Next week marks the beginning of the holiday season. While the holidays are a great time to celebrate with your family and friends, it’s also a time for overeating and weight gain. On average, holiday eating can cause you to gain 1 to 2 extra pounds every year, according to the National Institutes of Health. Over a lifetime, these extra pounds can really add up. However, by focusing on eating healthy, including exercise during your day, and finding non-fattening ways to have holiday fun, you don’t have to gain weight this holiday season.
Here are a few simple tips to help you stay healthy during the holidays:
- Be realistic. Don’t try to lose weight during the holidays. Instead, try to maintain your current weight.
- Make time to exercise, especially after enjoying a holiday feast. Find activities the whole family can do like walking, biking, ice skating or tag football.
- Don’t skip meals before a party. Eat small, lower-calorie meals during the day. Before you leave for the party, eat a light snack like low-fat cheese, raw vegetables or fruit to curb your appetite, so you’ll be less tempted to over-eat.
- Make socializing with family and friends the focus of the event instead of eating. Plan activities that don’t involve food like making holiday decorations, playing games, building a snowman, sledding, or taking a walk to see holiday light displays.
Look over the food selections at the holiday buffet before filling your plate. Choose a couple of your favorite foods, so you don’t feel deprived. But fill the rest of your plate with fruits and vegetables, avoiding the dips or taking just a small amount. Eat slowly, savoring your choices.- Make only one trip to the buffet table. To keep from unconscious nibbling, spend the rest of your time at the party away from the buffet table.
- Bring a healthy dish to the party like a fresh fruit or veggie tray.
- Watch your beverages. Alcoholic drinks can add hidden calories. Choose sparkling water with a lime or zero-calorie soft drinks.
- If you do overeat at a party, eat lighter for your next meal.
- If you’re hosting a holiday party, prepare foods that are lower in fat and calories. Look for healthier holiday recipes or swap out ingredients to “lighten” your traditional holiday recipes to make them healthier without sacrificing taste.
With a little preparation, you can keep off the extra pounds over the holidays and still have a great time celebrating with your friends and family.
Excess Weight Can Lead to Foot Pain
Extra body weight can cause the muscles, tendons and ligaments in your feet’s arches to stretch and become weaker. Eventually, they’ll give out, causing the bones in your feet to collapse and flatten your arches. Once this occurs, you may develop pain in your feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back. Plus, you may develop foot conditions like plantar fasciitis or overpronation.
Custom orthotics, like ezWalker® Custom Performance Orthotics, are biomechanically designed to properly support the arches of your feet and evenly redistribute your body weight over both of your feet. So your whole body is correctly aligned. These custom orthotics also reduce the shock forces on your feet, providing you with pain relief.
ezWalker® Custom Orthotics are ultra thin and ¾ length, so they easily fit in most shoes – including dressy holiday footwear. Order your ezWalker® Custom Performance Orthotics today.
Because … when your feet feel good, you feel good. And when you feel good, you have a happier holiday season.
