Holiday season health hacks for inflammation and balance
===
SHEREE BEAUMONT: [00:00:00] The guilt and the shame and the stress actually is gonna impair your digestive system. It's gonna cause a cortisol spike and that's gonna cause an insulin spike and then we end up in this spiral. Whereas if you just sit down, you enjoy the thing, guilt free, you actually take your time eating it as well because you're more likely to be like very present with your food.
Then you find that the next day or even the next meal, you're inclined to have something a little bit more nourishing and it removes this stress from the perception of the food itself.
Speaker: Welcome to the Wild and Well Collective Podcast where we believe empowered health is your superpower.
Speaker 2: We have combined our expertise in medicine and nutrition to bring you the latest research expert insights and success stories of people on a mission to live a big life.
Speaker: So buckle up and get ready to learn how to live wildly well.
cHRISTA ELZA: welcome back to another episode of The Wild and Well Collective. And today we're gonna talk about a few things that are gonna [00:01:00] save your holiday season. So we know that you can walk away from the holidays feeling inflamed, overwhelmed. All of the things like the holidays are so fun. But then also I know through the experience of many holidays in the past.
And the older I get, sometimes I can wake up January one and feel like a complete disaster. And so we wanna prevent that. Like we wanna have a good time, but we also wanna feel good through the holidays. So let's start off Cherie talking a little bit about inflammation, like why that happens and what can we do to have a good time, but also not feel bloated, achy joints, all the things at the end of this month.
SHEREE BEAUMONT: Yeah, I think this is a really potent one to be talking about, especially this time of year, because we don't wanna enter January with that split start all over again in the new year, or, oh, well it's December, screw it. I'll just eat everything I want and then undo it. And it's like, that's when you're gonna be putting on the extra pounds.
[00:02:00] That's when you're gonna find the weight really tough to shift. But if you are more in the sense that like, okay, you are probably eating more sugary or salty foods, you're probably eating foods that aren't. As healthy for you. Maybe you're skipping on the vegetables a little bit more. Maybe you're not getting your exercise in as much.
Like one thing we do wanna touch on is the fact that yes, your inflammation might go up, which will make you feel like you've put on weight, you're gonna feel puffier, and I think that's one of the key things to differentiate right from the start is weight gain during this period. Don't get me wrong. If you're overeating and you're not moving and you are drinking a whole lot of your calories, you probably are gonna put on a few pounds.
But the excessive amount of pounds that you maybe felt the day after Thanksgiving, that wasn't really weight gain. And so when we are dealing with this level of information, it's understanding the true fat gain. Is over weeks and weeks and weeks of you eating in a surplus. It's not one big dinner, it's not one weekend.
It's not your Christmas meal. And I think that's why, you know, it's very easy for both of us now to be like [00:03:00] having such a healthy relationship with food. You know, you can enjoy what you want at Thanksgiving, you know, you can enjoy what you want at Christmas. You can allow your body a little bit extra because you know your metabolism is resistant.
So let's think about the fact that the foods are generally higher in sodium, like we've talked about. We know. We need sodium. We know we need potassium. We know we need that beautiful balance, and that's where electrolytes can be really, really helpful. And if you are drinking a lot during the holidays, it's important that you rehydrate.
But some of the key things we want you to focus on during this holiday season are things like your protein. So. Carbs are an easy one to get in. We know those are gonna jump in regardless of what you're eating. There's always plenty of carbs to go around and there's normally a whole lot of fats too. So if you can have your protein first at your main meals just to keep your blood sugars nice and stable, it's also gonna stop you from overeating later, or having those sugar cravings and making sure you, if you are having those carbs, you are making sure we're not having those naked carbs.
So we're peering it [00:04:00] with some protein or peering it with some fat. So , we're really. Slowing down that glucose spike. Another little blood sugar tip. 'cause that's one of the key things you need to be doing when we're going through this period, is to take that 10 minute walk after a main meal that's gonna enhance the glucose uptake and stop the body from again having that other glucose spike, which is gonna cause your body to store more fat.
