deepak

I had the privilege of being a guest host on the Health Simplified Podcast. This audio podcast is run by a couple acquaintances Dr. Shabnam Das Kar, Functional Medicine Consultant and Michal Ofer, Functional Nutrition Consultant. Shabnam and Michal are the founders of the MDS Program. The episodes I appeared in were the following.

Health Myths Part 1

Health Myths Part 2

Do You want to read a book that is going to piss you off? Most people would say no, but what about a book that pisses you off because it is so thought provoking and puts to the forefront things you thought were happening but lays out a well thought out argument to show you IT IS HAPPENNING!

Food Fix, Mark Hyman’s latest book, is such a book. While I have heard many of these arguments for a long time, this book backs it up with studies, references and detailed sourcing.

The book is comprised of five main parts, each tackling different but related topics surrounding our Health, Economy and Environment.

I do not want to spoil too much and I think every adult and teenager should read this book, so I will be brief in my overview. I will be circulating my copy amongst my circle of influence.

Part 1 is titled: The Health and Economic Impact of Our Food System

Among a number of topics in the first few chapters the author laws out an argument for how the way we look at food and its costs are completely wrong and understated. Also, how the epidemic of chronic disease around the world is due to our food systems. As someone who has overcome my own health challenges and now works with clients in this regard this is not new information to me, but laid out well to share with the average person. This leads to the discussion about how a handful of powerful companies have global reach with their products and how we as society need to push our governments to change fiscal policies to address obesity and disease. We tax the heck out of cigarettes, why not soda?

Part 2 is titled: The Dirty Politics of Big Food

This is the part of the book where you are going to start getting mad and shaking your head. You will learn how Big Food and Agriculture companies control the government and hence food policy. Did you know that there are 21 industry lobbyists for every member of the US Congress? And that the rules in place to protect independence are routinely broken and no one seems to care. You will learn how various governmental agencies tasked with protecting the consumer, that means all of us and our kids are not doing their job and actually allowing these companies to prey on our children in school. And finally, which should be no surprise to anyone, that some governmental policies are actually increasing poverty, promoting disease and destroying the environment.

Part 3 is titled: Information Warfare

If you weren’t already pissed off, the author adds in some more statistics to really get you boiling. He discusses how the Food Industry uses the old tactics of the tobacco industry to distort public health and nutrition science. Also discussed in this section is how many supposed advocacy groups are just fronts for Big food who bribe, I mean purchase partnerships and influence.

Part 4 is titled: Food and Society: The Destruction of our Human and Intellectual Capital

If you are not intricately connected, how many of you think about the farmers and people who grow your food? Maybe you know the guy at the counter at the farmers market, but what about the person in the field in some third world nation picking your vegetables and fruit? The author makes the case that these are neglected victims of our food system. We know this happens, but we usually don’t dwell on it too long as it is an uncomfortable topic. There is a lot of social injustice and oppression by Big Food that many of us are a part of. The last topic in this section discusses how food plays a role in Mental Health. Again, this is something I can attest to personally and with working with my clients.

Part 5 is titled: The Environment and Climate Impact of our Food System

Many people want to jump into various ideological camps about the Environment and as an extension to that Climate Change. There are the usual suspects you hear in the media, but nearly no one discusses the role our food system plays. The author does a wonderful job of outlining how the Food and Agricultural Industries contribute disproportionately to Climate Change, and why we all should care about Soil, Water and Biodiversity. For many people, your preconceived notions you believe or were misinformed on will be shattered.

This book is mostly U.S. focused, but these topics, problems and potentially solutions effect the entire world from the most advanced economies to those emerging.

One of the best things about this book, is that it is not all doom and gloom, it is not all facts, studies and statistics, but provides real actionable steps that everyone of us can do in our own communities or in our own families to start to make a difference. There are checklists throughout where you can make choices for you and your family and your community. Again, I was aware of many of these issues and problems beforehand, but this book really laid it out and has me thinking about my own actions and impact.

While at the time of writing this post, I can’t say I have implemented more than a handful of the recommendations to this point, but I am more educated to have conversations in our household and with others, to not only be more aware but to begin to make other substantial changes over time. That is the greatest gift of this book, awareness and education. I highly recommend it.

