How To Survive The Holidays Without Resembling Santa

Well, it's that time of year again.  Starting on Halloween and going through January, there are sweets, cakes, and foods that belong on the Naughty List all over the place.  For those of us trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it can be pretty rough waters.  Never fear-- here is a great plan of action to survive the holidays fit and satisfied!

If all goes accordingly, you'll still be able to fit through the chimney come December...

1)  STAY ACTIVE.  The holidays is not the time to get lazy.  Keep moving.  Play touch football.  Swing your kettlebells.  Do your bodyweight exercises.  Do sprint drills.  Whatever it is that keeps you moving, do it.  My workouts are short and intense, lasting 30 minutes or less most of the time (unless I decide to go for a marathon swing session).  This holiday season, I'm planning to do two days a week of clean and jerk workouts with some easy light-to-medium swing work on my off days, and hopefully one day of heavy pressing and deadlifting only because I love it.  This kind of training keeps your metabolism elevated while not overtaxing yourself.

2)  FIND SOME "YOU" TIME.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again-- stress is a killer, and it keeps the pounds on, too.  Holidays are a prime time for stress, what with in-laws and families and cooking and prepping and cleaning and whatnot.  Take some time out and relax a bit.  Make sure you are getting enough sleep, too.  All your hard work won't pay off very well if you don't rest and de-stress.

3)  EAT HEALTHFULLY.  On the holidays?  How?  I'm glad you asked.  My holiday table will be filled with healthy dishes such as roasted root vegetables (something like this, perhaps:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wolfgang-puck/roasted-root-vegetable-medley-recipe/index.html ), Brussels sprouts (lots of great, simple recipes to be found out there, like this one:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-brussels-sprouts-recipe2/index.html ), collard greens (here's my favorite recipe:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Citrus-Collards-with-Raisins-Redux-352451 ), and such.   Recipes that call for flour will be made using sprouted flour (I buy it online from here:  http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Whole-Grain-Sprouted-Flour/dp/B004GOXWT2 ) or, at minimum, whole-grain flour (not ideal, but if I run out of sprouted flour, this is what I turn to next), and recipes calling for sugar will be made using erythritol ( http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=erythritol&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=11946179746172974924&sa=X&ei=ovTLTvaaEMqsiQLJx7nPCw&ved=0CHMQ8wIwBA ) whenever possible, and when it is not possible, I will be using coconut sugar ( http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=coconut+sugar&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=5196319203539187094&sa=X&ei=3_TLTuvDCu7KiAKG5Oi6Cw&ved=0CHkQ8wIwAg ).  I tried this great experiment last year on my unsuspecting partygoers, and everyone was shocked that I did not cook these foods using sugar and white flour.

What are your holiday health and fitness plans?  Post 'em here!

I wish you and yours a very happy and healthy holiday season.

This was last year's Thanksgiving table at my house.  :)  'Twas yummy.