Episode #68: 6 tips to stay healthy over the holidays
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Audible
In today’s episode, Rhonda is going to go over 6 tips to stay healthy over the holidays. But, don’t worry - these aren’t those shame-filled, weight loss focused tips that are so popular (and dangerous) in our society this time of year.
===============================
If you liked this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness, share it with a friend, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or subscribe anywhere you listen to your podcasts!
LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN EPISODE
Listen to Episode #66 - A different way to look at food, nutrition and body size with Molly Roberts
Listen to Episode #41: 6 tips to minimize burnout during the holidays
Check out Strong at Home Winter - 6-weeks of dumbbell workouts you can do over the holidays
Apply to work with Rhonda one-on-one in Strong at Home VIP
PODCAST LINKS & RESOURCES
Check out Rhonda’s FREE Resource Library
Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast
Book with Dayna (Rebirth Wellness)
SHOW NOTES:
(0:49) - Rhonda introduces what we are talking about on this episode!
(2:54) - Tip #1: Get lots of sleep and rest (if you can)
(4:04) - Tip #2: Enjoy all your favorite foods…minus the guilt
(6:52) - Tip #3: Ask for help (reminder: there is no medal for doing it all by yourself)
(8:57) - Tip #4: Set boundaries for yourself and your family, and say no to things you do not want to do
(13:50) - Tip #5: Take a social media break, OR unfollow accounts that don’t bring you joy (and what types of accounts to follow)
(18:22) - Tip #6: Move your body, because it helps you feel good (not to punish yourself for the food that you ate)
(22:33) - If you need help with #6, I’ve got you! Strong at Home Winter
(23:12) - Episode review and wrap up!
-
Episode #68 - 6 tips to stay healthy over the holidays
We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato, Mom, Orthopedic and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, Mom, Orthopedic Physiotherapist and Pre Postnatal Fitness Coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness, the pelvic floor, and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee. Or wine. And enjoy!
Hey, podcast friends, Rhonda here. And today I will be recording a solo episode with six tips to stay healthy over the holidays. The funny thing with recording this episode, it is right now as I'm recording November 16th. And this episode will be released December 18th.
So that is the funny thing about the podcast world. I happen to have some space in my schedule today. Wanted to get ahead of myself with recordings so that I can take a little bit of a break and a breather in regards to the podcast over the holidays, which sort of ties into some of the topics we'll discuss today.
So, as I imagine, I will feel a little bit more stressed and busy when this podcast is released versus now, although I can feel the to do list starting to grow, um, here in November. So, um, if you've been following this podcast for a while, listening for a while, you probably already know my style and my approach.
So the title might be a little confusing. Um, you know, it might look appear as if I'm going to give six tips, sort of like shame filled. You must stay healthy at all costs throughout the holidays. And again, hopefully if you've been listening for a while that, you know, this is not my style and this will be, um, a little bit of a different approach to looking at health over the holidays.
So yes, you know, Christmas time, the holidays can be busy, stressful, overwhelming, all of the above. And so perhaps being A little bit more intentional about how we spend our days during the holidays might be worthwhile to just help us feel a little bit better.
Um, any little thing, any little change we can make might just make the whole experience of the holidays that much more enjoyable. So here are my six tips. So the first tip is get lots of sleep and rest. If you can, I know this is probably something to laugh at if you're a parent and maybe in the thick of newborn phase or in a phase where your kids just aren't sleeping well.
So I understand that that might be not be a reality for some of you in the phase that you're in. However, use this time to get any rest that you can, even if it's not sleeping more often. Um, you know, we're usually lucky to have our kids home and maybe not working as much if you have the luxury to take some time off.
And so, yeah, maybe just use the time to have some downtime and don't apologize for that. So don't feel guilty about taking those rest days. Um, you know, sleep in when you can. stay up late, just enjoy that time with your family. And again, hopefully you can take a little bit of a break from work that you can enjoy some time for your brain to rest and relax as well.
And again, just enjoy that time without apologizing for it. Number two, enjoy all your favorite foods minus the guilt. So this is something I talk about on the podcast. Healing your relationship with food, exercise and your body is truly life changing. It's been something I've been working on myself over the past four years.
Um, I shared on the podcast, I had a really challenging relationship with food, especially. Growing up as a gymnast and then into my twenties and thirties, um, sort of looking at food as, um, controlling it in terms of trying to be healthy. But now looking back, recognizing how disordered some of my habits were and healing my relationship with exercise, you know, recognizing that food is just food and finding that happy medium between.