The author Robb Wolf, has been around the Paleo game for as long as I can remember, certainly before I turned my life around and got healthy. His first book The Paleo Solution came out in 2010. Wired to Eat is the follow-up and came out in 2017. Yes, this book is three years old. I have been meaning to read it for a long time and it never quite made it into my reading pile until recently. In anticipation of my library being closed for social distancing during COVID-19, I went in and grabbed Wired to Eat.

As this book is three years old, I will just give my very brief thoughts on it.

At this point in my journey and education, I didn’t find anything really new, considering the age of the book. However, I wish I would have read this book as I was in the beginning stages of my transformation. And the knowledge shared still holds true for those just beginning their own journey or who are thinking of making a change for their health. I would still recommend it to new clients.

The first part of the book gets into the how humans are “Wired to Eat” as the title suggests, discussing the Paleo Diet, Digestion, Individualization of nutrition, how food companies try and re-circuit our brains, and finally the importance of sleep, exercise and one’s community in regards to weight management.

The second part of the book gets into the authors plan for implementing a change to a more Paleo type diet for someone. This includes what he calls a 30-day Reset for an overall direction move, as well as a 7-Day Carb Test, where one can figure out which carbs are tolerable or intolerable for them. Remember nutrition is individualized. He also discusses Ketosis and Intermittent Fasting in this section. Nothing new here, but remember three years ago this was right at the forefront.

The last part of the book includes recipes and shopping lists to help those just beginning their journey. This has become all to common place now, but when I think back to three years ago, it was probably one of a handful of books that incorporated both knowledge of nutrition and practical recipes in one book.

While I agree with nearly everything in this book, due to the timing of me finding it in my personal journey and with working with my one-on-one clients it didn’t blow me away. But, that is not to say it is not a fantastic resource for someone beginning to look into a Paleo lifestyle and needing guidance.

Recently I met up with a Brilliant Researcher and fellow Health Coach. His specialty is everything related to Cognitive function. He is working on a cure for Alzheimer’s. More on that in a minute.

His approach and testing are a novel approach, so I can’t discuss any of the proprietary details, but I will share what I can.

 One Saturday morning, I went over to his lab and he hooked my head (brain) up to a few different devices and then had me play a game on a computer. He didn’t tell me ahead of time how long this was going to take, (and in hindsight it didn’t take that long), but I kept wondering how long do I have to keep playing this game?

Ultimately, the results were the chart below. My brain was tested on these six metrics. As you can see, I scored outside the normal range on two of the scores. I am happy that my focus and plasticity were high, but judging by my overall score and speed, there is room for improvement.

This testing was done mid-morning and after a heavy strength training session. I wonder if my results would have been very different either first thing in the morning or later in the day. I guess that is an experiment to try next time.

Next, I put on some different devices for my head and a Pulse Oximeter (which tests for precise measurement of oxygen levels in the blood). We were doing two different things at once here.

I went through a breathing exercise, two times through and the results on my brain waves can be seen in the chart below.

My Delta brain wave frequencies have a dominance presence across all brain regions, followed by Theta. I also had lower ranges of Beta waves during this period. So, Delta is usually highest during sleep, and Beta is usually highest during awake periods, and my results were the opposite during this breathing exercise. There is more for me to explore here, but this tells me that we can change our brains, our moods and other physiological states through breath work.

Getting back to the Pulse Oximeter for a moment. We did a baseline before we started and I had an oxygen level of 97%, right in the normal range. Besides the affects on my brain waves, doing this breathing exercise, my blood oxygen levels dropped to 66%. Very cool!

I have been playing around with this technique since, and have been able to increase my breath hold.

The coolest result may be; I was on a recent scuba diving trip and my air lasted much longer. My wife always has more air left in her tank when we dive, but this time we tied on one dive and on the other I had more remaining.

These tests are definitely something I will keep doing periodically and where appropriate will recommend to my clients.

