For many of us the holiday season is synonymous with indulgence and enjoyment – marked by increased consumption of food and alcohol coupled with reduced physical activity.
But the festive season is over now and as you dive back into routine it might be time to get back on track with your healthy lifestyle.
Getting “back on track” doesn’t have to mean drastic lifestyle changes, sacrifices and restrictions. You don’t have to cut carbs, go low calorie, or even ban the booze. Instead, consider these six straightforward and impactful ways to get back into a healthy way of living.
While the holiday season often involves dining out, frequent socialising, and indulging in takeaway to “treat yourself”, it’s now time to get back into cooking. Cooking your own meals allows you to know exactly what’s going into your food, so you’re not consuming excess sugars, salts, oils and other processed ingredients without realising it.
Shift your attention towards whole foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats. Try to make sure these minimally processed, nutrient rich ingredients form the bulk of every meal.
If you’re up for it, expand your horizons and get creative with ingredients that you usually wouldn’t buy. Try adding a new legume to your shopping list and if you need some inspiration for how to use them, check out our Cookbook. Other favourite cookbooks of ours include Ottolengi’s Flavour cookbook, or any of Jamie Olivers cookbooks.
In the first few weeks of a diet — which can include calorie counting, elimination of a food or food group, following a strict meal plan, fasting etc.— most people will experience weight loss. However research shows that dieting generally doesn’t lead to long-term weight loss. This is likely due to a range of factors. Firstly, diets are hard to stick to. Restricting foods usually makes you want them more, which is why most people fall off the wagon in the first month or two of a diet. Even if you can adhere to your diet, your body will resist weight loss. Our bodies view dieting as a form of starvation. As a survival mechanism, our metabolism slows, and hormones that regulate appetite and satisfaction change.
Save yourself the hassle, ditch dieting and instead adopt a range of simple, everyday healthy habits.
Water is such an underrated aspect of a healthy lifestyle. It won’t come as a surprise that water keeps you hydrated, but it also regulates your body temperature, lubricates joints, carries oxygen and nutrients to cells and can help prevent constipation.
Although the conventional wisdom suggests the need for ‘8 glasses of water a day’, the actual requirement varies significantly from person to person. It depends on a number of factors such as your age, gender, height, weight, exercise routine, temperature, diet (including how many diuretics you consume like coffee and alcohol).
As a general guide, men should aim for 2.6L of water per day and women 2.1L of water per day, but that will increase if you engage in regular physical activity or are dealing with an illness.
While the holidays offer some the luxury of ample time for rest, relaxation and indulging in extended sleep, for others, it may involve sacrificing sleep for social engagements.
However, neither option is ideal in the long term. Excessive sleep can leave you feeling lethargic, while insufficient rest can compromise your immunity, productivity, gut health and mood. Striking a balance and ensuring you get the right amount of sleep is crucial for maintaining overall health and happiness. Good-quality sleep has the potential to enhance your mood, exercise performance, gut health, metabolism and immune system.
Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep every night (everyone’s needs will be slightly different) to keep you feeling healthy and ready for the day ahead.
Following the holiday period, it’s so common to feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame. It’s easy to dwell on the excess of food and drink that may have been consumed but here’s a crucial perspective: the past is behind you!
Feeling guilty isn’t helpful at all. In fact, it can perpetuate unhealthy choices because you’re so busy berating and punishing yourself and your body.
Instead of succumbing to the temptation to simply give up on your healthy habits once you’ve fallen off the bandwagon for a little while, choose to forgive yourself and move on!
Resist the urge to embark on extreme measures like deciding to cut out all carbs, sugar, dairy, alcohol for the next few months. Healthy living isn’t about depriving yourself of the things you love. If you try to cut all the things you love out of your life, you’ll only want them more!
By acknowledging and accepting your previous decisions and deciding to move on, you can make more nutritious choices in the future, without needing to deprive yourself along the way.
Look at each meal as an opportunity to make healthy choices that help you feel your best. If you slip up once, that’s okay! It doesn’t mean you have to give up on the rest of the day, considering it a “write off”.
Take a deep breath every time you sit down to eat, and then make the choices that will leave you feeling your best.
Eating mindfully can help here, as you learn to tune into your body’s signals of fullness and hunger, and discover which foods sit well with you, and which ones don’t. Chew your food slowly, remove all distractions, and enjoy your food with all your focus and attention, and you’ll find yourself making the best choices for you, without needing to overthink it.
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