Navigating our healthy habits through the holidays....

If you really want to test your good healthy habits, this is the perfect time! It is so easy to just lay around and eat left over Thanksgiving pie, and dressing with gravy! Your little brain is saying oh let’s have a piece, we only have it once or twice a year lol. Having these indulgences are perfectly okay as long as we don’t drag it out all month. Keeping your exercise routine can also be easy to skip. It is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and I am contemplating if I should go for a run today. I did skip Thursday and Friday and do not feel a bit guilty but after the pie and dressing maybe I should get back on track. I know I will feel much better in January if I keep up with by good habits and keep the “cheats” to a minimum. Yes, I like to refer to a big ole piece of homemade bread with a thick spread of butter on it as a “cheat” and very well worth it. And then there is the pecan pie that I must say is one of my very favorite desserts. Of course, I know that it is probably good to indulge in a few “cheats” as long as we can refrain from them at least 80% of the time. Someone asks me how I had such good will power and I said I really do cheat. I just don’t most of the time. I am guessing it is 80-85% of the time, that I choose not sugar and no white flour. I try to stay with meat and vegetables. I love pasta and homemade bread and do splurge but again, I try to get back on track so I will feel better. And, I will add a longer run for the extra bread. I do this to make me feel better. It works. Now, my runs do not burn that many calories but it does make me feel less guilty lol.

If there is one thing that I think can help us through the holidays and still look and feel our best is to get plenty of sleep and drink lots of water. Water is so beneficial to our digestive system and our skin. With the colder temperatures we tend to dry up like prunes. Or at least I do. Drink your water, get your rest, and stay active. Keep up as many of your healthier habits as possible and limit your sugar to your absolute favorites and in small portions. I laughed when my father-in-law said I only want a piece of the pumpkin pie (no pecan, which is my favorite) but make sure it is a big piece. When I sliced it up, my husband said, that is not what he calls big. I laughed and said “oh my, he wants a quarter of the pie! It was all good. We had plenty and he is 86 years old and don’t think he is changing any of his habits now.

Keeping it short so drink your water, take the walk, and keep those pieces of pie and candies to smaller portions and we will be feeling good by the end of the year…

Have a beautiful week!