I believe many people could benefit from these tests and I can’t wait for them to be rolled out shortly. These are just a few of the assessments that are being implemented by the team at Brain Mechanics

for their Alzheimer’s Resolution cure to end Alzheimer’s this decade. For more information to get involved in their mission or to get these assessments and more done for yourself check them out.

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I have to admit, I did not know who David Sinclair was until recently. Then in the summer and fall of last year when this book was being released, he started making the promotional rounds including a few of the podcasts of people who I follow and trust. This put him on my radar screen. Then when I had lay people, like my wife’s co-workers who know about my longevity goals asking if I was going to read it, I knew I had to order it. I had a backlog of books to read, so it only got to the top of my list recently. I decided to bring it along on a beach vacation and thought I could get a good start on it. Boy, was I wrong! I absolutely devoured it. I couldn’t put it down, and including making notes and high-lighting parts of the book, I finished it in a week, and I am not a fast reader.  

The secondary title of the book is “Why We Age -And Why We Don’t Have To”, and that is exactly what this book is all about in a nut shell.

The book is split into three main sections.

The first is called: What we Know or the Past. This covers the history of how humans came to be, the science and notions that developed on aging and disease, application of science to animal models and finally a great chapter, which the author titles “The Blind Epidemic”. This chapter discusses the cumulative effect of various factors, conditions, diseases that effect our aging and how one needs to look at the cumulative and not one single factor.

The second section of the book is titled: What We’re Learning or the Present. This is the part of the book that details where we are currently with the science of Longevity and the tips to achieve that goal. Things such as; Eat Less without Malnutrition, Managing your Amino Acid Profile, Exercising in the Right Dose, Cold Exposure, Avoiding Dangerous Chemicals and Avoiding Radiation. These are all things I work on with my clients.

Then the discussion moves onto some of the more promising drugs or compounds for longevity. The types of cells (including stem cells), and how they react over time is also detailed. This section of the book ends off with discussing various medical system models and how they will need to change to keep up with what we are learning about aging and longevity.

The third main section of the book is titled: Where We’re Going or the Future. The first couple pages details how some of the concepts/ treatments discussed earlier can really start to add up when combined and make being a centenarian (my personal goal and some of my clients) very achievable.

I greatly appreciated how throughout the book the author described how the various systems and pathways in the body were affected by the topic he was discussing.

The book then turns and does a good job of detailing the issues we as mankind will need to overcome if a significant part of the population starts living 20, 30, 40, 50 years longer. Things like food production/ consumption, political systems, government assistance programs, fertility and population growth, pollution and other world resources. Human kind needs to realize that the future is not someone else’s concern.

The medical system and research dollars are discussed again, in that there needs to be a paradigm shift in the approach and treatment of aging. I agree with the author “that there is no cheaper way to address the healthcare crisis than to address aging at its core”.

In the conclusion, David Sinclair provides what he is doing for longevity as of the publishing of this book. Most of which I agree with and follow myself.

I also truly appreciate the robust sourcing of the studies mentioned in the book as well as the glossary of scientific terms and key people mentioned.

This was a very high-level overview of the book; and it has currently moved to the top of my list for Longevity books. If you are serious about pushing the boundaries of your own Longevity, read this book or contact me and I would be happy to discuss with you.

This is the latest in a series of posts on how to survive vacations and keep your health goals. I had previously discussed cruising and theme parks, so check those out too.

This year we went on a 10-day All-Inclusive trip to a Resort in the Maya Rivera in Mexico.

All-inclusive means that all your food and drinks (including alcohol and snacks) are included in the price.

Like many vacations, having 24hr access to all the food and drink you could want can lead to debauchery and poor decisions.

I only gained 3 pounds in these 10 days and was back to my normal weight in 3 days after our return. I was actually surprised it took 3 days to get back to baseline, but I chalk that up to the strenuous travel schedule we had on our return trip home. That is a story for another day!

So, let’s focus on only gaining 3 pounds in 10 days. How did I do it?

Well many of the same strategies I discussed in those previous posts.

First, start off with health snacks for the travel days (nuts, lots of water, coffee with the BulletProof InstaMix product).

