A Few Health Tips for the Holiday Season

My nephew has had enough with Santa pics.

I get it. For many, now is not the best time to list off the things you should and shouldn’t do for your health. Anyway, you know the basic score: eat more veggies, eat less processed foods, get enough sleep, quit smoking, limit the booze, meditate, exercise, etc., etc., etc., dot, dot, dot

Instead, here are some quick ideas you CAN actually implement for your health without too much trouble over the holiday season.

Easy Peasy Health Tips

1. Drink water. Yup. Especially between and after alcoholic beverages. Or when you are pounding back the espressos and coffees to keep yourself going.
2. Breathe deeply. No, really. Now. Take a deep breath.
3. Stretch. Stretch when you get out of bed or after sitting. While some need prescribed movement routines, most others can simply stretch like a cat or dog (maybe not literally stretch like them; if you can lift your foot over your head, you probably don’t need to stretch!). Find the spots that are tight and move to stretch them out. 
4. Savour your food. At this time of year, it’s hard for me to tell you what to eat as I stuff my face with a gingerbread cookie. But pay attention to what you eat and how you eat. If you always feel awful after eating ice cream or cheese or quinoa (like I do), then maybe choose not to eat it (or eat less). And when you do eat–even if it’s something that your body generally doesn’t approve of–savour the taste, texture, experience, feeling, memory of that food. No point in adding insult to injury as you eat the rum cake, feeling guilty and already anticipating how you’ll pay for it later. Make a decision about the value of the food for its “now” and its “later” experience and then either don’t eat it or do. Either way, drop the bad feelings.
5. Look for the light side. I know that positive thinking is easy for some and seemingly impossible for others, but it is possible for all (I’m an optimist). I regularly see patients who’ve been dealt a “sh***y” hand in life and/or health. The ones who ultimately fare best have made the effort to find even just a hint of light. Some even find a full-on humourous situation in the horror. Perhaps you can imagine a comedian looking at your challenging situation and making a comedy show from it. Comedians sometimes actually do use their own horrible upbringing or health issue as the main source material for their sketches. 

And, here’s one I didn’t implement for myself this year, but am writing down now so I can remember for next year.

Ditch the insanity-inducing consumerism. That doesn’t necessarily mean don’t buy gifts. I LOVE giving gifts. I don’t like having to shop for them though. I like when I come across something I think someone will love, though I stash it away in wait of Christmas gifting when I could just give it then for no “reason” at all. I like making things for people (like a needle felted ornament or a beeswax food wrap). I like finding things to do and spending time with friends and family. I like gifting consumables that the recipient may not have bought for themselves, but can use and will like. I don’t like the pressure of gift-matching, i.e. so-and-so bought this worth x value, so I need to get something with x value. I don’t like paying the credit card bills in January. I even don’t like having to figure out what to do with the items I’ll never use that were kindly gifted to me. I also don’t like feeling guilty that I didn’t get enough or I got too much. 

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, it’s hard not to be swept up in the excitement, anxiety, expectations, frenzy, angst, and energy of this time of year. If you love this time of year, enjoy it! If you don’t, breathe deeply and know that a fresh year is on its way. 

Now I have to get up, stretch, take a big inhale and exhale, dance my way to the kitchen to grab myself some calming tea and a piece of decadent dark chocolate.

We’ll “chat” more again in the new year of 2019!