I’ve been giving a series of healthy holiday seminars titled Parties, Pounds and Priorities for those looking to survive the holiday season and keep their waistline intact. It’s always an interesting time of year…there is so much happiness and joy in the air and unfortunately this is usually coupled with unhealthy food and drink choices…which are even more difficult to resist because of these positive feelings and the social temptations.

Thus, I aimed to educate people on SIMPLE things they can do to be healthier this holiday season. Each of the factors has three sub-factors and a brief description is given of each. Enjoy!

Parties

Eat BEFORE you go to a party and you will eat less when you are there.

• Having a small meal before you go a party will decrease your appetite at the party and increase the likelihood you’ll make healthier choices.

Eat whatever you want to at a party.

• You cannot win a war with food, so don’t even try. No foods are off limits – you should feel permitted to have them all. The key is to have them in MODERATION and recognize the difference between a portion of calorie-dense junk food and higher quality choices.

Drink WATER at the party in addition to whatever else you are drinking.

• Drinking a lot of water is one of the single best things you can do for your metabolism. It speeds the rate in which your blood and nutrients are cycled through your body.

Pounds

Work out in the morning and do not forget to strength train.

• A morning workout sets you up for a positive day and strength training your muscles will always burn more calories than cardiovascular exercise.

Small changes make a BIG difference.

• Small shifts like 100 and 250 calories/day will end up being 12 or 25 pounds/year (all other things being held equal). Are there simple things you can give up to reduce your caloric intake by 100-250 calories? It makes a BIG difference in the long run.

Most people do not really want to lose weight.

• What people desire most is a given SHAPE…not what the scale says. Just because you’re losing weight on the scale does not mean your body shape is going to look any different. It is crucial you do strength training and cardiovascular exercise.

Priorities

You have enough TIME but are you willing to make it a PRIORITY?

• We all start with same amount of time – 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a week and we always make time for our priorities. If you aren’t doing something it is because you haven’t made it enough of a priority. When you do, you will make time for it.

Manage your energy.

• Don’t waste energy on things that do not matter (road rage comes to mind as a common energy waster). By doing this you’ll be able to expend more of your energy on the things that DO matter. You’ll get more done and be more efficient this way.

Rid yourself of guilt and worry and you will sleep better.

• These are two common emotions that usually lead to poor quality of sleep. You feel guilty because of things that happened in the past and you worry about things that may happen in the future. Neither of these things are changeable so do what you can to rid yourself of them and you will sleep better.

All the best to you for a happy healthy holiday season!