Secondly, Stick to normal routines:

1. I still did my fasted workout in the morning, a little cardio, some strength training and stretching. Nothing excessive, pretty much what I do at home.
2. I intermittent fast normally, so I kept up with that during the trip. I didn’t go down to the breakfast buffet, I just had my coffee, relaxed and read and fasted until somewhere between Noon and 2:30pm depending on that day’s activities.

Things that were different from my normal:

1. I did drink more than normal. To be clear I rarely drink at home, maybe 2-3 drinks every few months. For the first few days I probably had 3-4 drinks per day spread out during the day. Some people might see the free alcohol as a reason to go crazy, and I certainly saw a lot of that, especially with the fruity, sugary, frozen drinks. I stuck with my usual’s, either scotch with water or red wine at dinner. In reality, by the tail end of the trip, my body was done with alcohol and I had one or no drinks the last few days.
2. Whether at the buffet or the ala carte restaurants, there was definitely a lack of vegetables, especially that were not slathered in some mystery inflammatory oil or sauce. To be fair there was a salad bar, but I was pretty cautious with produce that may be washed in questionable water sources. I made sure I had a daily dose of a greens power that I brought mixed in a bottle of water. So, I got my 10-15 servings of fruit and vegetables, all the vitamins and minerals in one quick shot.
3. While I had a ton of avocados (a nice healthy fat source), I was left to fill my plate with the best protein sources I could find. I probably ate more protein than normal as a result.
4. When hanging at the beach or poolside, there is ample opportunity for swimming, snorkeling, sand castle building etc. I also did two scuba dives on this trip. So yes, my overall activity level was a bit higher due to the water related activities, and this likely helped offset the extra protein and the alcohol.
5. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, my sleep quality was not the best on this trip and this also likely had a negative effect to my body and weight gain.
6. While I have a very simple menu rotation of foods at home, repeating nutritious health meals multiple times a week. I found the repetitiveness of the food at the resort to be boring and by the last few days of the trip I was eating what my body needed and not anymore, so this likely helped as well.
7. It was really hot down in Mexico, so I drank more water than normal to stay hydrated. This also helps flush the alcohol out of your system faster and helps with appetite control too.

As I have stated before, just because you are on vacation, somewhere new and exciting and experiencing cool things, you can still enjoy yourself without falling off the wagon and sticking to what you do at home as best as possible.

If you would like more insight into how I vacation with health in mind or how I work on nutrition with my clients click here.

So, something I have been thinking about for a while, that many people are not talking about is Electromagnetic frequencies or EMF. I am not going to get too deep into the science here, as there are experts in the field that I am just learning from. In brief, the earth has a natural or native EMF the averages 7.83 hertz, also known as the Schumann resonance, our bodies have an average resonance of 10 hertz. In today’s modern society, we are bombarded with non-native EMF’s everywhere. Powerlines, electronic devices and the signals we are sending and receiving.

So why are EMF’s on my radar? These signals/ frequencies disrupt our bodies natural rhythm and puts a low level of stress on us, on our cells.

Studies have shown that exposure to EMF’s from mobile phone base stations increased cortisol levels, higher levels of blood histamine and elevated S100B (a marker of leakage of the blood brain barrier). 

It is still early days in the research in this field, but it is estimated that up to 3% of the population has sever sensitivity to Electro hypersensitivity and possible up to 35% of the population may have mild symptoms. I do know of one person in my community that is very sensitive and had to move out of the city to the country to relieve her symptoms.

These symptoms can include:

Fatigue, sleep disturbance, headaches, feeling of discomfort, difficulty concentrating, depression, memory loss, visual disruptions, irritability, hearing disruptions, skin problems, cardiovascular problems, dizziness, loss of appetite, movement difficulties, and nausea. 

EMFs are measured in milliGauss (mG). The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you limit your exposure to 0.5 mG to 2.5 mG. For example, when you are three feet away from a microwave, you are exposed to up to 25 mG or 10 times the recommendation.

After a friend of mine did a ton of research on various testing devices, bought a meter and tested his home. I decided that I needed to buy my own meter and test my family’s environment.

My device tests Radio Frequency (RF), Low Frequency Magnetic (LFM) and Low Frequency Electric (LFE) fields.

