5 Steps For Staying Healthy Over The Holidays

Holiday season is just around the corner, which often calls for lots of food and drinks with very little exercise. This year, don’t let yourself fall victim to excessive visits to the dessert table followed by hiding beneath an over-sized sweater and elastic-waisted pants. This year, consider these 5 Steps for staying healthy over the holidays:

1. Rise, Shine … and Sweat!
Schedule workouts first thing in the morning before the day gets hectic with the kids and your to-do list starts to increase. Even better – get the kids involved in a short home workout before you all start your day.

2. Eat Before The Treat.
Try having a healthy meal before heading to a holiday party and that way you won’t be so tempted to binge on all the desserts. And you won’t be so open to seconds on the buttery mashed potatoes. Of course, treat yourself during the holidays, but just don’t go overboard!

3. Create New Healthier Traditions!
With potluck dinners, have you ever considered bringing a healthier version of a traditional dish? Consider mashed sweet potatoes for the family to enjoy or bring a healthy dessert that could taste just as good as those sugar-filled cupcakes.

4. De-Stress.
We all know stress can make us hold water and can easily make us a few pounds heavier (no joke!). Avoid awkward contortions on your bed to pull up your skinny jeans … breath a little … let go of stress. Embrace the holiday mayhem and keep water weight at bay.

5. Get In Those ZZZ’s.
Yes, sleep can make a difference to our health and can leave us moody, impatient and more likely to binge on not-so-good-for-you food. It’s easy to get wrapped up in holiday madness, but do not sacrifice sleep … well unless you have a date with Santa!

Here’s a short 15-minute stair workout from No Tummy Mommy that you can try at home, or outdoors if you live in warmer parts of the world:

At 0 – 3 minutes – Warm up by repeatedly walking up and down one flight of stairs at a steady pace.
At 4 – 6 minutes – Skater steps – stand facing stairs. Step right foot to the right side of first step. Push off of right foot and step left foot to the left side of next step. Continue up, alternating sides.
At 7 – 9 minutes – Power walk up and down as fast as you can.
At 10 – 12 minutes – Walk up two steps at a time at a steady moderate pace and then down one step at a time at a steady moderate pace. Repeat.
At 13 – 15 minutes – Power walk up and down as fast as you can.

Now allow some cool down time before you get on with all your holiday errands!