As we near the holidays, it can be a difficult season to maintain healthy habits.
This time of year is busier (and sometimes more stressful) with extra parties, children’s programs, travel, get-togethers, potential illness, and additional spending.
An overabundance of stress, illness, and poor diet can deplete the body’s antioxidant levels and, in the long term, contribute to disease progression and poor health, so maintaining an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is more important now.
In this article, I will jump into factors that deplete antioxidant levels, how diet and lifestyle can regain a healthful balance, and tips for maintaining healthy anti-inflammatory habits through the holidays.
What is Oxidative Stress?
Oxidative stress is an oversupply of free radicals (or oxidants) and a lack of antioxidants.
Too many free radicals for an extended period play a role in illness, poor health, and accelerated aging (such as heart disease, diabetes, cognitive health, cancer, kidney disease, respiratory diseases, and rheumatoid arthritis).
Normal life wear and tear produce free radicals and oxidants, ranging from:
- Illnesses and unmanaged health conditions
- Stress
- Environmental factors like pollution
- Medications
- Excessive alcohol
- Sun damage
- Smoking
- Eating lots of fried foods and sugary items
Free radicals and oxidants are unstable and can damage your cells if left unchecked. This damage is slow and without symptoms until it has built up and shown itself, like artery plaque build-up in heart disease.
It is helpful to consider your overall lifestyle over the past week rather than an individual day or meal. Life has ebbs and flows, and a holistic picture can help you assess factors for oxidative stress.
Why Are the Holidays More Taxing On Your Body?
You may have had a season of illness or complex medical conditions, poor sleep, stress, and less anti-inflammatory foods and are coming into the holiday season in a deficit.
Or you may anticipate the holiday season taxing your body more, leading to a depleted state.
The busy (and colder) holiday season can lead to:
- Less quality rest (higher levels of inflammatory markers are seen in individuals with poor sleep)
- Reduced fruit and vegetable intake (these foods are an excellent source of antioxidants)
- Increased alcohol intake (more than one drink daily for women or two drinks for men is inflammatory and increases unstable molecules)
- More sedentary activity (physical activity reduces inflammation and allows your body to have the capacity for more antioxidants)
- More stress from increased events, travel, and spending (some bodies respond with increased or prolonged inflammation)
While this may feel like bad news, it can also explain why your medical conditions and health worsen during or after the holiday season.
Taking proactive steps before, during, and after the holiday season may offer you a healthier, purposeful, and joy-filled season.
What Reduces Oxidative Stress?
Thankfully, anti-oxidants are chemicals that lessen or prevent how much damage free radicals and oxidants can do. Antioxidant-rich foods and drinks turn free radicals into stable, less harmful compounds.
An anti-inflammatory diet provides various antioxidants that help balance out any free radicals, getting you back to a healthier baseline. Some examples of anti-inflammatory foods include:
Vegetables
| Vegetable Types | Foods | Beneficial Effects |
| Tomatoes | Tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato sauce, tomato paste, salsa | Contain beta-carotene, vitamin C, and lycopene. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant. |
| Leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables | Kale, spinach, lettuce (iceberg, head, romaine, or leaf), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, parsley, watercress | Contain many potent antioxidants (beta-carotene, folacin, magnesium, calcium, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, lutein, and indoles); contain flavonoids and polyphenols. |
| Deep yellow or orange vegetables and fruit | Cantaloupe, peaches, carrots, dark yellow or orange squash, figs | Contain carotenoids, which are strong antioxidants |
| Other vegetables | Okra, green peppers, onions, zucchini, and eggplant | Contain antioxidants and polyphenols |
Fruits
| Fruit Types | Foods | Beneficial Effects |
| Apples and berries | Fresh apples, pears, apple juice or cider, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries | Contain flavonoids, which are powerful antioxidants (anthocyanins, quercetin, and phenolic acids). |
| Other fruits and real fruit juices in limited amounts | Pineapples, honeydew, grapes, kiwi, watermelon, lemon, grapefruit, and oranges, orange juice, grapefruit juice, grape juice, and other real fruit juice | Contain lots of antioxidants (flavonoids, such as hesperidin, naringenin, neohesperidin, limonene, vitamin C, plant sterols, beta-cryptoxanthin, salicylates, naringin, nobelitin, and narirutin). |
Protein Sources
| Protein Types | Foods | Beneficial Effects |
| Poultry | Chicken or turkey with and without skin | Associated with reduced inflammation. Low in saturated fat and contains l-arginine, which helps prevent plaque build-up in the arteries. |
