10 Health Tips for Staying Healthy through the Holidays
The tendency to overindulge at this time of year and the onset of the flu season can pack a double whammy on our bodies. Use these Health Tips as your first line of defense.
Thriving with the Holidays – 10 Health Tips for Staying Healthy through the Holidays
by Elson Hass MD
When we were children, I imagine that most of us really looked forward to this holiday season as one of the best times of the year. Halloween kicks off a two-month long extravaganza of treats, sweets, and gifts — especially for those of us in the U.S. with our Thanksgiving feasting. As we get older, we may start to see this time of year as one of the most challenging: Either with the demands of all the celebrations or with the potential for illness.
There’s an inherent conflict between the behaviors we tend to indulge in during the holidays and the underlying energy of the seasonal changes. This imbalance can increase our susceptibility to disease — even the flu has its own season!
The holidays from Halloween through New Year’s Day all occur in the darker, late autumn and wintertime of the year, which is naturally a more inward time requiring more rest and quiet, plus a simple warm, nourishing diet. Yet, there are more treats — at home, work and wherever we go — and we are asked to attend parties and family events where we are exposed to and tempted by more delicious sugar and floury products, rich foods, alcohol, and all kinds of goodies. We often go out at night when we would be better off resting and recharging at home or sitting around a fireplace visiting friends or family. So rather than submit to all the temptations of the season, I suggest that you pay attention to these inner dimensions of this magical time of the year and do your best to find your own unique balance.
Here are my 10 Health Tips for Staying Healthy through the Holidays.
1. Health Tips: Be aware of your body’s needs and be fair to yourself. Most of us can get away with some treats or occasional departures from our usual eating habits. However, if we go to extremes, we may suffer the consequences and get sick. Get to know yourself and find the right balance. Keeping your body’s cells and tissues balanced protects us from illness. Balance comes from obtaining all your needed nutrients while minimizing any toxins.
2. Health Tips: Connect with others: Deepen and embrace your love of life and important family connections. Emotional nurturance offers a satisfaction that may lessen stress and avoid overeating and the excesses of the holidays. Be a supportive friend to others, yet also ask for support if you need it. Take care of one another. It’s good for your spirit.
3. Health Tips: stays open to your creativity. Do new things to improve your health, like a massage or trying some new, healthy foods. The first weeks of November or December (before or after Thanksgiving) are good times to consider doing a nutritional cleanup. Soon there will be many tempting sweets, baked goods, alcoholic beverages, and just too much rich food. Instead of overindulging, apply your energies to projects around the house or writing in your journal, or working on that book you have inside you or doing other creative projects.
4. Health Tips: Maintain your cornerstones of health — the 5 Keys to Staying Healthy. These keys include eating a nourishing and balanced diet, engaging in a regular and varied exercise program, minimizing and letting go of stress, getting adequate sleep and developing and maintaining a good attitude toward life. Staying Healthy also includes being able to relate well to family, friends, and co-workers, which can be particularly demanding during the holiday season!
5. Health Tips: Find the basic supportive foods for your diet that provide the energy and nutrients your body needs to Stay Healthy. In the colder months, it is important to focus on heat generating foods, such as cooked grains and legumes, hard squashes, some nuts, seeds, and protein foods. Also, include some garlic, onion, and ginger for your immune health, plus the energizing spicy peppers such as cayenne and chili. These additions will keep your blood and energy moving. Know what works for you. Ask yourself what’s important for your great health! Then, write down your answers.
For example, here are five personal habits that are important for my own health:
• Not eating too much too late in the day
• Drinking plenty of good, clean water
• Exercising and stretching regularly
• Chewing my food very well, and eating more slowly (and less too)
• Focusing my diet on vegetables
6. Nutritional supplements can be used to support your health as well. Immune-protective nutrients may help you prevent common colds and other illnesses. Taking the herb echinacea now may be helpful, as well as the Chinese herb, astragalus. Maintaining a daily intake of vitamins C, D, B, and E, along with selenium and zinc can also offer some immune protection and helps to clear your body of certain toxins. You can also consult with your naturally-oriented practitioner to help you with nutritional, herbal or glandular (like thymus or adrenal) therapies that would address your specific health conditions. (Check out my cold busting suggestions below.)
7. Health Tips: Exercise is crucial through the holidays, as in any season. As the weather cools, stretching is even more important, as is having indoor exercises you can do. Yoga and other flexibility-enhancing movements are helpful for keeping us youthful. An old yoga proverb suggests, “We are as young as our spine is flexible.” Working with weights and doing aerobic exercises are vital to staying fit and strong to support immune function and circulation. A vital body rarely gets sick. You may also want to try some inner exercise — meditate and explore your inner world and your dreams in your restful recharging sleep.
