When going home from school for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, it’s common for students to fall off the healthy wagon and indulge a little too much during the holidays. While anything is fine in moderation (they don’t call it the most wonderful time of the year for nothing-treat yo’self), make sure you’re not completely undoing all of the hard work you put in the rest of the year! Here are our top 10 tips for staying healthy during the holiday season.
1. Don’t just focus on food.
We all know that food is the best part of the holidays. However, they don’t have to be all about food! Keep yourself busy and get involved in other holiday activities that involve friends and family, such as tree decorating or catching up with relatives you don’t see too often.
2. Only indulge on special foods.
Don’t spend all your calorie allowance on crappy store bought stuff…save it for your grandma’s homemade sweet potato pie! You don’t want to undo your diet over generic Christmas cookies from Wal-Mart.
3. Don’t skip the gym just because you’re on a break.
Planet Fitness offers an affordable gym option for college students for only $10 a month, so you still have someplace to work out while you’re home on vacation.
4. Go ice-skating!
Take advantage of all your high school friends being home together and schedule a group ice-skating date. During recreational ice-skating, you can burn anywhere from 250-810 calories per hour!
5. Skimp on the sauces.
During holiday meals, there are usually a plethora of different sauces, dressings, and gravy to pour all over your meal. While these add flavor, they’re also usually packed with fat that you don’t even realize you’re eating. Pour lightly or forego these calorie packed additions altogether!
6. Take it easy on the alcohol.
While many may want to turn to the drink cabinet when family gatherings turn awkward or difficult, resist this temptation! Most drinks are hoarding a lot of calories, not to mention make it easier for you to justify eating all the delicious food you’re surrounded by. Take the holiday time to let your body detox from going out so much during the fall semester.
7. Cut your own Christmas tree.
Many tree farms provide the option for you to go hunt down your perfect tree and cut it down yourself! Embrace your inner lumberjack, strengthen your arms and burn some extra calories. Bonus: you’ve now earned bragging rights and can tell everybody you chopped down a tree.
8. Use smaller plates.
Studies have long shown that when you use a smaller plate, you eat less because your plate looks fuller in comparison to using a large plate, filling it up, and feeling pressure to finish everything on your plate.
9. Go sledding!
Bring out your inner child and break out the old bobsleds. Trudging up hills through snow is a killer leg workout, but you’ll be having so much fun you won’t even notice you’re exercising!
10. Don’t resist!
If you can’t resist eating a bite or two of a high calorie food, do just that-eat a bite or two. Have you noticed that the first bite of something always tastes the best? Studies show that the more you eat of a food, the less pleasure you receive from it. Instead of taking a whole slice of pie, especially if you’re already full, just steal a couple of bites and get the same effect without the stomachache.