The units of measurement are mW /m2 = Milliwatts per square meter, mG = Milligauss and V/m = Volts per meter respectively.

Note, my meter is a quality in-home device to indicate problem areas for remediation, but not a highly sensitive professional testing meter.

The areas in and around my house I chose to test included:

Backyard without a phone, Backyard with a phone on me, Home office, Kitchen normal, Kitchen with Microwave on, Living Room with Microwave on, My Bedroom, Near my head & near my wife’s head, Kids rooms, Near my kids heads, Inside my sauna with it off, Inside with the sauna on, Main floor Digital Thermostat, Lower level Digital Thermostat and the PVR/ TV Receiver.

There are two clients I have where I regularly use one of their offices and computer set-up, so I tested:

Office, Beside the wireless mouse and receiver and Office with microwave running, on other side of wall.

Every area I listed above was within normal range for intensity apart from the following.

The home office besides the computer and other electronics has the Wi-Fi router. Even at a distance of 3 feet, the RF was off the charts high, 100+. This was the same measurement for right beside the PVR/ TV Receiver which catches that same WIFI signal.

Our kitchen had normal readings until the microwave was turned on, then it jumped to medium intensity for RF at about 4 feet away and still maintained that level at even 20 feet. The LFM and LFE blipped up to low but detectable levels as well with the microwave on, where they had not registered with it off.

About a foot below where my head rests when I sleep there is an outlet and it gave a medium intensity level for both RF and LFE.

My Clearlight Sauna had no measurement when it was off, but after I turned it on it had a medium intensity for LFM immediately in front of one of the panels and medium LFE right at the control panel. I was worried that this may have been a problem area, so I was glad that my investment in the sauna is not producing much EMF and no RF.

Our main floor thermostat was medium intensity for RF and LFE, while our lower level thermostat was medium for LFM and LFE.

At client offices, the two I tested were both normal in the middle of the room, but right beside the wireless mouse and the receiver it was high for RF.

At one of these offices, on the other side of the wall, about 30 feet away is a kitchen and microwave. When the microwave was on, the RF in that office was high.

So, the next question is, how am I going to mitigate the few problem areas?

We all keep hearing about “smart homes”, but I want to “dumb” my house down. Meaning I eventually want to install ethernet cable in all the main rooms so that we can hard wire devices and not have to use Wi-Fi. That will come at some expense, but I think it will be worth it for my family’s health. For now, I am trying to limit my time near our router, and we moved the PVR receiver so it is not near the wall near our bedroom or near where anyone sits.

We had already begun to phase out the use of the microwave for re-heating food by using a small convection oven and we are now utilizing the stove top more for re-heating.

I have adopted a wired mouse for use at home, and am trying to get ones at the client offices I occasionally use.

We were able to move our bed such that I am further away from the outlet without effecting my wife’s side of the bed.

Something I have already done for years, which I will continue to do, is ensure devices are off or in airplane mode when not in use. This includes my cellphone. If I am not expecting a call or am in a situation where I couldn’t take a call anyway, I just turn it off.

If you are interested in some of the other mitigation techniques I personally use or would recommend or want to learn more about EMF’s, the meter I bought or even having your home tested, reach out to me and I would be happy to discuss.

I just recently finished the latest book by Dave Asprey of Bullet Proof Coffee fame. If you read some of my previous reviews on his other books, you know that I have followed him for a long time and even occasionally buy some of his products.

Super Human is a book about anti-aging and longevity. This topic connects with me as I have goals to be a highly functioning centenarian and beyond, and longevity is something I work on with my clients and publicly speak about. 

I am not going to give anything away as I think you should read this book too, if you are interested in anti-aging and longevity.

The book is basically broken up into three parts. The first is titled Don’t Die, and lays out the basic foundation for healthy living, the four biggest killers and how to mitigate those. For the vast majority of people these will be new thoughts and ideas, but for myself or people who work with me, it is a refresher.

The second part of the book is titled Age Backward, and gets more into the advanced topics for premium health. Things like brain health, heavy metals and your nervous system. Many of these topics are not hard nor expensive to implement, but you first need to master the strategies in the first section.

