How to Get Through the Holidays with Your Men's Health Goals Intact

Late November to late December is generally a time for men to swap their khakis for elastic waistbands and hope to lose newly-gained weight with a strict (and often completely unrealistic) New Year’s resolution. While we at the UroFill® Clinic encourage you to enjoy your holidays, there are a few easy tips to follow and red flags to avoid to keep your health on track.

• Control those portions: The average male diet is 3500-4000 calories per day. Overeating consistently even in the short term can lead to blood sugar spikes, insulin surges, and inflammation. Each of these can make you feel sluggish, add belly fat, and disrupt your sleep.
  
  You can enjoy your food over the holiday season, but keep in mind that you don’t always need a third helping of pie and that not every piece of turkey and stuffing needs to be drowning in gravy. A bit of moderation can go a long way. Your body will thank you.
  

• Go easy on the booze: “House pours,” holiday cocktails, and the general desire for liquid courage to tolerate your in-laws for days on end can start adding up quickly. It’s ok to overindulge every now and again, but keep in mind that excess alcohol consumption can reduce testosterone levels in the short term, constricts blood vessels (an erectile performance killer), and increases fatigue while disrupting sleep. 
  
  Be sure you’re building in a few days off between festivities to let your body recover. If you’re going to imbibe, don’t go overboard, and don’t use it for a crutch. (And don’t drive impaired.)

• Manage your stress: Hosting large groups of people, balancing work with holiday festivities, dealing with difficult family members, needing child care for extended vacations, it can all be a bit much. It’s not all in your head, either: When you’re stressed out, your stress hormones (cortisol in particular) elevate, leading to decreased testosterone, elevated blood pressure, poor mental focus, and loss of libido.
  
  Carve out some time for yourself to do something other than eating or drinking. Take the occasional walk around the block, watch The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly for the 1000th time, or read a book. Stress is one of the key enemies of your performance and one of the first things that drives men to drink and eat more than they should.

  

• Don’t skip the veggies: There’s more to Thanksgiving and Christmas meals than meat and potatoes. When you’re loading up your plate, don’t neglect vegetables and/or fish. You’ll feel full faster, get more nutrients and fiber, and reduce those blood sugar spikes that leave you feeling like a beached whale in front of the television while watching football.

  

• Go lean with your protein: You wouldn’t know it from how it’s served, but turkey is actually a good source of lean protein. So are chicken, grilled salmon, lean cuts of beef, and pork tenderloin. If you’re going to hit up the holiday buffet or go back for seconds, try to stick to lean cuts of meat and avoid heavy sauces. The protein will help avoid carb-crashes and give you longer term energy.

• Hydrate: Huge amounts of salty food and excess alcohol can mess with your electrolyte balance and lead to sleep disruption, headaches, brain fog and loss of libido. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water in between meals and rounds of drinks. There are tons of benefits to your body for keeping hydrated and few, if any, downsides.

The holidays can be a mixed bag when it comes to men’s health. Inclement weather, increased illness, travel, and hosting can all throw you off of your rhythm and tank your health (at least temporarily). It’s fine to indulge within reason, but just make sure you don’t go completely overboard with your health and your performance: It takes a lot more time and energy to regain lost sexual and physical health than it does to maintain some common-sense habits and routines.

Feeling the need to optimize your health before the holidays hit? Not sure if you’re entering the season with the right levels of testosterone? Contact the UroFill® Clinic today for a consultation to get you on the path to peak performance.