If you eat healthy, the likelihood of having an enjoyable holiday season is higher relative to subsisting on junk food. However, having a stress-free and blissful holiday season goes beyond what we eat and how we eat and conduct our activities during the festive season.
So, stick around with us as we consider six healthy practices for the holiday season, as recommended by Dr Michelle Loy, an integrated medicine physician.
Institute a Healthy Diet Plan for the Holiday Season
Many advocacy groups are campaigning for people to minimize processed foods and embrace the idea of basing their healthy diet plan around a healthy food list. Unsurprisingly, an admonition to eat healthy comes first on this list of wellness practices. Knowledge was not this freely accessible when Socrates quipped that you “make food thy medicine.”
So, for optimum nutrition, the following are our golden tips for folks inclined to eat healthy.
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Eat Whole Foods that are Rich in Fibre
The advice to eat healthy is largely to foster a healthy gut. Nutrition experts suggest that our gut plays a vital role in our physiological well-being. So, despite not seeing the real-time impact of eating fruits and vegetables, we can rest assured that healthy eating benefits us tremendously.
Speaking of fruits and vegetables, they are very rich in fiber. Also, you can whip blends of fruits and vegetables together to create nutrient-dense and balanced diets.
Embrace Probiotics for a Steady Supply of Lean Proteins
The population and type of microbiome, the microorganisms present in the gut, influence how well the human body utilizes ingested nutrients.
Foods like sauerkraut, kombucha, and yogurt contain natural probiotics, or beneficial bacteria, that can improve the interactions between healthy eating and healthy living. Yogurt, for example, is a healthy source of lean proteins.
Put Eating Frequency on a Leach Through Meal Planning
During the festivities of Yuletide, frequent outings and visits may involve one too many meals. Meal planning will help with portion control, counting calories, and maintaining a balanced diet.
In addition, monitoring your diet goes a long way in helping you incorporate healthy fats and lean proteins to balance up meals. Activities of the holiday season may also make it difficult for individuals to prepare meals at home. Avoiding fast foods at such times may be difficult; nonetheless, always remember to minimize consumption of processed foods.
However, some other practices, beyond maintaining a healthy tummy, would also help us enjoy optimum personal well-being during the holiday season.
Be Active
The weather during the holiday season makes a sedentary lifestyle appealing. However, it is in your best interest to remain active.
If you already have a routine in place, like an early morning jog, yoga, or workout, try sticking to it. Above all, try to get as much sunshine as possible during this period. Exposure to natural light calibrates our biological clock, which in turn has a ripple on other aspects of our lives. For example, we sleep better and are in a lively mood when awake.
Make Gratitude a Lifestyle
This advice goes beyond thanking someone for a kind gesture this season. It also involves becoming actively aware and appreciative of current realities. For example, we all have goals that we hope to achieve at the beginning of the calendar year. If you either fall in the category of folks who were able to achieve theirs or those whose lives were rerouted by circumstances, being grateful for the moment will make life a tad bit more enjoyable.
So, in whatever circumstance you find yourself, be grateful for it, as there are at least a handful of people who would give anything to be in your shoes.
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Get Rid of the Clutter!
Research has established that cleaning and decluttering your living space has a therapeutic effect on your quality of life. For example, the mere sight of clutter can leave a psychological burden on some people. Indeed, some studies suggest that we work better when our workspace is clutter-free.
For folks who feel no motivation to clear out clutter in their living space and those who are hardly demotivated by a disorganized space, we have a tip handy. Such people could link their decluttering activity to improving other people’s lives through donating items.
There you have it, folks. Eating healthy is a product of a healthy holiday mindset. So, remember to adopt meal planning and portion control. Also, incorporate lean proteins and healthy fats in each dish and minimize processed foods. Finally, get active, reduce clutter for better productivity, and be grateful for the very gift of life.