You know, food is just food, but not just throwing my health out the window. So, um, an episode dropped earlier, uh, a month ago with Molly Roberts. And we talked a lot about that in terms of, you know, you can still work on your overall health and still heal that relationship with food without having that black or white thinking that some foods are good, some foods are bad.
So maybe this is a time of year to start exploring that for yourself and what that might look like for you and maybe not. head into 2024 with your mind, you know, obsessed and focused on what diet am I going to try next? So, you know, again, I'm not trying to have this be a shame filled message. If that's something that you're thinking about.
We are, we are all on different journeys and just because I don't diet anymore, I understand some people still engage in diet. So, but maybe just start thinking about it, start just maybe questioning how is that serving you? How is dieting, you know, going through those yo yo diets, gaining, losing weight, how is that making you feel?
And recognizing and maybe opening your mind to think about that there may, might be a different way of looking at food. So maybe you spend some time this holiday season exploring non diet approaches to living your life. And if you are interested in some contacts, I have some wonderful local contacts I can send you to.
Molly being one of them that was on the podcast, um, just to start giving you that support that you might need to improve and heal your relationship with food. So that's number two. That's a, that's a big one. Uh, number three. Ask for help and reminder that there's no medal during the holiday season for doing it all yourself.
So this is especially to folks listening that are socialized female. We live in a society that is changing. However, still a lot of the emphasis is put on women to do a lot of the household chores and the holiday season can sort of amplify that. What if. You have the pressure on yourself to have a clean house, have all the gifts wrapped, you know, buy all the gifts, make an amazing, delicious, over the top Christmas meal.
You know, your house is impeccably clean for that meal. All of these things that we have these societal expectations put on ourselves. Um, Start to just question and think about what is important to you of those things. And if it is important, that's wonderful. Just ask for help. You know, um, one thing our family does, and we've done this since Jay and I got together, we do sort of more like a potluck style dinner versus somebody responsible for cooking everything.
And that works for our family. And I know. Saying that, acknowledging my privilege, that that is an option that I do have, and I feel comfortable asking for that help. Um, you know, maybe culturally that's not something your family does, so I understand that as well. But with that said, you know, just explore your world, your environment, your cultural traditions, and see if there is some space in there that you can ask for help and not feel guilty or shame about that.
Um, yeah, it's just such a busy time. And if we can take a little bit of that work off our plate, um, that load off of our plate, it will just make for such a much more enjoyable holiday experience if, um, 100 percent of the responsibility is not put on you. Number four, set boundaries for yourself and your family and say no to the things that you don't want to do.
So this is a little bit of a continuation of number three. Where just start to look at, you know, some of the tradition, some of the things that maybe you did growing up. Some of the things that culturally and societally we are expected to do during the holiday season. And just start to ask yourself, is this important to me?
Is this something that's worth stressing about? Um, I know Dana and I did an episode last Christmas, which I can, uh, reshare in the show notes talking about burnout during the holidays. And one of the things we talked about is getting Santa pictures done. And, you know, both of us last year just said, we're just not going to do it because it's just too much, um, too stressful to try to book it too stressful to try to make sure kids are dressed for it.
ABC, you know, just. worth it or more makes more sense to just not do it. I will say that this year I am doing holiday or Santa pictures because I found a way to do it. That was easy for me, easy to book, um, pretty inexpensive. So I am doing it this year, but that is something in the past that I just said no to.
And I was fine with that. I will share one example this year for myself. So since I became a business owner, one of the things I loved doing in the beginning was writing handwritten Christmas notes or Christmas letters to my clients and sending them a gift card for Starbucks. And so. That is something for the first couple years of my business that I did.
Um, the first year, I think I had to do like 15, which I was super thankful for. Cause that was just the beginning of my business last year. I think I did, you know, 22, 23, which again, so grateful for showed that growth that I had last year compared to the year before. This year, because I have different branches of my business now, I'm so grateful that my business is growing and expanding into different areas.
I think I have, I would have had about like 45 to 50 cards to write. And I was talking to my husband about this, just saying, is that something, you know, it is important to me to have sort of that personal touch in my business, but is that something I want to do? Could I picture myself sitting down and handwriting 45 to 50 cards?
And my gut was just telling me, no, there's just too much, you know, too many other things that. I have to do this holiday season and it's a lot of work. Maybe one day I'll hire an assistant to do that for me, but I'm not there yet in my business. So this year I'm going to do something different, which I'll, you know, fill my clients in about to still give back, still show my gratitude for them for trusting me and their fitness and a PDF creation journey.
