Are you dreading ruining all your healthy habits at Christmas?  Are you anxious about having to start from the beginning again to reach those health goals that you worked so hard to achieve? 

It is possible to look forward to Christmas and not worry about ruining all your healthy eating and exercise habits

Here are some tips to fix mistakes that could ruin your healthy habits at Christmas. 

Having too much ‘Christmas’ food hanging around.

If you know those extra boxes of mince pies or chocolates are still in your cupboard you are more likely to think about them and find it difficult to resist finishing them off.
Fixable tips: 

• Make a shopping list of the food you need and stick to it. Avoid going into that mindset of ‘what if I don’t have enough? I better buy double the amount just in case’.
• If you are hosting Christmas, encourage your guests to take home leftovers.  
• Take any unopened chocolates, crackers, biscuits, cakes to the food bank as soon as you possible.

Eating too much, especially the ‘treat’ food.

‘Treat’ food is more likely to be refined, processed and high in sugar.  These can lead to blood sugar imbalances and cravings, encouraging you to eat even more.

Fixable tip: 

• Stick to 3 meals a day with no snacking – have those mince pies, chocolates or slice of Christmas cake for dessert instead.  You are much more likely to eat less of them.

Not exercising

Very tempting to curl up on the sofa with netflix, a box of chocolates and a glass of wine, especially when it is cold outside.  
Fixable tip:
Make sure you move everyday, even if it is for as little as 10 mins. Eg 

• Walking in the open air – a walk after a meal is a great way of using up some of those extra carbs you’ve eaten.
• Dance to your favourite music and have fun.
• Do 10 mins of a YouTube yoga or pilates video
• If you are away from home or your gym is shut, you could try some resistance band exercises

Focusing too much on what you MUST NOT  eat.

If you keep telling yourself you mustn’t eat that chocolate log or those mince pies, the brain will ignore the MUST NOT.  Instead it will just focus on ‘chocolate log, mince pies’, making it even harder to resist.
Fixable tip

Focus on healthier alternatives or foods that you can eat:

• Use sparkling water or soda water to mix with your gin or vodka
• White wine and sparkling water is a refreshing alternative to Prosecco.
• Drink water before having the next alcoholic drink.
• Dark chocolate instead of white or milk.
• Panettone is a tasty less sweet alternative to chocolate log.
• Goats cheese and grapes rather than stilton and port.
• Chestnuts, sprouts, nuts.

Feeling guilty and angry with yourself for falling off the wagon

This can make you give up all together.  Then it is even harder to get yourself back into heathy habits.
Fixable tip

• Remember Christmas is only a few days, so give yourself permission to enjoy the festivities without feeling guilty.
• Keep hold of as many of your healthy habits that you find easy. Eg, protein at every meal (turkey, nut roast, eggs), vegetables everyday (brussel sprouts, red cabbage, carrots, rocket with your scrambled egg breakfast), keep to your exercise weekly routine (even if it is only 10 mins walking instead of 60mins in the gym).
• Remember to congratulate yourself on the habits you stick to rather than punishing yourself for the habits you have broken (you might surprise yourself and manage to retain more of your healthy habits than you thought!)

If you are thinking about adopting even more healthy habits in the new year and want someone to bounce your ideas off, book a call with me here and lets chat.

Disclaimer:This site offers health, fitness and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other health-care professional. Do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health-related advice from your health-care professional because of something you may have read on this site. The use of any information provided on this site is solely at your own risk.