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The holidays can be a challenge for healthy habits. Here are tips from Dr. Casey and the rest of the Levels team for thriving through the season.

5 Strategies for a healthy holiday season

The holidays can be a challenge for healthy habits. Here are tips from Dr. Casey and the rest of the Levels team for thriving through the season.

Casey Means, MD
WRITTEN BY
Casey Means, MD
UPDATED: 27 Sep 2023
PUBLISHED: 15 Dec 2022
🕗 12 MIN READ

Last year, I sent out my holiday newsletter with a three-step plan for approaching health during this festive season. This year, I expanded the plan to five steps with the addition of practical tips from the Levels team!

The holidays make healthy eating hard for two main reasons:

It’s just harder this time of year to make choices that provide our cells with what they need for optimal function. Then, tack on:

Taken all together, the hustle of the holidays can be a recipe for fatigue, mood instability, and weight gain. And the routine disruption and increase in social gatherings can increase our likelihood of getting sick.

So here you have it: the Levels five-step plan for staying healthy during the holidays as best we can. (All products listed are our personal favorites, with no financial relationship.)

1. You do you—for you.

One aspect of the holidays that can sometimes feel tricky—depending on your friends and family—is having different health habits than others. But you know your body and what best supports your health and well-being, whether during the holiday season or otherwise. One of the first steps to keeping your health on track for the holidays is to be unapologetic about focusing on your health and setting clear boundaries to keep yourself physically and mentally healthy. Here are some solutions to those questions about why you’re lacing up your shoes or what’s on—or not on—your plate.


Book Recommendation:

The Book of Boundaries, by Melissa Urban (Levels investor and Founder of Whole30)

This book can help you learn how to express your wishes and needs in an effective way with family and friends around the holiday season. It is incredibly empowering and includes precise scripts for how to share your preferences.


2. Offer yourself some grace, but know when to rein it in.

Don’t worry about the occasional holiday “indulgence,” “cheat meal,” or perceived diet “fail.” In the instances when we indulge, we are generally putting convenience, pleasure, or cultural and family norms as the priority. And that’s okay. Instead of stressing, re-focus on using other meals to get as many nutrients as possible. Here are some tips from the team for finding balance between those special holiday favorites and your usual healthy habits.

3. Amidst holiday busyness, focus on getting the cells as much healthy food as possible!

Become laser-focused on consuming as much healthy information as possible to feed and support your cells.

On a typical day, I’m focused on providing my cells maximal micronutrients and phytonutrients, probioticsomega-3 fats50+ grams fiber, and unrefined whole-food fats and proteins. You can read more in my previous newsletter: 9 Elements of Metabolically Healthy Meals.

So how does this look in practice when it comes to the holidays? Here are some additional strategies for before, during, and after a holiday party.

Before the holiday event or party:

During the party:

After the party:

4. Make nutrients as convenient as possible.

The holidays are hectic. Make life a little easier if you can. During the holidays:

5. Do whatever it takes to motivate yourself to move.

Exercise doesn’t need to look the same during the holidays as it does the rest of the year. These are unusual times. It’s getting some movement that matters.

Wearables help keep me on track!

Lean on your wearables for support. If I feel overwhelmed, especially during the holidays, I always look at my data first. Is my sleep average lower? Are my glucose spikes all over the place? Has my recovery and HRV tanked from alcohol, travel, or stress? Have I gotten 90+ minutes of aerobic exercise this week (the amount associated with being protective for mental health)? Wearables uncover specific variables that impact my psychological state, clarifying exactly which behaviors I need to lean into—diet, movement, sleep, meditation—to get back on track.

The holidays are a marathon, not a sprint. I want to fully contribute to and enjoy the holiday magic, so investing in healthy habits is important to me. Prioritizing my physical and mental health is an investment I’m making to support a special holiday season for myself and everyone around me.

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