So. That just feels right for me this year. So start to just look at those boundaries with yourself and with your family. Um, you know, if having family over this year for whatever reason doesn't feel good for you, that's okay, right? And so maybe just speak up and say, I'd rather go to someone else's house.
So the responsibility is not on me. And again, that comes from a place of privilege that I can make that decision for myself. Um, maybe it's a little bit more challenging in your life. Um, just start to think about those little things, set those boundaries, honour your own needs. You know, as socialized women, we are often taught and told to put our needs last.
You know, put our kids needs first, put our relatives needs first, put our spouses needs first. And we just come somewhere last on that list. I challenge you during this holiday season to put yourself, even if it's not first, if that doesn't feel comfortable for you, just put yourself on that list, put yourself higher on that priority list.
Tune into your own needs, tune into your own wants and desires and start to get clear with your boundaries. Even if that upsets other people, that's the tough thing with setting boundaries, it might upset people because they're used to things being a certain way in their relationship with you. But if you are honoring those boundaries, and if you're honoring yourself and your own need, that is always going to be worth it.
So, it takes time, it takes being uncomfortable, it takes practice. But it is possible to learn to set those boundaries and feel confident in them because you know, you're honoring your own needs. So something to practice this holiday season. Number five, take a social media break or use the time to unfollow accounts that don't bring you joy and maybe follow accounts that are going to be more.
Um, bring some more improvement into your relationship with maybe food, exercise, and your body. So just being more mindful about who you follow. Curate your Instagram feed. And just be a bit more intentional about that over the holidays. So I know for myself, this is something I've done. I think this will be like my fourth year where I'm going to try to just take a complete break off of social media between Christmas and New Year's.
I am not seeing anyone on one on one clients during that time. I will be checking in with my clients and true coach during that time. However, yes, not saying seeing any one on one clients and truly trying to disconnect. From my business and social media for me is part of my business so that I have had an easier time having that boundary versus when Instagram was just like a fun thing part of my social life.
So having that boundary has been huge. So basically probably around like Christmas Eve or maybe just before I will post on Instagram that I'm taking a break, which note to all of you listening, you don't have to do that. You don't have to announce that you're taking a break. I just, it just feels right for me to do that.
Also, I think when I post that, it maybe gives other people permission that they don't need, but permission to, um, take that break or question, maybe taking a break themselves. So that's why I do that. And then truly, I will just delete. everything off my phone. So I delete Instagram, the app, I delete Facebook, I delete threads, um, and I just try my best to just fully disconnect from those apps.
Make sure though, uh, side note, if you are a content creator. If you're deleting Instagram, make sure that you don't have any drafts saved or if you do, make sure to save those drafts to your phone with the captions in your notes app so that you don't lose them. Um, I've done that a few times mistakenly.
So yeah, taking that break is just so great to kind of clear your mind. Give your mind a little bit more breathing room to just relax, be present, enjoy these moments during the holidays without being consumed with everyone else's lives, um, on social media. And yeah, use that time too if you want to kind of like go through your Instagram feed.
And maybe start unfollowing or at least maybe muting accounts that don't make you feel good about yourself. Um, so yeah, it is possible to mute people without unfollowing them. Um, so even if it's, you know, like an acquaintance that maybe just doesn't, their, their posts just don't make you feel good about yourself, you don't have to unfollow them, but you can mute them.
I will admit that sometimes I do this with, um, people that I follow that are in my industry so in like health and fitness, because I get sometimes the case of comparisonitis where I'm like comparing myself to them and they're doing all these cool amazing things and, um, I've gotten so much better at that because I know I'm just running my own race and I try to have my blinders on and not pay attention to what other people are doing, but we are humans and we compare to each other.
That's just human nature. So sometimes muting those people, even if it's for a little bit of a phase of time, has really helped me, um, sort of mitigate that comparisonitis. So, something to consider, and then maybe start to just be more intentional about who you follow. So I share with my clients a lot, um, you know, body positive accounts, fitness accounts, um, nutrition accounts, that type of thing to start to, if working on your relationship with food and your body and, and, uh, exercise.
Is a goal for you moving into 2024, start following some accounts that, um, sort of talk about that side of things a little bit more, um, to start to learn, maybe unlearn a little bit of what we've been taught growing up. So if you're interested, reach out to me on Instagram and I can share some of my favorites, favorite accounts with you in that regard.
