Holiday Waistline Survival Guide

Turkey, stuffing, eggnog, cookies, pumpkin pie... oh my!

This time of year is filled with a lot of joy—and a lot of stress and temptation! From extended work hours, to holiday parties, traveling, and family get-togethers, this is the season of BUSY!

It can feel hard enough to keep our sanity, let alone to keep on track with our health and fitness goals. But as counter-intuitive as it may sound, incorporating fitness and maintaining a healthy diet during the holidays is going to decrease the stress, help you avoid the nasty colds going around, and come the new year, you won't find the scale has gone up by any alarming amounts!

Here are some helpful tips to get your through the holiday season feeling great—while also not depriving yourself!

Your Survival Tips

It doesn't matter whether you are hosting or a guest. If you're hosting, you can modify your recipes (see two suggested recipes below!). If you're a guest you can bring a healthy yet still festive dish to the table (or two)! That veggie or fruit platter is aesthetically pleasing on any table spread, and it gives you a healthy low calorie option to nibble on.

If you choose to drink wine or alcohol, decide ahead of time wether you are having one or two drinks. Enjoy them, but limit them.

If you are not traveling stick to your workout schedule. If you're traveling and can do your workouts where you're staying, do that. If not, go for a walk or a jog. It helps with normalcy, which helps us to feel accomplished and accountable.

Drink plenty of water throughout the day so you're not overly hungry.

Make sure you eat regular meals and snacks throughout the day. Keep your metabolism running and go into Thanksgiving dinner peckish, but not starving.

Make sure to go for the vegetables and turkey—and to go easy on the mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.

Have one well-rounded plate. Avoid the second and third helpings.

Curb the Cravings

One of the things that helps me the most is my daily dose of dense nutrition with Shakeology. This is a superfood formula that completely nourishes the body and provides lots of natural energy. When our bodies get all of the nutrients it needs, it no longer craves the quick energy of high-carb and high-sugar foods.

Get in Short Workouts

Committing to an hour of fitness per day during the Holidays is just plain impractical. But adding 20 to 30 minutes a day is doable, and will help us avoid getting sick, get us more focused to face our days (AKA more productive!) and when we exercise we tend to make better food choices. Home fitness is ideal, because of the busy traffic, and the extra to-dos, so it'll save you a lot of time!

Sign up for a FREE Team Beachbody account to get access to Clean Week Workouts you can do at home!

Cleanse After Each Big Event

Detoxing your body helps get rid of those cravings and shed any extra weight before it has a chance to "stick." My favorite is the three-day refresh that includes whole food, plant based proteins, and superfoods—and NO diuretics, that means you have actual fat loss.

A Healthy Turkey Stuffing Recipe

This is a double or triple recipe if needed, pending on the size of your turkey/number of guests.

• 2 cups uncooked quinoa (can be any color or a mix, I love having white, red, and black for the festive colors!)
• 4 cups turkey or chicken broth
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 6 celery stalks, chopped into 1 cm cubes
• 2 to 4 tsp dried sage (to taste)
• 2 to 4 tsp dried thyme (to taste)
• 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 3 tbsp olive oil

In a large pot: Add the quinoa and broth, stir to combine, turn the heat to medium, and bring to a simmer. Cook until quinoa soaks up the broth and is fluffy (20 to 25 minutes).

While the Quinoa is cooking...

In a large saucepan, heat the 3 tbsp of olive oil on medium. Add chopped onions and celery, and cook, stirring regularly, until it cooks down and is slightly golden (15 to 20 minutes). Turn off heat, add half of the sage and thyme, and mix well.

In the quinoa pot, once it's fully cooked, turn off heat and mix remaining sage and thyme, and mix. Add the onion/celery mixture from the saucepan to the quinoa mixture and mix well.

Add the salt and pepper, and mix again. Once the turkey is ready then stuff the turkey and cook according to turkey weight.

Root Medley Side Dish Recipe

• 1 large carrot cut into sticks
• 3 large beets cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 2 large sweet potatoes cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 large parsnips cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 whole garlic cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large baking dish, mix the vegetables with the olive oil and garlic cloves. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 to 60 minutes.