| Fish | Tuna fish, salmon, other light and dark meat fish, breaded fish cakes or fish sticks | Contain omega-3 fats, which compete with proinflammatory omega-6 fats and reduce inflammation. |
| Nuts | Peanut butter, peanuts, other nuts | Contain omega-3 fats and l-arginine. |
| High-fat and low-fat dairy | Whole, 2%, 1%, skim milk, cream, high-fat and low-fat ice cream, high-fat and low-fat yogurt, cream cheese, high-fat and low-fat cheeses,low-fat cottage or ricotta cheese | Contains calcium, which binds bile acids and fat, decreasing inflammatory damage in the gut; dairy fat contains fatty acids with potential inflammation-reducing properties |
| Legumes | String beans, peas, lima beans, lentils, and other beans (excluding soybeans) | Contain folacin, iron, isoflavones, protein, vitamin B6, and have high antioxidant levels. Rich in fiber, beneficial to the gut microbiota, reducing immune response in the gut. |
Beverages
| Beverage Types | Examples | Beneficial Effects |
| Coffee | Coffee (decaffeinated and regular) with no (or limited) added sugars. | Coffee contains phytochemicals and antioxidants, such as javamide. |
| Tea | Herbal and non-herbal tea with no (or limited) added sugars. | Tea contains flavonoids and antioxidants (epicatechin and quercetin). |
Both coffee and tea contain varying amounts of caffeine, which reduces inflammatory production. | ||
6 Tips to Maintain Anti-Inflammatory Habits Through the Holidays
The holiday season may mean indulging in your favorite seasonal foods and drinks, traveling cross-country, maintaining a busy schedule, and staying up late to enjoy precious time with family and friends.
However, you can still incorporate anti-inflammatory foods and lifestyles to restore your body and balance oxidative stress.
Here are some tips on how to incorporate anti-inflammatory habits this winter:
1. It’s not all or nothing.
Consider your eating and lifestyle over a week vs. a single day or meal. Aim for balance over perfection.
Enjoy the seasonal favorites alongside your anti-inflammatory foods. Prioritize those favorite items at family dinners and skip the items you don’t care about.
I love homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes (and may eat several servings), but I could skip most desserts. Customize your eating plan to your preferences.
2. Preview each coming week or the next few days to note schedule and eating changes.
Optimize anti-inflammatory ingredients in meals you can control.
For example, if you have an evening holiday party, prioritize a breakfast or lunch smoothie with berries, kefir, and ground flaxseed, or incorporate a large lunch salad with kale, spinach, nuts, berries, fish, and an olive oil-based dressing.
3. Incorporate movement you enjoy and fits into your busy days.
Some days that may mean two 15-minute walks around your workplace.
On others, it could mean parking further in a parking lot to get more steps or walking and talking with a family member or friend with coffee.
4. Keep anti-inflammatory pantry staples for quick meals and snacks.
My favorites include oatmeal, canned beans, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, peanut butter, nuts, tuna or salmon packed in water, cinnamon, and frozen berries.
These ingredients can make energy bites, oatmeal, smoothies, or nutritious salad toppings.
5. Delegate anti-inflammatory snacks or meals.
Buy pre-made anti-inflammatory snacks. I have a great list of the ten best ones to purchase.
You can also buy frozen meals that incorporate whole grains, vegetables, and protein, such as Healthy Choice Power Bowls.
Local restaurants or grocery stores may assemble balanced meals that you can cook at home or freeze for a busier day. On busy nights, these can be more affordable and healthier than take-out or fast food.
6. Pack healthful, anti-inflammatory travel food.
We travel with three young boys and us adults with food intolerances. We drive 600 miles one way to visit family several times yearly.
Prioritize safe (less choking hazard items), fiber, and protein-rich food for travel days.
Consider freeze-dried fruits, fruit cups packed in 100% juice or water, energy bites, meal bars, no-added sugar fruit snacks (for motivation), dark chocolate and nuts, shelf-stable meat sticks, water, and shelf-stable single-serving milk containers.
I keep disposable cups and bags to serve food at stops. This reduces our travel time and money spent at restaurants, increases our fiber and nutrients, and allows stops to be for wiggles and movement. We save dinner for our arrival at our location.
Takeaway
The holidays can be challenging for maintaining anti-inflammatory eating, but they are also a prime opportunity to balance out some of the unavoidable inflammatory nature.
Take a holistic approach and regain a healthful balance each week by eating anti-inflammatory foods and exercising alongside the inflammatory food, busyness, and stress that can accompany this busy holiday season.
Be proactive before, during, and after the holiday season, and you may enjoy a healthier, purposeful, and joy-filled season.
Read more about the benefits of anti-inflammatory eating for all ages and tips for reducing inflammation beyond food.
Let’s get UNstuck and stay UNstuck!