Top 10 Tips for a Safe and Healthy Holiday Season

Choosing the right foods is crucial for maintaining your health during the holidays. Typically, we tend to indulge in eating or attending parties and gatherings that are hard to resist. However, that doesn't mean you have to overeat at these gatherings. If you're planning to attend parties, eat a light meal about 1 hour before the event to avoid being too hungry while working. Especially at parties involving alcohol, having something to eat beforehand is essential.

Another point to note is that you shouldn't 'save your appetite' to enjoy the festivities more. Letting yourself go hungry leads to a tendency to choose unhealthy foods more often. Moreover, during the holidays, meals usually consist of oily or spicy foods. Balance it out by eating more vegetables and fruits. You can also divide half of your plate into greens or fruits, and the other half into quarters: ¼ for carbohydrates, ¼ for protein at your parties.

Getting enough sleep is essential for good mood, good health, and a radiant appearance throughout the holiday season. Even when you're traveling during the holidays, make sure you allocate enough time for sleep. For sleep, timing is crucial, so try to maintain a consistent bedtime and wake-up time every day, even while traveling.

Establishing a relaxing bedtime routine can help you maintain a sleep schedule. Although the holidays may be busier for some people than usual, try not to go to bed too late and avoid waking up too late.

Not drinking enough water can leave your body feeling hungrier, sluggish, and tired. This condition may lead you to crave snacks, unhealthy foods, and consume too many caffeine-containing beverages. Whenever you feel like snacking, try to aim to drink a glass of water before eating. Staying hydrated is also a solution to limit the use of alcoholic beverages during the holidays. During the holidays, you should limit the consumption of 'empty calorie' beverages like beer because they only contain sugar and lack nutritional value.

Drink smartly. However, it cannot be denied that alcoholic beverages are an essential part of year-end parties. Therefore, the advice here is to limit the amount of beer you consume. And if you must drink heavily, choose your timing wisely. It's better to drink heavily around late afternoon rather than late evening because alcohol can disrupt your sleep. If possible, alternate between drinking water and alcoholic beverages to keep your body hydrated.

Fear of losing face, feelings of obligation, and reluctance to refuse are mistakes that lead people to become overwhelmed and get involved in unnecessary troubles, especially during holidays and festive seasons. Knowing how to decline excessive demands helps you truly enjoy your holidays and reduces stress during your break.

In communication, refusal is also an art that requires delicacy, sophistication, but also straightforwardness and decisiveness. Refuse unnecessary meetings to make time for yourself, for your family, and above all, to reduce the risk of disease transmission during this sensitive time.

Holiday seasons often come with long-distance travels, vacations, or family visits. Therefore, many people may struggle to maintain their workout routines due to the distant location of gyms or the lack of nearby fitness facilities.

However, you can exercise anywhere, anytime with exercises like squats, lunges, jumping jacks, push-ups, etc. Try to exercise whenever and wherever you can, even with the smallest workouts. After all, some exercise is better than none. Regular exercise will help you avoid gaining weight during the holiday season.

After indulging in days of feasting, it's time to plan for body detoxification. Gut health is crucial in maintaining the normal functioning of the detoxification system. When it comes to the digestive system, we cannot ignore prebiotics, a type of fiber that nourishes beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Imbalances in gut bacteria can stem from various factors, including poor dietary quality. These bacterial changes can weaken the immune system and the body's detoxification ability, thereby increasing the risk of inflammation.

Foods rich in prebiotics include tomatoes, artichokes, bananas, asparagus, onions, garlic, and oats.

One of the essentials to prepare when traveling during holiday seasons, but easily forgotten, is a travel medical kit or a travel medication bag. In addition to first aid supplies for scratches or insect bites, don't forget medications for pain relief, diarrhea, allergies, etc. Pay attention to the health condition of family members to supplement with specific or supportive medications when needed.

To enjoy a healthy holiday with your family, you need to prepare and organize everything as early as possible. Especially if you have young children, it's advisable to prepare a separate backpack or bag for them so that you have everything you need at hand. If you're traveling with elderly people, choose a resort close to home and the most comfortable means of transportation possible!

During extended holidays, especially Tet holiday, housewives often have the habit of buying food to store in the refrigerator for the 3 Tet days, including typical dishes like smoked ham hock, sausage, meatloaf, dried beef, sausages, and pork floss, so most of the food is not fresh. These typical dishes are salty and rich in fat, so they are not good for those who need to limit salt and fat intake.

Therefore, housewives should cook rice regularly, prepare stir-fried vegetables or hot soups to create a cozy atmosphere and protect the health of the family.

During family gatherings on holidays, there are often drinking sessions or consumption of soft drinks. However, soft drinks contain a lot of sugar, so when the body absorbs too much, it will create excess fat leading to weight gain, while alcohol can easily affect the metabolic function in the liver.

Excessive consumption can damage the liver, reducing its detoxification function, negatively impacting the body's digestion. Therefore, replace soft drinks and alcohol with juices and water.

After indulgent evening feasts during every Tet holiday, it's beneficial to drink a glass of diluted lemon water upon waking up to flush toxins out of the body, helping to dissolve accumulated layers of fat under the skin. If you make it a regular habit, you'll ensure you won't gain weight.

Note: People who often suffer from gastric or stomach pains should avoid drinking lemon water without sugar, as it may exacerbate gastric issues. Instead, you can opt for warm water with honey.

Tip: Drinking warm lemon water is even better for digestion.