Wellness During The Holidays

We’ve made it to another holiday season?!! The summer sun is long gone and with spooky season officially at a close; the winter celebrations due to begin.

The end of the calendar year is often associated with overwhelming joy AND potentially debilitating stress. How overwhelming!! With so many responsibilities to juggle your wellness can easily fall to the wayside. This in itself can lead to even more stress (and even sickness), so here are a few tips to help you support your own wellbeing this holiday season.

1 Trust yourself enough to listen to your body - Your body is actually very good at communicating its needs but with our daily stressors and hectic schedules, sometimes we forget to listen. Is your body exhausted? Have you been neglecting your water intake? Are you hungry? Listen to your body's cues; it can answer all of these questions and help you to know what you need. This can feel really scary when we’ve been told our whole lives not to trust ourselves with our own wellness but with practice, that trust can be re-established.

2 On the topic of meeting your needs, please don’t withhold food from yourself - Your body needs fuels to function and without it, it can switch into a state of primal hunger, which is a biologic drive to eat through the release of specific hormones and neurotransmitters. Eating regular meals will help your body trust that food is on the way and provide you with reliable hunger and fullness cues, helping you avoid those post restriction binges.

3 Be gentle with yourself - Your diet and nutrition should never be based on an "all-or-nothing" mindset. The holidays (and let's be real; every other day of our lives) are full of stress and things don't always go to plan. And honestly, perfection should never be the standard or the expectation! Making mindful decisions and working to create a balance in your life is a sustainable way to find your true version of success. So eat what makes you happy along-side your other favorite nutrient rich foods, play a game and take a walk with your family and friends. Remember that your mental health is JUST AS IMPORTANT as your physical health.

Let’s be real…these past few years have been hard. You deserve to be held mentally, physically and emotionally with tenderness and love. Allow yourself every happiness you have access to.

Enjoy this winter season and remember to thank your body for all that it does for you every day!