Mm-hmm.
cHRISTA ELZA: I think another thing to keep in mind, and we've talked about this before, but the power of movement around glucose control, around inflammation, all of that. So. You know, I think if you go on a walk, but you know, every day during the holidays, if you are lifting weights consistently, particularly on the days that you know you're gonna have a feasting day, your blood sugar can be far more regulated.
You have near as many spikes, and we know that those insulin spikes can create inflammation. So lifting weights, using your big muscles, your quads, your hamstrings. Through Either weightlifting or through [00:05:00] walking or running or cycling or something that can really help keep you better regulated and that's gonna help your mood.
It's gonna help your energy. The other thing I would recommend, even to myself today, I threw some things away because we're kind of in between that Christmas and holiday and there's stuff everywhere. There's leftovers everywhere. I would suggest. Don't buy into it. Like just have the parties do the things, throw the leftovers away.
Do not take the plate of cookies home from your friend's house, like be involved, be social with the events, and then be really on point in between events, in between the holidays, whatever. But that can kind of help stave off some of that. Like, I think we get in this mode of like, well, screw it. We've ruined the diet this week, so I'm just gonna chomp on.
The leftovers or what have you for the rest of the week, and that's just not great. You're gonna end up feeling bad. So to have a good time, enjoy yourself [00:06:00] but make sure you're working out on those days. And also just leave the party at the end of the party. Like don't keep munching on things in between time.
Like really dial in your healthy habits in between times is another thing that has helped me kind of stay on track too.
SHEREE BEAUMONT: Yeah. I love that you mentioned the movement as well, because one of the things we forget about is our lymphatic system, and if we are loading the body with more toxins this time of year, more processed foods, more alcohol, that our lymphatic system does not work unless you're moving, right?
It needs your body, your muscles to pump and get the flow stimulated and so. A lot of the time what ends up happening is we have these big meals, we go into this food coma, we sit down for ages, or maybe you find that your steps are a lot lower than they normally would be, and so it is just taking that initiative, like Krista mentioned too, get up for a walk or like all of us on Thanksgiving Day, we're literally had trained in the morning.
We even did a little blood sugar measure at Chris's [00:07:00] house. And our blood sugars actually weren't that bad. We'd eaten a decent amount of Turkey. You'd had the protein you combined it with the carbs and it does make all the difference. But we had trained in the morning, so the muscles were actually looking to replace some of those carbohydrates.
Speaker 5: So that's one of the other key things. And then not letting go of the things that regulate your nervous system. Again, if we come back to this idea that inflammation is one of the underlying issues here, if we are waking up and we're. Dysregulated if our nervous system is highly stressed and highly strong, and we will touch on an episode on like.
SHEREE BEAUMONT: How to kind of manage your boundaries and things during the holiday season, but this time of year can be extra stressful. Deadlines are hitting the ever encroaching reflection and like, oh my gosh, did I get everything done I wanted to get done this year? The pressure of having family around that in and of itself can create extra stress and extra inflammation, and then you combine that with the poor quality food, your body's gonna feel like there's a lot going on.
So keeping in simple practices like. Waking up with the sunshine and making sure you're getting that light exposure to [00:08:00] regulate your cortisol and stimulate the hormones, be doing what they're supposed to be doing in the morning, making sure you're still getting your seven to nine hours of sleep in the evening because again, poor sleep is gonna correlate to poor food choices.
It's gonna make you hungrier, you tend to overconsume, and then you probably less likely to wanna move your body. So it really is making sure that you get the basics in on a regular basis. Mm-hmm.
cHRISTA ELZA: I think alcohol is a big one. I've seen so many memes and just, I think it's hilarious, but like, okay, liver, I'm prepping you for the holidays.