Okay, last one, number six, um, a fave tip to stay healthy over the holidays, move your body because it helps you feel good, not to punish yourself for the food that you ate. So this might be a big one for those of you that still are working on that relationship with food, with exercise. I know this is a world I lived in for the longest time.
So I feel you if this is you and you think you have to, you know, get up early on Christmas morning and do a crazy hard workout to make room, quote unquote, for all the calories, calories that you're going to consume, um, that night for Christmas dinner, that is the world again, that I lived in for years.
And I'm so thankful to be out of that world now. And. Recognize and understand that food, how we eat and how we move our body are not mutually exclusive. It just doesn't work that way. We've been taught that way that, you know, whatever we eat, whatever we put in our body, we have to work off. We have to count those calories.
We have to get rid of all the calories we consumed. And that is honestly just a diet culture lie. And so, yeah, we can, for example, we can enjoy. A wonderful Christmas meal, whatever that looks like for you and your family, you know, with dessert, if that's something that you enjoy eating, um, honoring your body and listening to what it craves and what it wants.
And we cannot work out that day and still be healthy because we, again, if we work on that relationship with food exercise in our body. Healthy can look all different ways. And for me, healthy equals being able to enjoy my food and not thinking about, Oh my goodness, I didn't do a workout today, or, Oh my goodness, I'm going to have to work this out tomorrow.
For me, that was not a healthy way to live. So separating those two, understanding that I can eat a healthy meal and it doesn't mean I have to also do a hard workout, or I can eat a big meal with treats and dessert, and it doesn't mean I have to work it off the next day. That to me is my definition of healthy and maybe your definition is different, which is fine, but I would argue maybe just like, you know, start thinking about it.
Start considering why you look at food and why you look at exercise the way you do. So yeah, I would say this is a great time of year to start doing that. And, you know, moving your body during the holidays because it makes you feel good is a great goal as well. You know, I talk about this all the time. Re examine your why with exercise.
Um, you know, if for the longest time, the only reason you exercise or maybe still now, the only reason you exercise is to like shrink your body, maintain your body size, work off foods that you ate. You're not alone. That is many of us, you know, myself included. I lived that way for a long time. Start to consider other whys for exercise.
So maybe it's because you want to feel strong. Maybe you want to keep up with your kids. Maybe you want to have more energy. Um, maybe you just don't want to feel stiff and sore during the holidays because you're not moving your body as much as maybe when you're working. So focus on those reasons for moving your body throughout the holidays, if you can.
Versus attaching it so strongly to food and so I have a lot of wonderful ways to work with me in that regard if you're interested, you know, maybe not during the holidays, but maybe in the new year, if you're interested in having someone to work with that is in the healthcare field in the fitness postpartum fitness field that doesn't have a focus on body changes and weight loss.
I would love for you to reach out to me. Um, if during the holidays, you are looking for something to move your body in a way that just helps you feel better. I do have a PDF guide called Strong at Home Winter available on my website. Um, I can put that in the show notes for you all. Um, it's 49 for six weeks of Workouts, um, using only dumbbells that you can do from the comfort of your own home in your pajamas, if you want with your kids around, um, in the chaos of Christmas holidays, just something for you that you can do, you know, 10 to 15 minute workouts, one to two times a week to just help you feel a little bit better and prioritize your own needs.
during this holiday season. So those are my six tips to stay healthy during the holiday season. Again, maybe a little bit different than what you might have pictured. But this is my GM so number one just to review get lots of sleep and rest and don't apologize for it number two Enjoy all your favorite foods minus the guilt number three ask for help.
There's no metal for doing it all yourself Number four, set boundaries for yourself and your family and say no to the things that you don't want to do. Number five, take a social media break or use the time to unfollow accounts that don't bring you joy. Number six, move your body because it feels good, not to punish yourself for the food that you ate.
All right, that's it, everyone. I hope these tips are helpful for you to just start thinking a little bit differently, potentially heading into 2024. I would love to hear from you if any of these resonate. Um, again, if you want. Someone to work with in the new year in terms of fitness, getting back into exercise with a non diet, non weight loss focus.
Please reach out to me. I'll put, um, a link to apply to me to work, apply to work with me one on one in the show notes and otherwise have a wonderful holiday with your family. Whatever that looks like for you. Wishing you all just a safe, happy, healthy holiday. Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation.
If you liked what you heard, we would love if you could share this with a friend, leave us a review, or subscribe to anywhere that you listen to your podcasts. Thanks for being here.
