How to Eat Like a Champion during the Holidays
The holiday season is here upon us, and for many this is the time of year that leaves them with some extra holiday weight gain to go along with the gifts and blessings that have been received. The holidays are a joyous and stressful time, and some people use the holidays as an excuse to gorge themselves on tantalizing holiday themed and rich, decadent food. While this can be satisfying and tempting, these temptations can be hard to resist and detrimental to a competing athlete. If you over indulge, you risk gaining weight and comprising your performance.
The key is to find that perfect balance, and to use some discipline in regulating what and how you eat. However, athletes are pros at this, so it can be an easy feat to achieve with the proper guidance! Check out these helpful holiday tips and tricks that will help you find the balance between enjoying what the holiday has to offer and staying fit.
Get plenty of sleep during the holidays
While sleep can be a hard feat for many during the holidays, it is imperative that you squeeze that into your schedule. Not only can this severely hinder your athletic performance, but by not sleeping you lower your leptin levels, and leptin is the hormone responsible for making you feel full. In addition, a lack of sleep also increases your
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There are only a few days during the holiday season that you should consider to be a “cheat day”, and you should allow yourself to celebrate without feeling guilty. However, the way around it is to pick the items that you normally don’t eat on the regular, and omit some of the foods you can eat on a day-to-day basis. Meaning don’t eat those cookies that you can eat all year long, instead opt for Grandmas black forest cherry cake. Indulge on the food dishes that makes the holidays special, but don’t go overboard by adding on the everyday