Staying healthy during the Holidays

The holiday season is just around the corner and many of us will be lucky enough to indulge in delicious food, as we catch up with friends and or family.

I wanted to share 3 of my simple strategies to help you stay healthier this time of year.

1. Avoid feeling guilty if you do indulge

If you’re one of the lucky ones and you get to indulge in delicious food these holidays, just remember, indulging is just that. It is not something you do all the time. It is on occasion.

So the important thing is to remember not to beat your self up and or have guilt around it when and if you do. 

Often our negative self talk can be more damaging than the food itself. 

Enjoying it is important, because often our body responds to our thoughts more than the food itself. So try not to punish yourself or feel bad or guilty, just enjoy it and you will feel better about it. Your body will be thankful.

2. Stay hydrated and drink lots of water

Something I do regularly in life, not just during the holidays, is to drink water before I eat, to help prevent overeating. 

It doesn’t always work at preventing me overeating, as I love my food and I usually eat a lot anyway, however this is still a great way to help stay hydrated.

The goal is not to drink immediately before eating, instead about 1/2 hour before. This helps to fill you up before you eat your food.

Ideally we don’t drink just before we eat or while we eat, as this will dilute the gastric juices of the stomach. These gastric juices are important for digesting our food and so they need to strong and undiluted. 

It is also important to stay hydrated as often our body will mistake hunger for dehydration. Which means we may find ourselves eating when we are really just thirsty.

It is also great to keep hydrated if you are drinking alcohol during the holidays. Alternating one alcoholic drink for a water helps to obviously drink less and therefore feel better the next day!  

3. Set a realistic & achievable exercise goals

If you’re still planning to exercise during the holidays (which I hope you are), be sure to set realistic exercise goals that are achievable. 

During this busy period it maybe more likely that you need an adjusted schedule compared to normal.

A lot of our success and our motivation comes from our mindset.  We want to always set ourselves up for success. 

If you set yourself achievable goals you are more likely to succeed and therefore feel good about yourself. Then in turn give yourself positive reinforcement. 

We don’t want to be beating ourselves up or start going down a path of negative thinking and self talk. 

Perhaps set smaller session times, e.g. 20 mins 3 times in the week. Or whatever it maybe for you, everyone is different. 

Let me know how you go with your holiday schedule! 

Are you stuck for Christmas Gift Ideas

If you’d like to make your friend or family member happy and healthy in 2019, then I have the perfect gift solution!

It is ideal if they fit into any of these categories;

• They love Pilates,
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• Have aches and pains,
• Travel a lot and can’t get to regular classes. 
• Can’t afford Pilates face to face
• Want to add extra sessions to their existing exercise regime
• Need to strengthen their core or improve posture
• Need to improve flexibility
• Are stressed or have anxiety and need to relax.

The Core Fit Club – Online Pilates Studio Gift Certificate is perfect ! 

You can chose from $19, $57, $114, $157 options. 

Click here for more info >>> Gift Certificates

Be sure to reach out and let me know if you found any of these tips above useful or if you have any questions at all or have any thing at all to add, please place a comment in the comment box below.

Lots of love and see you again soon on the Mat!

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