It's not just about food

TYH: Don’t forget your health this Holiday Season

Dec 17, 2019 | 12:24 PM

When you think “staying healthy” over the Holidays you might think food, however, that isn’t the only thing that contributes to your health.

I spoke with Population Health Dietitian, Sherry Ogasawara, about what you can do to stay healthy this Holiday season. It all starts with taking a step back and recognizing that maybe you’re attempting to do too much, this according to Ogasawara, “give yourself some time to decompress and to just really practice some self-care.”

“It’s really about developing a healthy relationship with food and thinking about it in probably a different way than we’ve thought of before.”–Sherry Ogasawara

Don’t neglect things like sleep, physical activity, or eating of course. Now, speaking with Ogasawara, she mentioned something that I don’t believe I’ve heard a dietitian say before…at least to me.

That it is “okay to overindulge.” My mom used to say that to me when I was little, but I’d never heard it from the mouth of a dietitian…I mean I thought most diets required us to eat very little, and eat foods that taste like cardboard…no?

“I think one of the things we have to do is take a step back and really trust that our bodies are going to adjust over time and that if we eat a little bit too much or a little not enough some days that there’s going to be a balance that gets struck,” she told me.

And exercise doesn’t necessarily mean going to the gym…I mean in the midst of seeing family and travelling…I get it, it’s not always easy to stick to our gym regimens, “you can make it a family event…you can actually be doing (an) activity and having fun without really realizing that you are out exercising… we’ve got skating, we’ve got tobogganing, there’s skiing whether it’s downhill or cross country.”

So, I hope this helps you stay healthy this Holiday Season!

Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Veronica