Tips on maintaining Health Goals during the Holidays

If you are a health conscience individual the holidays can be difficult with parties, food and festivities. There are few easy tips to follow in order to maintain your health goals during the holidays, says David Bright, Chief of Physical Therapy at Excel Rehab and Sports. “Don’t show up famished. If you show up famished, you’ve already set yourself up for failure because your body is craving and you are ready to eat. So, you are going to saddle up, dial it in, be hungry and you’re going to be so full by the time you finish you’re not even going to know where you are.” Look for the vegetable tray when you first get to that holiday party, says Bright. “When you show up to that get together and you are feeling hungry, the first things to put on your plate and the first things to snack on are not sweets. Save the sweet for last and there is a reason for that because if we save them for last we are usually really full and we won’t eat as many of them. But the first thing we want to ingest when we get to that get together is vegetables. Put a lot of vegetables and stuff like on your plate while you are very hungry because the body is craving food, so put some good stuff in the system so that way if you are going to fill up initially fill up on the good stuff so that as you get more full then you can enjoy some of the other stuff but you are not enjoying it in such big quantities.” Bright concludes by encouraging you to drink water. “Drink plenty of water, consistently throughout the holidays. This is the time of year when it is colder outside, we’ve got our heat on, we’re drier, our skin is drier and our lungs are drier, so drink more water throughout this holiday season and throughout the winter in general. If you show up hydrated you are already half way there because your body is not craving things.” If you do indulge in holiday treats at your parties, substitute those sweets for other things you might eat later in the day or week.