The holiday season is a time to enjoy friends, family, and to relax—hopefully! However, for a lot of us, it’s also a time where we find ourselves indulging a little too much.
Sweet treats, cookies, wine, beer and fatty treats are all around us, and while they might taste good, you should try to limit their intake.
Why?
Over-indulging can create bad nutritional habits that are hard to break. And once the holiday season begins at Thanksgiving, there’s an entire month before Christmas where we’ll find ourselves snacking non-stop, visiting different holiday parties full of food, and running out of time to make a proper meal.
You might find yourself saying…”But the New Year is right around the corner, I’ll get healthy then. It’s fine to eat a lot of unhealthy things over the holiday season—it’s what it’s for!”
Unfortunately, we disagree. (Learn more in our latest video on this topic here!)
While you might have every intention of joining a gym or eating better in the New Year, those four – six weeks of eating highly processed foods and tons of sugar can be especially hard habits to break. In just that short amount of time, your body will start to crave these unhealthy things, and more often than not, people tend to give in instead of taking steps to correct their nutrition. Beyond our cravings, over-indulging in treats will also change our brain and body chemistry, causing us to feel differently emotionally and physically.
What to Do Instead
Have the cookie, but don’t have the second one. In other words, know your limits and stick to them. Having a treat every now and then is just fine, but reaching for the cake, the brownie and the glass of wine may be a little much for your body.
If you need to bring a dessert to a gathering, try to bake something low in sugar with healthier substitutes, like almond flour, organic apple sauce, or almond butter! Here’s a great recipe we love: No-Bake Coconut Chocolate Cookies.
From our family to yours, we certainly wish you a happy, healthy and nutritious holiday season. We look forward to seeing you in the practice soon.