Holiday travel and parties can wreak havoc on your healthy habits, but you can stick to your wellness goals, even during this tricky time of year.
It can be hard to stick to your wellness goals when you’re traveling for the holidays, especially if at the end of your journey there’s a cocktail party with a spread of decadent holiday eats. Even for folks who aren’t traveling, this time of year can be packed with food- and drink-centric holiday celebrations with coworkers, friends and family.
If your holiday season isn’t so busy, that can mess with your personal wellness goals in a whole different way. It’s easy to feel lonely or left out during the holidays, too, and that stress can derail your healthy eating and exercise regimen, too.
Instead of letting winter holidays mess with your health, use these tricks to take back some control over your health this year.
Holiday Wellness Tips
1. Get Exercise on the Road
How you work out on the road depends a lot on where you’re staying. If you’re traveling somewhere with good weather, it’s easy to head out for a morning walk or a run. Exercising in the morning ensures that you don’t get caught up in holiday activities and decide to just scrap your workout for the day.
In colder weather, it can be more challenging to get moving. If you’re staying in a hotel with a fitness center, take advantage! If not, try this simple workout routine that you can do indoors or this yoga routine, aimed at reducing stress and anxiety.
2. Pre-Eat
This is an old vegan trick that works well in party situations, too. Whether you’re headed to a party or a restaurant, pre-eating can be very helpful, if you’re worried that healthy options will be elusive.
Before you head out, fix yourself a healthy meal, so you’re not going into a food situation feeling famished. That way, you can stick to a salad or appetizer at the restaurant without feeling deprived. Bonus: pre-eating saves money, because that salad or app is going to cost a lot less than a full-on entree!
3. Purse Snacks
This is another old vegan trick that I use every time I travel. Don’t limit yourself to junky airport food. Pack yourself some purse snacks, so you know you’ll have healthy options wherever you are. I call these purse snacks, because I stash them in my purse, but you obviously don’t need a purse to carry them. Backpack snacks work just as well.
These are my favorite purse snacks:
- roasted, unsalted cashews or almonds
- dried apricots
- kale chips
- carrot sticks or baby carrots
- grape tomatoes
- roasted chickpeas
- whole grain crackers
If you’re traveling with a kid, healthy snacks like these not only make sure everyone is well-fed, but they can prevent a hanger-induced tantrum and the stress that comes with trying to handle that in public.
4. Have a Special Drink
I have been cutting back on drinking this year, and special drinks have served me well in social situations. Special drinks have the added benefit of helping you stay hydrated, which prevents overeating.
At a bar, order something that looks like a cocktail, like soda water with a splash of cranberry juice and a lime. You get to feel fancy, and it prevents people from pestering you to order a cocktail.
If you’re going to a cocktail party or even a dinner party, you can bring a special drink to share. Try some of these low-sugar, non-water drink ideas at your next holiday shindig! Friends can even add a shot of booze to many of these, if that’s their thing, so everyone can have what they want.
5. Live a Little
Sticking to your wellness goals can feel good, but it can also feel a little bit restrictive. Being too strict can sometimes leads to a binge. Better to let yourself have one cookie at the party than refuse all of the treats, then break down and slam a box of Oreos when you get home.
Pre-eating can make it easier to cut loose a bit without sabotaging your wellness goals. Don’t go to a party hungry, then expect yourself to have just one small piece of pie. Fill your belly with healthy food at home, so you can treat yourself to some holiday goodies without going overboard.
Of course, everyone is different. If you know that one cookie is going to lead to a dozen cookies, no matter how you prepare, try bringing a healthy holiday dessert to share, instead.
6. Take Time for Self Care
This is the most important trick on this list. Whether you’re surrounded by people or flying solo, the holidays can be incredibly stressful, and stress is rarely good for our wellness goals. When you’re stressed out, it’s easier to justify eating or drinking too much or skipping your workout, because you’re just not feeling it.
Take time out to do a little bit of yoga for stress and anxiety. You can even just hide in the bathroom and practice stress-busting breathing exercises for a few minutes. A soothing bath or a walk with your favorite comedy podcast can also help calm your nerves and help you stick to your wellness goals.
It’s also important to be kind to yourself. If you do eat one cookie, and it leads to a dozen cookies, try not to beat yourself up. Everyone slips sometimes, especially during this time of year.
If holiday stress is doing more than just ruining your workout and eating goals, there are free resources to help. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 1-800-273-8255 anytime, anywhere. They also have an online chat, if that is easier for you.
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