Like, I think there's just so much culture around, you know, socialization and drinking and we do a bit more socialization during the holiday season. You know, I would say from Thanksgiving all the way to New Year's, that's like six weeks of like potentially far more partying, far more get togethers.
Far more stress maybe where you feel like in order to hang out with certain people, you have to drink. So I think it's just, it's this combination, right? And based on my feed, what I'm seeing on [00:09:00] Instagram and on TikTok is that like there, there's a lot and people recognize that it's a high cocktail season.
And so it's also football season. And you know, in my house we watch football and beer and football go combined a lot of times, not personally with me, but I just know they go hand in hand, right? So, just starting to pick and choose really when it's worth it to drink alcohol because that will.
Create more of that inflammatory response more of that achy joint, more of that water retention, dehydration, poor sleep. So just keep that in mind, have a good time, but also balance yourself recognizing like, is this worth it? Like is this event worth it? And then again, to reiterate what I said before, in between times, during the rest of the week, whatever, really just don't fall off the wagon completely.
You know, I think habits can really shift and change if we do something consistently for two weeks or more, or if we let a good habit go for over two weeks. So keep that in mind that I don't let myself go longer than two or three days without a [00:10:00] habit that I want to really keep going. Whether or not like willpower out the window.
It's just a commitment like, Hey, I haven't worked out in three days. We gotta get moving, right? Like, don't let yourself go a long period of time over the holidays. Disregarding the habits that, you know, keep you healthy because you. You know, if you keep that going, then January one you, you don't feel near as behind.
SHEREE BEAUMONT: Yeah. And the key thing, like you mentioned before, is making sure you do this. Almost guilt free as well, because if we're walking around or if we sit down to the meal and we're already stressed about the fact like, oh my gosh, we're in our head. Is this gonna spike my blood sugar? Is this gonna make me fat?
Is this gonna make me hold onto water? Am I gonna like, I shouldn't be eating this. I shouldn't be eating this, like. I had a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream and all of the goodies, like for four days straight. And it does not, it didn't affect me in a negative way, right, because there wasn't any guilt associated with it either.
I knew I still had the habits in place, like you talked about, and it's more when we. When we actually have the stress going on, when we're consuming the food, whether it's a healthy food or whether [00:11:00] it's an not that I like to label them as unhealthy, but you know what I mean. Things that are gonna serve your body and things that probably aren't.
The guilt and the shame and the stress actually is gonna impair your digestive system. It's gonna cause a cortisol spike and that's gonna cause an insulin spike and then we end up in this spiral. Whereas if you just sit down, you enjoy the thing, guilt free, you actually take your time eating it as well because you're more likely to be like very present with your food.
Then you find that the next day or even the next meal, you're inclined to have something a little bit more nourishing and it removes this stress from the perception of the food itself. So I think that's a key thing too, is like really. Yeah, enjoying this guilt free, not meaning that you can go off the rails and just eat everything in sight, but if you choose to have dessert, enjoy the dessert.
Don't feel guilty for it. Know that you are sustaining your other habits outside of this period of time or outside of this day, or outside of that one particular meal, and it's not gonna undo everything that you've already done or worked towards.
cHRISTA ELZA: Yeah, really good point. If [00:12:00] you're gonna do it, just do it.
Don't look back and then hop back on. With your Helly habits, you know, I mean, the holidays are meant to be enjoyed and I think the purpose in us kind of talking about this today is that we recognize how we have felt in the past at the end of the holiday season. And we don't have to feel that way. We can have our cake and eat it too.
We can have a great time. But we can also end this season and start 2026 out on top rather than feeling like we're so far behind or like we've really regressed in our health goals. So I hope you guys have found these little tips helpful, and we'll see you in the next episode.
Speaker 3: If you love this episode, be sure to leave us a review, download, and subscribe. If you know someone that could also benefit from this conversation, please share. That's how we Spread Empowered Health. We'll see you again for another episode of the Wild and Wild Collective.
