Holiday Survival Guide

As we all now, the year ends next Wednesday at 4pm. Sure, the calendar goes on, but we’ve all checked out; any aspirations of health have been replaced with visions of sugar plum (shots) and mini-crab cakes dancing in our heads. On Jan 2 we all crawl out of our eggnog induced haze and wonder what happened while celebrating the abrupt death of our resolutions with a trip to the Chinese food buffet.

So why weight (intentional pun)? Get proactive; to help, here’s my Holiday survival guide:

1. An all you can eat buffet is not a double dog dare. This is the thing I struggle with the most. I paid good money to eat all I can, and I’m going to get my money’s worth; take it from someone who’s learned that lesson, it’s not worth it. Also remember it’s not a race. Generally, the slower you eat, the less you will.
2. An open bar is not a challenge.
3. Water, water, water. No less than 6 glasses a day, more if you’re drinking or eating sweet/salty foods.
4. When possible, take a nap.
5. Instead of doubling your coffee to keep up, try vitamins.
6. Replace one meal a day with the endless salad, not the one from Olive Garden, that’s the endless waistline salad. Recipe: chopped peppers, cucumber, celery, onion, lettuce, other greens, radish, sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, endive, arugula; tossed with lemon or lime juice/vinegar or hot sauce (not wing sauce) Notice how no one said salt? Eat as much as you want, and this time I mean it.
7. What ever was said, can’t be unsaid, let it go. The holidays are an emotionally trying time. Harboring hate and resentment makes you sick. The past is the past and it’s not coming back. Take out a piece of paper and write down his/her name, wad it up, throw it away and forget it; you’ll be glad you did.
8. Exercise. Even if it’s an extra lap around the mall, or a round of Wii, get out and move it.
9. Just because you’re having dinner at 2 houses with 2 different families, doesn’t mean you have to eat as much as 2 families. Portion control is lost this time of year. Try this: Drink a large glass of water. Instead of using a dinner plate, eat off the salad plate-it holds less food. Drink another large glass of water and wait at least 5 minutes before going for seconds.
10. It really is better to give than receive.
11. Eleven, really? Ten isn’t good enough for Spinal Tap, neither for me. DON’T FORGET YOUR APPOINTMENTS!!! I’ll get lonely here without you, plus we don’t want to loose the progress we’ve made in getting you back to optimal health.

Glenn Beck and Keith Olberman are causing your back pain

All disease is the result from stress and how our body interacts with that stress. Be it physical stress, chemical stress or emotional stress. Just as being exposed to nutrition-less food, toxins and pollutants affects our bodies, emotional stress affects us too. One of the most powerful emotional stressors is fear. The largest purveyor being 24 hour news; ‘if it bleeds, it leads.’ The fear and anxiety created (often symptomitized by ‘the need to know’) by watching, listening or reading “the news”- which is nothing more than sensationalism-causes a chemical reaction in your brain; much like that of nicotine, to which you become addicted; think adrenaline rush. The muckrakers are no different from tobacco companies. Instead of infusing you with a drug through cigarettes, the media is injecting it straight into your brain through your eyes. Exposure may lead to depression, anxiety, restlessness, sleep deprivation, loss of libido and a heightened level of stress that affects not only your body but mind and soul as well; in extreme cases bleeding from the eyes and anal leakage.

After experimenting on myself, and seeing first hand the wonderful benefits and results that I (like loosing over 15 pounds), my wife and staff experienced we started to offer the Novolife de-tox to cleanse the body, promote optimal function and weight loss. Right now I’m in the beginning of an emotional cleansing. I am fasting from the media. For the next 7 days, possibly longer, I am not going to watch, listen to or read the news, no yahoo news, no political blogs no nothing. I am going to disconnect. And so should you. Read a book (no puppies with cancer stuff either), do something productive, exercise, make-out or something else uplifting. You’ll be surprised how good you will feel, not just emotionally, but physically as well.