3 rules to minimize damage over the holiday season

Each year, many clients ask me for tips and tricks on how to minimize the damage of the unhealthy habits of the holidays and I felt like it was a really good time to put pen to paper and explain it to you guys.  We all know that the holidays can get away from us and we can consume a lot more than we should be consuming. So I've employed three simple strategies and guidelines that will make your holidays less damaging. First and foremost, before getting into it, I want everybody to have a good Christmas. I have simply put these “rules” together to use as a guideline, and it is your decision to employ them as you wish, but knowledge is power :). When January rolls around and you get back to business in the gym, you can go back to a more rigid diet.

 However, if you are seriously concerned about watching what you're doing, follow the following three tips.

Rule number one, avoid snacking, stick to the large meals. There’s a strong likelihood that you're going to be with family or friends. It's likely that you guys will be centering your activities around a large meal. Focus on that large meal. You're likely to eat quality food, more nutrients and more vegetables. Make sure you eat to satiation because if you're full, you're unlikely to snack. Snacking may be the biggest mistake that you could make this holiday season because when you're snacking, you're constantly keeping your sugar high. That insulin is always running through your body and you're going to put yourself in that storage mode at all times. So if you minimize snacking, you're less likely to absorb more junk.

 Rule number two, this may be a tall task considering that holidays have this pretty much everywhere, but try to manage your sugar a little bit. Lowering your insulin as low as you can possibly make it for the duration of the holidays will definitely keep that storage hormone put away and you won't be storing as many calories. I know that may be a very difficult thing for many of you. However, if you're mindful of it, you're likely to pay better attention to it.

Rule number three, the one that's the most interesting and that’s the most fun is for sure the alcohol consumption. Now, by all means, I am all about having a good time., there's no doubt that many of you are going to be consuming alcohol. Once again, focus on one event where you

push it to the limit instead of doing it regularly every single day. Try to avoid, consuming at lunch, consuming throughout the day. If you focus to just one event and where you really push it and you really consume, that's totally fine. At least you’ve somewhat minimized the damage. Similarly to snacking, you don’t want to do it all the time, because that's really where the damage can accumulate and it's all those tiny little efforts that will amass to a very large quantity at the end. And then you just have more work to do in January.

 That being said, I hope all this information helps and from myself and the Sweat industry family, I want to wish you all an excellent Christmas and happy holidays. See you all in the new year.

About the Author:

Scott Bailey has a BSc in Kinesiology from Mcgill University. He holds certification as a mobility and Kinesiology expert, CrossFit coach, personal training and various other specializations.

Scott has over 12 years of experience working with a diverse clientele from mobility re-conditioning clients to athletes of various sports. He currently works out of Club Sportif MAA, R Gym and Train Fitness Studio. You can catch him on Instagram with the widely popular Instagram account Trainingwithscott, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or are looking for some personal training sessions.