The final part of the book is titled Heal Like A Deity, and gets into the most recent and cutting-edge science regarding longevity. These are a little bit more exclusive and expensive techniques for the time being. Things like stem cells and peptides will become cheaper in time and hopefully become the standard of care or everyone.

In my own personal journey for Exceptional Health and Longevity, I would say I am right on the cusp of entering this third phase of progression.

This book is highly sourced with the research which I appreciate so I can look up these studies and research papers for myself.

I feel that if you end up highlighting, flagging and making notes on a book, it was worthwhile.

I fell this way and if you want to learn more about Longevity, this book is for you.

If after reading the book, or if you want to skip the book altogether and get right to work implementing your longevity plan, but need guidance, please reach out to me.

I would be pleased to grow old with the Exceptional You!

All the articles for the trends heading into 2020 have been coming out, some have their top 10, some the top 20 and so on. I have done my best to aggregate the ones I have seen into a top 10 for simplicity. So lets take a quick look and you can compare to last years listing.

1. Wearable Technology

It is no secret that I am in to quantification, I have written posts about my Oura Ring experiment and wear a Garmin and have used a Fitbit. Looks like more people are getting in on this to track, HR, sitting time, steps, sleep and much more. I don’t require my clients to use wearable technology, but if they already have it, we definitely incorporate it.

2. Group Training

Defined as greater than five participants group training is a fantastic way to motivate you to get out with friends and build comradery with others. These could include cardio-based classes, indoor cycling or dance classes. Group training is also more cost effective for you.

3. High-Intensity Interval Training

These programs typically involve short burst of high intensity (about 90%) of maximum followed by short rests. These can also be broken out to be individual or group training. This is the type of training I personally do myself and incorporate with my clients. It is more time efficient.

4. Training with Free Weights

This type of training includes Barbells, Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Medicine Balls etc. Some might consider this to be “old school” strength training. When training with Free Weights, proper form is very important. I view Free Weights as something that can be added in occasionally for myself or clients, but not a staple.

5. Personal Training

One-on-one personal training by a professional. This is growing with quality on-line coaches, and more worksites incorporating fitness facilities. I do not do a lot of personal training on its own without the rest of my coaching program, but when I do, I work with clients one-on-one.

6. Exercise is Medicine

This is a movement where primary care physicians and other health-care providers include physical activity assessments and treatment recommendations as part of patient visits and work with and refer to fitness professionals. This is a step in the right direction, but I don’t feel this has gained enough traction yet. In my community, only a few private clinics offer this option. I am lucky that I have the opportunity to consult part-time at one such clinic to round out patients care.

7. Body Weight Training

A combination of variable body weight resistance and neuromotor movement using multiple planes. Using only body weight or minimal equipment is an inexpensive way to exercise effectively. This is what I use for myself and my clients; Body weight training incorporating high intensity interval training. I also tend to stick to functional movement exercises only.

8. Fitness Programs for Older Adults

This will only continue to grow as Baby Boomers get older and people are living longer, working longer and remaining healthy and active longer. I believe movement and strength training is important for healthy aging, and most of my personal training clients have been over 60 years old.

9. Health and Wellness Coaching

This is the integration of behavioral science into health and lifestyle promotion. This can be both small group and one-on-one. This is my bread and butter of what I do with my personal coaching clients. We work on mindset, nutrition, movement, sleep, stress and other issues that come up. I feel that you need to take a holistic view on your health and that fitness is just one aspect of it.

10. Functional Fitness Training

This is using strength training to improve balance, coordination, muscular strength and endurance to improve activities of daily living. It is usually geared towards older adults, but I feel it is important for everyone. As mentioned above I incorporate Functional Fitness with body weight training in a HIIT workout for my clients as well as myself.

A lot of the same themes year over year which is not surprising. There are many other popular modalities that work for many people in addition to those above, so find what works best for you and get the help of a professional.

I am always happy to discuss your Health and Fitness needs. Feel free to reach out.

The average Canadian/ American gains between 2 and 5 lbs during the holiday season. This isn’t short-term water retention or inflammation muffin top, this is real weight gain, that unless you counter it now or early in the New Year, you will be keeping it on.

