Ah the holidays, nothing like that festive spirit all around you. The Nutcracker music playing wherever you go, twinkling Christmas lights as far as the eyes can see, the potential of snow on the ground, the abundance of holiday markets that transforms spaces, and the most striking, incredibly elaborate, Christmas Art that can be found in many shop windows.
Along with the holiday season, comes a challenging time for a girl that likes her routine. A routine makes it easy to be healthy and easy to schedule in that much needed fitness time. During this time of the year there are temptations at every corner and it can be very easy to stray from a typical healthy routine. Everywhere you look there are holiday parties and holiday treats.
Since many people take time off work for the holidays, the weeks leading up to them can be filled with more tasks that need to be done, which means less time to focus on a health regimen and workout plan. Even more, the infectious holiday spirit makes it is easy to eat things that you normally don’t eat i.e. sweets and breads. Also, the typical person consumes more alcohol than usual.
So raspberry truffles, gingerbread cookies, and wine galore, here are some super easy ways to counteract the effects this holiday can have. Not only are they easy, healthy choices, but all of them can have the desirable holiday spin!
1. Drink Tea. Make your own holiday custom tea blends (which can serve as gifts too!). You can make your own herbal teas using high quality organic herbs that have endless benefits. You can buy organic herbs online or at health food stores and create recipes such as the one below. The organic peppermint leaf supports digestion by helping to break down fats and reduce bad cholesterol.
Holiday Tea Recipe: Peppermint leaf, hibiscus flowers, rosehips, dried orange peel, cinnamon bark
2. Detox every morning. The easiest healthy thing to do every morning is to drink warm water with fresh lemon. It is a great way to detox every day! While you are heating that water up and slowly sipping your concoction you can throw on some holiday tunes. This will elevate your spirit and you will start the day off on a happy foot. During the holiday season I love waking up and getting ready for work while listening to Spotify’s Christmas playlists. Favorites like Madonna’s Santa Baby, Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, and Michael Bublé’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, will make daily stressors way less stressful.
3. Drink a lot of water. You’ve probably heard how important this one is. However, during this time of the year it is even more important. There will be a lot of Holiday parties, which goes hand in hand with a lot of holiday drinking. Drinking a lot of water will counteract the effects of alcohol and diminish the next day hangover. Why not do something as simple as drink water, if it means not waking up feeling like a truck ran over you?
4. Take a break with constructive relaxation. Get into the plank pose while watching holiday movies. My favorites are Elf, Home Alone 2, The Santa Clause, and Love Actually. I will take turns watching Will Ferrell navigate the streets of New York while saying smiling is his favorite while holding plank for 1 minute sessions. There are many variations to choose from, side plank, forearm plank, straight-arm plank…This changes the whole Netflix and Chill dynamic but all it takes is a few minutes of your time and you are guaranteed to feel better by the time England’s Prime Minister Hugh Grant gets jumped on by his flame.
5. Consume healthy treats. There’s a ton of Christmas recipes that are healthier alternatives that still taste amazing, remind us of our childhood, yet we feel good knowing they are made with better ingredients for that rockin’ holiday bod we are trying to maintain. So go ahead and splurge on Raw Chai-Spiced Cookies, Almond Flour Coconut Sugar Bars, and Flourless Brownies.
6. Remain Active. Instead of spending the weekend doing some Netflixing or HBO Ho Hoing, maybe go ice-skating (if you live in a place like New York) or ride a bike through endless streets and admire all the different Christmas decorations and lights around you (if you live in a place like California).
7. Do it downward dog style. Create your own yoga flow at home to Christmas music. Good holiday songs to downward dog in can be found in the Yoga Pop Ups Christmas Volumes 1 & 2. You can be flowing next to your Christmas tree and you can create your own ambiance by lighting up those red and green candles.
8. Keep on singing and dancing. There is no time like the holidays to sing along to those Christmas songs you’ve known your whole life and mix it up with some rockin’ choreography. This is my personal recipe to remain merry and bright and we all know that a happy self is a healthy self.
Check out my website for more fitness tips and healthy doses of inspiration!
Originally published at medium.com