likely to care about your goals, causing you to indulge more than you would normally. If you are going to have a few drinks do not have them around your meals. Your liver prioritizes alcohol (as it is a toxin to your body) so everything else you ingest with the alcohol will get stored.
- Don’t stand and mingle by the food. Get your plate and walk away. If you stay close to the food, you will be more likely to pick and overeat.
- Consume Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) right around your meal or even right after. Apple cider vinegar contains polyphenols that act as a prebiotic-type substance. Meaning that they increase the number of healthy bacteria in the gut such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria. This will allow you to digest all that holiday food a bit better so you don’t bloat. This can also holt fat accumulation. (see recipe below)
- Drink Green Tea. Green tea stimulates your metabolism by activating thermogenesis, which means your cells are burning energy – including fat.
ACV FAT BURNER TEA RECIPE.
- Steep Organic Green Tea for 1-2 mins, then add the rest of ingredients.
- 1tsp Pumpkin Spice. (so many powerful antioxidants, cognitive benefits and increase metabolism in pumpkin spice)
- Sprinkle of Sea Salt for added minerals.
- 1-3 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar- helps uptake the minerals and add healthy gut flora for all that food your gonna eat 😉
- 1tbs Coconut Oil in hot tea- This has MCT fats for immediately energy and helps with the ACV for gut health.
- Add stevia if needed.
AFTER Holiday feast –
- Do FULL BODY WORKOUTS. Put those extra carbs that are stored to good use!
- Get back on track and only eat a very small amount of carbohydrates just around your workouts.
- Add cayenne pepper to your meals to get a extra boost in metabolism. As mentioned above… Green tea is great too!
- Do intermittent fasting. Because glycogen stores and calories are high you are teaching your body to use its body stores for fuel. This will help you burn some fat. Fasting also increases adipose tissue Hormone Sensitive Lipase, which is the enzyme responsible for allowing your fat cells to release fat so it can be burned as energy in your muscles.
- Stay Motivated and Stay Positive!!! Take advantage of these extra calories!!
- ✨use your leftover turkey and veggies for meal prepping!✨
My #1 MOST IMPORTANT TIP!
Just because you have one day that wasn’t exactly healthy doesn’t give you an excuse to ruin the other 6 days of the week. If you had a tire blow out… your not going to pop the rest of them, right?
Enjoy the splurge and then move on.
Take it from an ER nurse, life is not gauranteed…SO PLEASE Enjoy your time with friends and family!! Thats most important!
Do You Need More Help Staying on Track?
Ive Created a great Low Carb “Healthy Holiday Guide” to help you through the holidays. You will get tips on how to decrease stress and how to stay low-carb and healthy with 5 common holiday recipes including Green Bean Casserole and my favorite healthy holiday cookie recipes and more.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!! Be Safe and Make Memories!