Navigating the Festive Season from a Wellness Perspective

Before Australia and my life in health, I spent the majority of my career in publishing and information and learnt all about digital disruption before it even was a thing!  Now disruption and transformation dominate discussions around the globe. You are either being disrupted, worrying about being disrupted or planning to disrupt someone else.
But working in publishing throughout the first phase of the digital revolution taught me some key skills:  
  • to focus on the customer problem
  • to put people and culture first 
  • to never be complacent
  • to keep looking ahead and innovating
  • To prioritise my own wellbeing and resilience
These basic principles have served me well.
But the last one (prioritising wellbeing & resilience) is the one we see super smart people all around the world not doing, often with catastrophic results.  Here at Raw Energy, we want to change that.
If you are looking to promote a healthier culture at work (or with friends and family), the festive season can be a nightmare as drinking alcohol and eating loads of poor quality food becomes the norm.  But entering into this festive period gives you an opportunity to reassess your own behaviour and create a game plan that will inspire your people to adopt healthier habits that will without a doubt serve them well. Remember, though, that everyone has their own starting point.
Here are three principles…
  1. Try to inspire through your own behaviour and make it look easy
  2. Focus on upgrading the food and the drink as this will make the biggest difference and is a very personal thing 
  3. Focus on the messaging remembering that people don’t like to be told what to eat and drink

Your Festive Season Food Game Plan

 

Alcohol

Our culture often puts alcohol at the centre of the celebration. A Christmas party without alcohol isn’t going to be much of a party for many people. I certainly relate to this view as there was a point in my life that I had social anxiety and I wouldn’t go out if I couldn’t have a drink, even before I left the house!

It took me a while to create a different belief system and reality around alcohol, but now it is deeply embedded. Changing cultures takes time and sensitivity and persistence.  I find a bottle or glass of kombucha to be really helpful, as it looks like alcohol, but gives your gut a quick boost at the same time.  There are also support groups to educate staff about binge drinking.

Upgrade Snacks & Food Offering

Snacks run riot during the holidays and can easily leave us consuming bucket-loads of processed sugars and salt that aren’t good for your body at all.

Focus on upgrading – and making it easy to upgrade – not dramatically changing, as all snacks are not equal. Turn this into a game, try out different snacks and see what people eat. I tried carrot sticks and celery sticks that were a miss. Then I tried kale chips that were a hit!  Canapes from Sumo go down well. Also, companies like Snack Proud do loads of healthy snacks that satisfy our snacking craving without compromising on health.

Prepare & Plan

Don’t let the tongue decide what to eat, as the tongue will send you astray and add nutritional stress to the mix, and you end up with a problem.

Decide what you’re going to eat before you go to an event or an occasion, especially an event that’s full of tempting delights. Eat loads of plants which will fill you up and keep your body strong and allow it to cope.  Encourage your people to eat all of the things that look like garnish – which put them in the rare camp, as only 7% of Australians eat the recommended veggie allowance.

Encouraging more consumption of vegetables will have an impact on nutrition, energy, and life. A great book to read  is “How Not to Die” – packed with scientific evidence of plant-strong nutrition. Another great book is “The Body’s Many Cries for Water.” If you want a crib sheet, the “Honest Food Guide” is a really handy reference – stick it on the fridge in your kitchen.

Create a Personal Resilience & Wellbeing toolkit

With a lot of stress in life and work, we need a toolkit to support us every day. I’ve created a philosophy and framework that sees the outcome of wellbeing with 6 types of energy: physical, mental, emotional, connection, money & time.

You can use this to create your own personal wellbeing and resilience toolkit that keeps the whole person in harmony.

Follow the 80/20 Rule

Better to do more things right, rather than everything.

Follow the 80/20 rule and think about your healthy habits (eating plants, drinking water, eating healthy fats, movement, sleep, relaxation, social interaction) as credits into a bank account. Less healthy habits, eg. poor quality food, lack of sleep, stressful relationships, alcohol, are debits.

The key is the get the ratio the right way round!

SunLove GreensA great product we recommend from Inner Origin, that can flood your body with nutrients over this festive period is SunLove Greens. 

Packed with the best quality nutrients, it removes toxicity in your body and also boosts your body’s immune system.  In addition, it improves your cellular health, cognitive function, bone strength, heart health and stomach issues, stabilising your blood sugar and aiding fat loss in the process.  

How awesome is that??

A versatile product, it can be added to your morning smoothie, or as an afternoon shot. 

We met the naturopath creator of the product and she was truly lovely and passionate about the good health that we all have as our birthright.

SunLove Greens is perfect at this time of year as a healthy antidote to any excesses.  

Order some for yourself through this link.

To end, here’s a link to a Facebook Live video I did with Personal Trainer and fitness celebrity, Sally Strengf. We covered some great additional tips for navigating the festive period.