Make Health a Part of Your Holidays

Be careful of food and unhealthy living during the  holidays. How many times have you heard that said? For every treat and sweet, there is plenty of advice on how to moderate or avoid them. For every couch potato moment, there’s a workout promoted to counteract it.

 

But what if you could maintain your health and fitness without prime focus on calorie count and deprivation? You can, if you view healthy eating and exercise as a natural, enjoyable and integrated part of your holiday celebration. What’s more, there is the beneift of involving your entire family in the process.

While exercise should be a vital part of everyone’s life, did you know you burn calories in the natural day-to-day activities surrounding the holidays (and every day)? For example, that’s 164 calories burned per hour for food preparation, and 348 for moderately active playing with your children.

 

When you make those meals together, when you play (and move together), you not only stay fit together, you become a valuable role model for your family and friends (and most importantly, to your children, who establish their lifestyle habits early).

We know that to truly enjoy good health, good habits have to be ongoing.  The most effective way to do this is to make them a pleasure, not a punishment. It helps not to focus on what to deprive yourself of, but what you can do to enrich your holiday experience, and your health.
Here are a few tips to “naturally” enjoy healthy holidays:

Shop with a Purpose: Work physical fitness into your holiday plans. Don’t fret with a distant parking space. Take the farthest one possible on purpose, and speed walk to your destination; lift bags and packages as much as possible; walk store elevators instead of standing on them, and challenge the kids to beat you to the top.

Make a Meal a Message: Prepare healthy food choices together. Teach children to enjoy what they make, and serve it with pride to family and guests.

Make Purposeful Physical Activity Part of the Plan: Surround your holiday meal with games of catch, biking, hiking, sledding, etc. In other words, make sure there is a physical component to your holiday celebration.

Take a walk: Try it before dessert, and you not only get a calorie burn, but may dampen your habit of overdoing it (the brain takes at least 20 minutes to register you’ve eaten/feel full). If going outdoors is daunting, try indoor activities, such as walking sets of stairs, dancing or even jogging in place to music.

“Horse Around”: Whether it’s a pillow fight or wrestling, find ways to be active, and have fun doing it. Build a mini obstacle course for your kids, having them jump over pillows, tumble, jump rope etc. In other words, do anything that gets the blood flowing. With all these physical activities, you will also find your children are more relaxed and happy when it does come time to sit still.

There are also activities you can try to take your Holiday Health to the next level.  They include vowing to find ongoing activities for you and your family. This could include yoga classes (you can often take one as a sample before committing); sports activities or teams for children; cooking classes to focus on low-fat or alternative cuisine.

 

Even if some of these plans are simply carried out for holiday indulgence, you will have tested a new lifestyle, and may surprise yourself by making permanent changes.
So, be creative. The point is to find whatever way you can to most naturally and joyfully make health a part of your holidays!