Do you have a game plan?

Many people find healthy eating difficult during the holiday season. The holidays revolve around sharing food with friends and family, and temptations are everywhere. The good news is that you can enjoy the holidays without guilt and weight gain. A few indulgences will not sabotage your healthy eating goals. Here are some tips for a guilt-free and healthy holiday.  

1. Be Mindful and Eat with Intention

Know that you are going to be eating foods that may not be serving your long-term health goals. Be mindful of the situations you will be in, the relationships you are fostering or building. Have gratitude for the position you are in to even be sharing a meal with people you love. Going into the Holiday season with the right mindset will keep you on track.

Remember it is not necessarily what you do from Thanksgiving to New Years, but what you do from New Years to Thanksgiving. Build your healthy habits now or continue with your healthy habits through the holiday season.

2. Bring your own Dish

This is probably my most used strategy. Sometimes we don’t know what will be at a potluck or someone’s house. So offer to bring a dish that you know is healthy and serves your health needs. That way you know there will be at least one thing you can for sure eat without guilt or second thought.

3. Eat your favorite foods (within reason)

Closely related to point one, be picky when choosing which foods to indulge in. If your Aunt B, makes the best pie ever, fine go ahead and have a piece, knowing that it may not serve you in the long-term, but you are choosing it right now. So have your favorite but pass on the other treats that are just ok or you could really care less about. You DO NOT need to try one of everything. Try and keep the indulging of your “must-have” foods to one or two things.

4. Pay attention to portion sizes

Besides the types of food being consumed, we often tend to eat too much. Again, you DO NOT need to try everything. You could try using a smaller plate and always make sure half of it is filled with vegetables or other foods that work for you and your long-term goals.

5. Avoid going back for seconds

Trust me I know, it can be tempting to go back for seconds, but try to avoid this unless you are truly still hungry. Instead, try to slow down when you are eating and enjoy each bite. Plus, if you are making the conscious decision to indulge in those one or two things, typically desserts, leave some room for those.

6. Listen to your Body

Learn to listen to your body cues. When you are no longer hungry, stop eating. Ask your body whether it wants more because you are still hungry, because you are dehydrated or if it is because it tastes good. If you are still hungry choose the healthier items on the menu to go back for. If you are feeling bloated, gassy, pains or tightness, those are signals that your body is already telling you have overdone something. Listen to your body!

7. Don’t skip meals

It is important to keep a consistent healthy eating routine during the holidays. Unless you are already adept at fasting, skipping meals can cause overeating later. Eating a healthy snack before a party will help curb the appetite and make it easier to make healthy choices. This is another one of my go to strategies when I am not sure what I will be getting myself into.

8. Avoid leftovers

Send your guests home with leftovers or freeze them for a later date. This will reduce temptations and overeating after the party. And do the opposite and do not accept leftovers from the Host either.

9. Get Moving and Keep Moving

We typically have more time during the holidays since we have some days off. Make sure you get some exercise in. Go for a walk, play with the kids etc. Exercise can also help reduce holiday stress. I strive for low levels of movement everyday and only do a couple harder workouts a week, but on the days in question, I always do a hard workout to deplete my glycogen stores, so that the first carbs are going to refuel me instead of being in excess.

10. Stay Hydrated.

Be properly hydrated before you head to an event, have a glass of water upon arrival before any festive spirits, have a glass or two of water before eating, and a glass of water for every drink of alcohol. Also, drink alcohol in moderation. These tips are really for year-round living, not just the holiday season.

11. Dress for Success

During the holiday season it is helpful to wear outfits that are tailored to your body or a bit tight. It is much easier to overeat when you are wearing loose fitting clothing, such a leggings and pants with elastic bands, as they keep stretching right along with you. Wearing fitted pants can help discourage overindulging as it is a constant physical reminder.

12. Don’t wait until January to start your New Year’s Resolutions

Instead, make a Healthy season resolution. Get a head start on your goals so you do not have more work to do in January by procrastinating.

Work with a Health Coach or another professional like myself.

Happy Holidays!