Holiday Tips #1

The Holidays are meant to be wonderful, but they can also be filled with challenges! From difficult family members to long periods of darkness and cold, to challenging food environments, the Holidays are one of the harder times of the year to keep on track with your good intentions for your health.

An interesting study from a group of people with type 2 diabetes following a 3-month liquid diet identified 4 strategies they used for success. It turns out they are very applicable during the Holiday season.

4 Ideas for Overcoming Holiday Challenges

1. Remove temptation. Whenever possible, modify your environment to eliminate obvious challenges. Even if they can't be totally removed, place them out of sight. Get the cookies out of the house, or at least off the counter.
    
2. Anticipate challenges. Uncle Al pushes your buttons every time you're around him? Family likes the Holiday buffet with lots of desserts? Plan in advance how you might tackle these challenges.
    
3. Avoid difficult environments. If the break room in your office is overflowing with treats during this season, perhaps you should stay away till January.
    
4. Use distraction in the moment. If you find yourself struggling, find something to take your mind off of the challenge of the moment. Move to a different room. Start a card game. Phone a friend. Find something to help you move past temptation.

I hope at least one of these resonates as something you can try this year.

Going deeper

• Acceptability of a very-low-energy diet in Type 2 diabetes: patient experiences and behaviour regulation

Have a great week,

Dr. Topher Fox

P.S. If you missed any previous emails, the content is posted weekly here

P.P.S. Below are the pictures from my exam room wall which we are exploring for this email series.