5 Easy Ways to Get Back on Track When You Fall Off the Nutrition Horse

Will Ferrell from Elf Stuffing his Face

**Update: Originally titled “5 Easy Ways to Get Back on Track After the Holidays”, but then I realized that the holidays aren’t the only time we fall off the horse… so enjoy.

Phew… I made it. It’s Dec. 26th, and I just came home from my final family holiday get-together. The company and the love has been so great, but I must be honest and say that I have not treated my body very nicely. As hard as I try to stay on track, even as a Holistic Nutritionist, the holidays are challenging. One party to another party to another party, a treat here, a treat there, multiple giant meals, wine…  do I dare go on? I’ve also experienced what I like to call the “snowball” effect, where one crappy choice leads to another crappy choice which leads to another crappy choice, and I slowly begin to crave more and more SUGAR! As I sit here right now, I feel too full, bloated, lethargic, and generally “blaghhh”. The holidays definitely got me good, BUT with a little effort there are effective ways to get back on track (phewwwww).

If you feel anything like me right now (major ick), whether post-holidays or just a general major fall off the nutrition horse, I encourage you to give the following remedies a try too!

fat baby by the bathtub

#merightnow

  1. Drink MORE WATER
    The best way to flush unwanted toxins (wine? sugar? buttertarts?) out of your body following an unfortunate cluster of “cheat” days is with good ol’ filtered water.
    1.5 litres/day is typically a good MINIMUM for each day but around this time I would aim for 3 litres/day, if you can (you can!). Adequate hydration has a myriad of health benefits, but right now you’re really looking at flushing out all that crap you just ingested over the past few weeks. Water quality is important too, so consider source; reverse osmosis, Berkey filtered or real spring water is best. Try to avoid water straight out of the tap as it is full of toxic substances like chlorine, fluoride and traces of many pharmaceutical drugs. For an added dose of detoxification, add a fresh squeeze of organic lemon to your water!
  2. Exercise
    Get your booty back to the gym or get out for a simple 30-min WALK as soon as possible. Exercise is a great way to stimulate feel good hormones and increase blood and lymphatic circulation so your body can do what it needs to do– clean you up. Don’t intimidate yourself by thinking you need to do a whole lot of exercise right away though. Start with whatever you can and build from there. Anything is better than nothing!
  3. fresh green salad

    Eat this, you’ll be good.

    Increase Your Greens
    These should always be a priority on your plate, but especially right now, post holidays, be sure to load up. Detox your system in the most natural way by including lots of leafy greens in the form of big salads or low-sugar (minimal fruit) green smoothies. Green juices are good too, but avoid the ones with fruit in them, as they can pack a massive amount of secret sneaky sugar.

     

     

  4. Increase Your Fibre
    Fibre is essential for getting your digestive system moving and clearing out any stagnating waste (ew, but yes). Chances are, the things you’ve been eating over the past few weeks have probably been low in, or even completely void of fibre, so now it’s time to really step this up. Many vegetables and fruits are quite high in fibre and are a great way to get more in, along with other essential nutrients. For example, 1 medium pear has about 6 grams of fibre, as does a cup of cooked Brussels sprouts. 1 cup of acorn squash has about 9 grams of fibre, 1 cup of green peas has about 14 grams of fibre and 1 cup of raspberries or blackberries has about 8 grams of fibre. Yum!
  5. Loaded salad with coconut chicken

    This = whole food. No starvation. What are you waiting for?!

    Do a Whole Food-Based Detox
    No, this doesn’t mean you only  shop at Whole Foods for a month…
    The term “detox” might terrify you, but stay with me for a second here. I don’t mean toughing out the Master Cleanse or doing a juice fast.
    Let’s eat food. Just REAL FOOD.
    What I’m referring to by ‘detox’ is essentially ‘giving your body a break’. What I like to do is remove “offensive” food items from the diet for 21-30 days.
    But, “Ms. Franklin, what is an ‘offensive’ food?” you ask? Food that causes stress on the body, often leading to inflammation (which leads to mannnny illnesses, diseases, sickness etc.). The biggest offenders are sugar, alcohol, dairy, grains and processed foods.

    Some signs that you could really benefit from a whole-food-based detox are:
    -low energy/lethargy
    -poor sleep
    -brain fog
    -skin issues/eczema
    -bloating or feelings of heaviness and unintentional weight gain (especially around the mid section)
    -general feelings of shittiness

    If you’ve been a little too overindulgent this holiday (like me), you would really benefit too. Think of it like a body “reboot” or “reset”; by removing these “offensive” foods for 21-30 days, you can decrease inflammation, increase energy, improve sleep, lose fat, boost your metabolism and generally just FEEL BETTER overall.
    If you’d like my help in completing a whole-food detox, shoot me a line!

    Best of luck getting back on track this new year. I’ll be right there with you.

Laura Franklin, CNP, FMCHC

Laura Franklin, CNP, FMCHC

Functional Medicine Health Coach & Holistic Nutritionist at Health Upgraded
Laura Franklin is the owner of Fresh & Frank Wellness and curator of freshandfrank.com.
She is here to preach what she practices and help you to prepare amazing whole food meals from scratch, grow your own organic food and optimize your lifestyle and environment to promote the most vibrant, glowing and energetic you.
Laura is currently based in Dundas, Ontario, Canada but works remotely with people from all over the world!
Laura Franklin, CNP, FMCHC

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