We asked the team of wellness experts at Canyon Ranch for their Top Healthy Holiday Tips to help us relax, thrive and enjoy the holiday season!
Healthy Mind
According to Amy Hawthorne, Life Management Director, Canyon Ranch Tucson:
Practice self-care. We need to go out of our way and take extra time to carefully and intentionally engage in activities that are deeply meaningful to us so that we do not get lost in the shuffle.
Take extra time for yourself. Take this time to double-down on self-care, whether that means doing a face mask, enjoying a cup of tea, or taking five extra minutes of meditation.
Healthy Eating
Lisa Powell, Nutrition Director, Canyon Ranch Tucson, says:
Create non-food traditions. Evaluate the role food plays in your holiday traditions. Keep the foods that mean the most to your celebration, but develop or emphasize non-food traditions such as crafts, outdoor activities and helping the less fortunate during the holidays.
Cook with color. Balance all the goodies and baked goods at your holiday party with beautiful vegetable dishes, like a roasted beet and quinoa salad on arugula – bright, festive colors are a celebration for the eyes and full of nutrients.
Healthy Body
Corporate Director of Exercise Physiology Mike Siemens suggests:
No perfectionism. Leave your perfectionist approach to fitness behind at home.
Move! Remember that some activity/movement is better than none, and feel good about a 10- minute or 20-minute workout.
Do what you can. Studies show it is the intensity of workouts that preserves your fitness level more than duration, so short intense bouts of exercise can maintain your fitness edge very well.
Healthy Sleep
Dr. Cindy Geyer, Medical Director, Canyon Ranch Lenox, says:
Sleep. Too much on our to-do list, whether reality-based or our internal expectations, can create an overwhelming sense of stress and time scarcity. We may also have a harder time turning off our busy brains at night when we are thinking of everything we need to do the next day, but sleep is essential during this time of year.
Make a list. The very act of writing things down can quell anxiety. Making a list before bed may actually shorten how long it takes you to fall asleep.
Build in a wind-down ritual in the evening. This is a great time to savor the delights of the season, such as drinking a cup of cinnamon spiced herbal tea, meditating for 10 minutes to the light of flickering candles, or taking a warm bath.