Healthful Holidays

It’s no coincidence that I see more acute flu, bronchial infections, digestive disturbances, and UTIs the ten weeks between Halloween and the first week of January than the next ten months all put together. This, according to my colleagues, plays out in their practices as well, aligning perfectly with the high season of parties at the office, with neighbors and family. So what is it about holiday fare that takes its toll on our immune system? The holiday spreads we have grown up with that signal celebration in our minds are all heavy in three of the most inflammatory foods:

Sugar – Wheat Flour – Dairy Products

When washed down with an alcoholic beverage or two by adults or with soda or punch by the young ones, a recipe for disaster is created in the gut.

Need some further support to why you might consider abstaining from the sugar laced, cheese laden, flour based spreads? Here’s some articles for back up.

Sugar and Immunity
How inflammatory diets impact immunity
Ditching Dairy

There is no doubt you have already encountered a holiday feast or two with more ahead so may I offer these practical tips to help you navigate your way through these next weeks, keeping yourself as healthy as possible.

7 Tips for Holiday Thriving

1. Eat ahead: This is a foundational rule to live by when you are making the effort to eat a whole, plant-based diet. If it’s a lunch meal have a smoothie or juice before attending and if it’s an evening affair eat a large veggie full salad.
2. Take your Gemmos: Good elimination is the key to a healthy body and that is all the more true if you partake in foods that you normally have avoided. Double up on your protocol if it supports digestion and if not protect yourself with 2-3 doses of Walnut Gemmotherapy Extract the day of and after indulging. Walnut has both prebiotic and probiotic qualities that will provide the extra protection needed.
3. Probiotic protection: Good advice continuously through the season and on in to January. I recommend this product taken 1x daily for maintenance and 2x daily on days you may challenge your digestion.
4. Bring a dish to share: You may think you will be the geeky one showing up with a chopped kale salad or a vegan casserole to share, but trust me, yours will be the first food to go. It happens without fail because it’s something different for others to try. Check out some of my suggested main course recipes here on Pinterest.
5. Choose wisely: Scanning that spread in search of the safest options? Look for items still in their most natural forms; what most resembles real fruits and real vegetables?
6. Recharge & Restart: Sleep is one of the greatest revitalizing tool we have outside of our diet. So catch up on your sleep the next day and start your morning fresh by juicing and staying raw until dinner if possible.
7. Watch for warning signs: Check out my last blog posts on Acute Care and another on the early signs we often ignore.

May the weeks ahead bring you time with those you love and time to love and care for yourself.

Stay Well!

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