Holiday Survival Guide: Healthier Cookies, Quick Workouts, and Year-End Wins

NUTRITION
Don’t Let Sugar Ruin Your Holidays

Holiday desserts are CALLING my name, and while, yes, it’s ok to indulge every now and again without guilt- we want a holiday season free from sugar crashes, bloating, sluggishness, and illness.

The good news- enjoying some holiday treats doesn’t have to derail our health or our progress with a few simple tips.

1. Prioritize Protein First:
   Before reaching for that cookie, fill your plate with protein first. It slows digestion, stabilizes your blood sugar levels, and reduces the post sugar-crash. Fill your plate with Turkey, Chicken, or Fish before you reach for the carbs and desserts.

2. Pair Your Desserts:

   Never eat carbs alone or so the saying goes. Combine dessert with a healthy fat, protein, or fiber to slow sugar absorption and stabilize your blood sugar levels. Things like nuts, jerky, or cheese.

3. Don’t Skip Meals:

   Skipping meals early in the day to “save up” can bite you in the butt leading to overeating and unregulated blood sugar levels. Instead choose small, high - protein meals or snacks leading up to the party or event.

4. Stay Moving:

   After a big meal, go for a walk with family. Walking after you eat is shown to regulate blood sugar levels more effectively and improve digestion.

The issue we see with overeating sweets during this time of year comes down to blood sugar imbalances that lead to continued overeating, energy crashes, and a lowered immune system (no wonder we call it flu season!). When you go into the holidays with this knowledge you can enjoy a few treats and still feel your best!

How about a better-for-you Christmas cookie to kick things off:

Ingredients:

1 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup maple syrup
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl
Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl
Combine wet ingredients into dry and mix until dough forms
Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut out your cookies
Bake for 10 minutes and cool before frosting

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
¼ cup plain greek yogurt
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip in a mixer until smooth and consistency you prefer

FITNESS
9 Minute Sleigh The Core Workout

Set a timer for 9 minutes and see how many rounds or reps you can complete:

1. 5 V-ups
   5 Plank Oblique knee to elbow touches (5 each side)
   5 Bird Dogs (5 each side)

   Increase reps each round (so round two do 6 reps of each, round 3 move up to 7, etc.). Keep moving until the clock hits 9 minutes!

HEALTH/WELLNESS
Natural Immune Boosters

It’s that time of year where every one you know is sick or knows someone who is. The good news is that there are plenty of things we can do to strengthen our immune systems and help decrease the frequency and severity of illness.

1. Get Plenty Of Sleep: Sleep is one of the most powerful natural immune boosters. During sleep, your body takes the time to repair itself and also produce infection fighting white blood cells (WBCs). A 2007 study showed that decreased sleep times led to less white blood cell production = greater chance of getting sick.

2. Exercise: We know exercise is good for us for so many reasons, but did you know it actually boosts our immune systems? Studies show that exercise can reduce the likelihood of developing an upper respiratory infection by 67% and those that do catch colds tend to have less severe and shorter durations of illness!

3. Boost Your Zinc Levels: Zinc deficiency contributes directly to immune dysfunction. Copper is an antagonist to zinc and is found in potatoes, chocolate, and whole grains. So you may want to avoid those and opt for high Zinc foods like eggs, chickpeas, seeds, and red meat.

4. Try a Probiotic: Probiotics are good for our immune system because our immune system is housed in our gut and probiotics feed our gut with good, healthy bacteria. Try foods like yogurt or opt for a probiotic supplement.

5. Eat Vitamin A Rich Foods: Vitamin A plays a very specific role in fighting respiratory infections. Often when we are sick, simply increasing your vitamin A intake can help tremendously. Try foods like Liver, egg yolks, butter, and cod liver oil.

6. Saline Rinse Your Nose: Saline or a Netipot can flush out mucous and clean out harmful bacteria from your sinuses. Once you feel sick try a saline rinse or nets pot to help flush that stuff right out of there.

7. Drink Plenty of Quality Water: Hydrating helps your body fight off illness and flush out bacteria through your kidneys and urine.

8. Spend Time Outside: Don’t fear the cold weather. Numerous studies show that our indoor air is much more polluted and poor for our health than outside. Sunshine and fresh air does a body (and immune system) good!

9. Limit Sugar: like we talked about above, sugar intake literally lowers your immune function. Bacteria thrive off the acidic environment that sugar creates, sugar disrupts the gut microbiome (where the immune system primarily resides), and leads to inflammation.

10. Try Reishi: Reishi and other mushroom blends enhance the natural immune system and help the body ward off bad bacteria. Reishi also increases white blood cell production!

MINDSET
5 Things To Do Now To End Your Year Strong

The New Year is RIGHT around the corner. Personally, I’m feeling ready to finish the year well and take a little break (whatever that means as a mom of three, but you know!).

This time of year can feel like the last few mile of a marathon…you’re tired, worn out, and ready for a rest. SO let’s ease your mind and give you a clear. actionable plan to help you walk steadily to the end of the year.

1. Take Inventory

   Give yourself some time to sit down and reflect on the past year. Even if you feel like you don’t NEED to- this is a great exercise to figure out what you can do before the end of the year, and how you need to approach the new year. Look at your previous goals or resolutions, compare them to your current ones- Do your goals still align with your definition of success? Did your actions match your goals?

2. Quiet Time

   After you take inventory on your goals, allow yourself to sit and have some quiet time. No phone, no podcast- just silence. Let yourself get lost in your mind for a bit. Set aside what you want to DO in the next year and go deeper. Think about how you want to FEEL. Then hold that feeling up to the goals you are setting – do they align? If not, shift the goals.

3. Build The Roadmap

   With a clear vision of your goals moving forwards, it’s time to set out your action plan. What steps do you need to take to have the year you WANT to have? Get nitty gritty. For example, we will take a common goal “ Lose x amount of weight”. Now it’s time to map it out: what’s your deadline for this goal, what actions do you need to take to achieve this goal (things like : buy new sneakers, hire a nutrition coach, buy protein powder, plan your schedule, etc.- anything you need to do to truly be successful should be written down). This goes for every goal- health, fitness, personal, business.

4. Take a Photo of Your Progress

   You’ve put in the work to move yourself forward towards next year, but let’s not brush past all that you’ve accomplished this year. Take the photo. Of your current figure, your year-end business numbers, the goal list you’ve been checking off all year. I love being able to measure progress because that makes it easier for me to see the small growths (rather than just the BIG ones!). You’ll get even sharper at fine-tuning and optimizing when growth isn’t as easy! And, bonus, the better you can see your growth year after year, the better you will get at celebrating your progress.

5. Make a Joy List

   We’re not ALL business around here. Make a list of things that bring you joy. This is your list to carry with you into 2025. Set aside time to focus more on the things in this list. The things that ignite you, make you laugh, make you feel your best self.

   Make yourself Better Today.