By Jennifer Pinto –
It’s festive season again! We’re all going to be really busy cleaning up our homes, putting up the tree and decorations, making sweets and planning an elaborate Christmas menu. For many of us it’s all about family time, with relatives coming in from all over. Something about Christmas is so special! It’s almost indescribable.
How do we personally prepare for this big feast in our Christian calendar? The way I look at it is we ought to focus on 3 vital areas – the spirit, the mind & the body. In the 3rd letter of John, we see this idea of holistic wellbeing emphasised. “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul”. 3 John 1:2.
Spiritually, we have the Advent calendar that helps us with our prayer life. Each day of the Advent calendar leads us to pray for an intention, with a Bible reading that can truly enhance family prayer if used well. Here’s a link you could use http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/advent/. Once you start this, your spiritual preparation will take you forward by leaps and bounds and the Christmas Day Eucharist will be so much more meaningful.
For the mind, how about some detox time? Try to get off work a little early. Perhaps, you could put away your phone and other gadgets that constantly keep you occupied with news, images, videos and the rest. Take some down time and listen to good music & peaceful sounds. I turn off my phone ringer and listen to instrumental worship songs on YouTube or even just nature sounds. I can’t tell you how wonderful I feel when I don’t have to constantly be connected. I find that I need to make a conscious attempt to disconnect because it doesn’t happen on its own.
Now how about our bodies? I know it’s time for our favourite foods. Home cooked delicacies and great traditional sweets are all going to be the most tempting problems for the next 3 weeks, just before we start enforcing our New Year resolutions! So what does all this gorging do to our beautiful bodies? Let’s take a look.
While during the rest of the year we are used to eating our regular home food diets, this time of year will mean richer foods, heavier gravies and a whole lot of eating out (most likely than not!). And let me not even start with the list of traditional sweets and cakes that will be around for the picking. So how do we eat up and still be in control of it all?
Here are some simple but effective ways to stay in balance during the festive season:
- Regulate how much sugar you eat. This could be number of glasses of wine you drink, the amount of cake and kulkuls you eat (while making and otherwise) and the eating at friends’ homes.
- You may be on a work break at this time but make sure you don’t break your workout schedule. You may even need to exercise a little bit more to stave off the extra calories.
- If you know you’re going to be eating out a lot, be careful in your choice of food order or what you pick off the buffet menu. Try to be aware of the bigger picture – your HEALTH. Choose salads over gravies and go easy on the desserts.
- If you are invited to multiple parties or weddings this season, do make sure that your other two meals are lighter so that your digestive system can rest between the heavy meals at such functions.
- If you’re on medication, then carry it with you at all times. Don’t skip at any cost. If you’re not supposed to drink because of medication, please do avoid it because it is your health we’re talking about.
- Lastly, if you have extra food, please do consider the many homeless and hungry who could use it. Give it away while it is still edible.
At the end of the day, there’s only so much your body can process and overloading on anything will not help you. Also, if you are a parent, then you’re setting the ultimate example for your children.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, and a Happy Healthy New Year 2019!
Jennifer Pinto is a freelance corporate trainer, trained counsellor & Zumba® Fitness Instructor. She can be contacted at [email protected]