8. Health Tips: Enjoy safe travels by preparing well and being aware and cautious. Plan your trips and your packing to stay light and have just what you need, if that’s possible! I also suggest having a printed list, which can be helpful. While traveling, avoid dehydration and eat well; this may involve bringing water and appropriate food/snacks with you on the plane or in your car. If you’re sick or others around you on the plane are sick, you may want to have a mask you can wear. Use natural hand sanitizers, and to reduce exposure, wipe down the areas around your seat. Take a few key supplements with you to ward off all the germ exposures. This includes garlic, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Factors that can weaken immunity include stressful emotions, nutritional deficiencies, excess sugar and alcohol, and overwork. Some Immune Supporters include good sleep, a healthy diet, reducing stress, regular exercise, and feelings of love and appreciation. (See my book, Ultimate Immunity or the Immune Enhancement section in Chapter 16 of my book Staying Healthy with Nutrition.)
9. Health Tips: Prepare for the cold season. Gather your fuel and food for body warmth and protection, and exercise, as you should year around. In Chinese medicine, the Autumn season focuses on the lungs and large intestine. Overdoing it can lead to congestion and toxicity, such as constipation and the clogging of the nose and sinuses. This can lead to upper respiratory infections as the germs grow in the mucus and then inflame the membranes. Staying clean and clear this season, along with a healthy immune system, will help keep you well. To help clear the sinuses, cleanse them with water in the shower, or try facial steam—breathing in the aromatic herbal mist (you can use mints, rosemary, chamomile, lemon verbena, and other herbs).
10. Health Tips: Take a rest now because the demanding holiday season is just around the corner. Do not burn your batteries out before later December. Kindle your inner flame and firepower, which can protect you from the invasion of harsh climates and germs. The Winter blues come partly from a loss of this inner fire energy. Shifting and balancing with the seasons is vital to Staying Healthy.
An Extra Note on Colds & Flu
We all need to be more diligent these months to not get sick with colds and flu. Getting a flu shot is a personal choice (most often), and it often helps protect us from certain viral strains that may be active this season, but it’s not all viruses. Therefore, it doesn’t replace your own actions of self-care.
If you do get any colds or flu, it is best to take action immediately. Increase fluids, especially hot teas, many of which can help fight colds, like echinacea, goldenseal, and others. Also, add:
Vitamin C – I start with hourly vitamin C of 500-1000 mg,
Vitamin A – I take, and often suggest, increased doses of vitamin A (not beta-carotene) – 25,000-50,000 IUs 3-4 times daily for just 3-4 days and then lower that dosage to 10-25,000 IUs twice daily for about a week. Then take a break since excess vitamin A can be toxic if taken too long in these higher amounts. Although when we are fighting off infections, it doesn’t seem to be problematic and these higher amounts help us fight off germs at our mucous membranes.
Garlic – I also use fresh garlic, taking several cloves at a time, dipping them in honey and chewing them. I may repeat this several times for the first day; alternatively, you can press a few cloves into a hot bowl of soup. Garlic is a spicy and aromatic natural antibiotic and immune defender; you could also use the odorless garlic caps, several capsules 3 times daily, if you do not want the smell, but they are not quite as effective.
Echinacea and Goldenseal as an extract (in alcohol) can also be used to support immunity and cleanse the membranes; even the alcohol in them is a disinfectant.
Olive leaf extract – this mild anti-viral herb can provide some support as well.
Hydration – of course, drink lots of water, herbal teas, and hot soup.
Rest – and remember that extra rest helps in healing. Often, we get sick when we are out of balance or overdoing it, so a cold gives us the opportunity to rest and sleep.
You will also enjoy 7 Mind, Body & Spirit Tips You Can Start Right Now! and The Wisdom of Your Inner Healer
About the Author
Elson Haas, MD is a long-time integrative family physician who is the founder and director of Preventive Medical Center of Marin, an integrative center in San Rafael, CA. Elson is also the author of a dozen books on health, nutrition, and detox, including Staying Healthy with the Seasons, Staying Healthy with Nutrition, The Detox Diet, Ultimate Immunity, and Staying Healthy with NEW Medicine: Integrating Natural, Eastern and Western Medicines for Optimal Health.
ElsonHaasMD.com Preventive Medical Center of Marin
