Eating and Taking Care of Your Health

The holidays are fast approaching. To many of us that means spending time with family and friends, celebrating and of course, FOOD!

If you are like me, I really try to live a healthy lifestyle by eating healthy and exercising. Then the holidays arrive and the huge meals, the cookies, and the crazy busy schedule. . . . the temptations are too great and my good efforts are thrown to the wind. Is there any help? What are some ways to avoid this?

Our lives are busy. We have kids, spouses, animals, work, activities after work or school, family time, friend time, meals to prepare, errands to run and so the list goes. . . My typical day was jumping out of bed, grabbing a cup of coffee as I ran the kids to school. Then I would come home and start work. I'd look up around 3pm realizing it was almost time to get the kids from school, before we heading to swim practice and squeezing in my workout, only to realize I hadn't eaten anything yet and was starving. I would grab some food and run out the door to our evening activities. Finishing those I'd come home again starving from my workouts and eat a huge dinner.

You probably see the problem with this and I did too but that is what my typical day was like. My boys' swim coach stepped in and made me aware of what I was doing. Recently, I made some changes in my eating habits and have been having some really good results. I lost a couple of pounds, but the best part is the increased energy. What else I have learned, food like my exercise focus (which will be the next part of this blog), has to be a priority.

I rely on my body to get me through each day so it deserves some attention, right? Instead of grabbing whatever is there to eat or overeating because I had not eaten throughout the day, I now have lots of little healthy meals that I can grab and eat throughout the day. This has been super helpful. By spreading my meals out every 2-3 hours, I am not crashing and overeating. If I workout, I will add in something else so I can get that extra little push during my workout.

So back to eating and the holidays. . . it is a busy time. The thing is your body deserves good healthy food. If you supply it, you are more likely to turn away from foods that aren't healthy or to only have one treat, instead of over indulging.

The other thing that may be helpful is tracking your food. There are many great FREE apps out there that will track your calorie intake and your exercise. My favorite is My Fitness Pal. It is super easy to use. When you track and see what you are putting in your body, you create an awareness which helps you make those tough decisions too.

My last thought is food, with family and friends, is meant to be enjoyed. It is good to splurge at times and enjoy a piece of your mom's fudge, to have a cocktail at your company party, or to have a few extra calories at Thanksgiving. Just try to jump right back into your healthy ways the next day. Enjoy the holidays but let's not have to work them all off in 2017!