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How To Weather the ​​Bad​​ Food Storm During the Holidays

If you google ‘How to stay healthy during the holidays,’ more than 50,000 articles instantly appear. Each one has a different ‘hook,’ the ​clickbait​ urging you to click on a particular article. There are no doubt some helpful tips contained in each article, but the real trick to staying healthy during the holidays is no trick at all. If you want to stay healthy during the holidays, just do what you need to do to stay healthy all year long.

You already know that eating grocery store sugar cookies is not the best idea. And eating an entire half-gallon of ice cream while binge watching your favorite sitcom was never smart. So when you see five dessert options at Thanksgiving, pick the best looking one and enjoy it. Don’t feel guilty. Just don’t eat all five.

If you exercise three times per week, that’s great. Just keep to your routine, even if you are traveling. Do you drink one Journey Juice per day? That’s great, too! Just keep to that routine, too. Are you flying somewhere and worried you can’t take your favorite Journey Juice with you? We can’t live without our Journey Juices, so we always travel with the juice. As long as the juice stays cold, it travels well. The airlines won’t let you carry on a cooler, but you can check a cooler along with your bags.

Here is our take on the most important tips & tricks to staying healthy during the holidays:

  1. The holidays can be stressful, whether it’s the travel or dealing with the relatives. So our number one advice is to manage your stress. Just like the workouts, whatever you do regularly to mitigate stress, keep doing it. You can’t just tell yourself not to stress out. Make a goal to do whatever you do for you. Do it regularly during the holidays.
  2. With travel, parties and eating & drinking a lot, it is very easy to get dehydrated. The single best reason to drink Journey Juice is to maintain good hydration. If you can’t drink the juice regularly during the holidays, make it a point to stay hydrated. Add some lemon or lime juice to a glass of water to turn it into a superfood powerhouse of nutrition. We could write a whole blog just about lemon juice, but here are the highlights:
    • Antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral;
    • Rich source of immune system-boosting vitamin C;
    • Rich source of alkalinity-increasing electrolytes;
    • Anti-inflammatory properties fight joint and muscle pain;
    • Detoxifying properties promote good digestion and liver function.
  3. Drink a little grapefruit juice every day. Like lemon juice, grapefruit juice is another one of our favorite superfoods. In addition to the lemon juice benefits above, grapefruit juice lowers blood sugar and increases cholecystokinin, a peptide hormone that naturally lowers ghrelin, the hunger hormone. But be careful: If you take pharmaceuticals, check with your doctor before drinking grapefruit juice as it is contraindicated with certain drugs. If you drink Journey Juice’s ‘Just Grapefruit,’ you can be confident that no added sugar, water, chemicals or preservatives have been added — just like all of our juices.
  4. My Emily Post-loving grandmother always said, ‘Never go to a dinner party hungry.’ That’s great advice anytime but especially during the holidays. Before you go to a party, be sure to eat some high-quality protein and fat. You should never eat or drink high quantities of sugar on an empty stomach.

If you follow these simple suggestions, your body should weather the bad food storm during the holidays. We follow these ideas year round, so the holidays don’t seem quite as bad as they used to. Eat well, drink well, and be well. At Journey Juice we are very thankful to be able to do all three. Happy Holidays!