How to Reduce Your Pain & Feel Great this Holiday Season
Keep your pain levels low and your energy high by adding these 5 tricks during the holiday season.
1. Visualize Success
Imagine New Year’s Day. See yourself vibrant and energetic, calm and centered, happy, and comfortable in your body WITHOUT PAIN. Choose a time each day to close your eyes and visualize this scene. Make a morning ritual of this visualization before you get out of bed.
2. Be Prepared
Spend one morning each week preparing clean, healthy snacks to have available when needed. Snack foods like chopped veggies and dip, celery and almond butter, tuna with gluten-free crackers and sunflower seed in the shell are your “go-to” while other people snack on carmel corn or some other tempting food that raises insulin and then causes an energy crash. Have healthy snacks with you when you leave the house and you’ll never be caught hungry. Preparation is one of the strongest habits to support success.
3. Add In to Crowd Out
Allow yourself to eat small portions of the holiday foods that you love but be sure to eat whole foods first. Fill your plate with salad, veggies and protein and eat those foods first. Add foods high in carbs to your plate as if they are samples. Take enough for 1 – 2 bites only.
4. Bring Your Own Food to the Party
If there is a opportunity to contribute to the meal offer to bring a veggie dish or a salad. Add all the healthy ingredients you can to your dish and take a big serving of it for yourself. If not carry almonds, gluten-free crackers, baby carrots and other small finger food with you and discretely snack on them while others are indulging in decedent snacks.
5. Replace Alcohol with these Alternatives
Spritzer’s Replace Champagne and Wine
To Spakling Water Add: Fresh or frozen berries , fresh lemon and/or lime slices, fresh cucumber slices, fresh mint leaves
Warm Nut Milks Replace Warm Alcohol Drinks Delicious and Satisfying
Ingredients: 1 ½ cup soaked nuts / 4 pitted dates / 4 c. H2O/ 1 tbsp. vanilla / Pinch salt / 2 tbsp. coconut oil / pinch cinnamon / Strainer bag and clip
Directions: Drain nuts and throw away soaking water. Add nuts, water and dates to blender. Blend until smooth. Drape strainer bag over bowl. Close with rubber band.
Pour mixture through the strainer bag and “milk” the bag until there is nothing left but pulp.
Place strained liquid back in the blender with vanilla, salt and coconut oil & cinnamon
Blend.
Smoothies Replace Blended Drinks
Liquid Bases Options: Water / coconut milk / coconut water / Thai coconut meat / nut milks / Fruit or veggies
Flavoring: Use whole food: Veggies / fruits / nuts and nut butters / purees like pumpkin / spices like cinnamon, pumpkin spice blends, cayenne or chili powder / extracts like vanilla / raw ginger / cacao (raw chocolate) powder or nibs / salt
Thickeners: Bananas / avocado / ice / coconut meat / nuts & nut butters / coconut oil / protein powder
Sweeteners: Fresh fruit and veggies / agave nectar / honey / maple syrup / dates or date sugar / dried fruits like figs or prunes / stevia
Protein Sources: Protein powders / nuts and nut butters / eggs / milk / chia / hemp and/or pumpkin seeds.
Fiber: Flaxseed / fruits and veggies / fiber powder
Practice these 5 Tricks to keep your pain levels low during this holiday season. You can do this. Keep the vision of a healthy, happy you in the forefront of your mind.
Reach out to me when you need support. I’m rooting for you!