The holiday season is in full swing, complete with gatherings of family and friends. For some, however, the holidays can bring on worries and concern over what is really meaningful. Here are some tips for how to push back on those feelings and how to sail through the holidays with a smile on your face.

Adding Meaning to Holiday Gift-Giving

Ken Honda, author of “Happy Money” and creator of “The Happy Money Healing Program,” has three tips for finding truly meaningful holiday gifts:

1) Choose Innate Value Over Perceived Value

Name-brand bags, shoes, cars, and toys are all attractive because their perceived value makes us feel special. But perceived value is fleeting, as the next “hottest” thing will soon be out.

The deeper truth is that the person you give the gift to is already naturally valuable. The more you connect with the qualities that make them unique and share those as gifts, the more people will remember their own specialness.

These gifts become an added joy in their lives instead of a source of joy, and this practice helps teach young ones that value is innate instead of something to be found outside themselves.

2) Intention Is Felt More Than Price Tag

If you can’t afford a Mercedes for your loved one this year, don’t feel guilty. Big expensive gifts are exciting, but people are truly moved by the intention behind them, not the price tag.

The amount of love given does not equal the size or expense of a gift. No matter what you can afford, the amount of love you give to thinking about, acquiring, wrapping, and giving a gift will trump the amount of money you spend on it, whether it be purchased from Dior or the Dollar Store.

3) Get Creative and Share Your Own Gifts

When money is tight, sometimes sharing your own gifts is a very special way to give something meaningful to someone you love without breaking your budget. I’m not talking about a gift you buy at the store, but specifically, the innate gifts and talents you were born with, such as musical gifts, artistic sensibilities, and something special that only you can do. If you love singing, a special performance would be a one-of-a-kind gift that means a lot. What act of service could you do in a special or unique way?

Tips to Avoid the Expanded Holiday Belly

Let’s face it, what are the holidays without specialties you likely eat but once a year … Christmas cookies, Yule log cakes, egg nog, cheese, and cracker platters are all tempting to say nothing of delicious!
This is not the time to make yourself suffer and feel guilty with every bite. But you can get through the holidays by not adding on the excess weight if you give some thought to what you consume.

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci, nutrition expert and author of Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth Breakthrough (Pub. Date: Dec 27), offers these tips

4. Aim for “healthyish”

Make good choices most of the time, but allow yourself an occasional indulgence. Embrace the 80/20 rule: If you eat healthy food and watch your portion sizes for 80% of your meals, you can sprinkle a little fairy dust on the other meals without doing any damage.

5. Follow the twenty-minute rule

Frequently, it’s tempting to reach for seconds the instant you finish a plateful of delicious holiday food. But resist this urge. Instead, tell yourself, “If I’m still hungry in twenty minutes, I can have seconds.” That’s how long it takes your body to realize that you’re full.

6. Turn to the five “magic eraser” foods that help burn off extra fat while they repair and de-age skin.

Bone broth

Intermittent fasting with bone broth is one of the fastest ways to erase the effects of over-indulging. Fasting allows your body to burn off the extra calories you took in, and bone broth gives you a big shot of fat-burning nutrients.

So, if you loaded up on cookies or drank way too much eggnog at the holiday party, intermittent fast for 24 hours. It’s easy: Simply replace your meals and snacks with bone broth. In addition to melting away your extra pounds and healing your gut, you’ll be mainlining a big dose of collagen building blocks to your skin—and your face probably needs some serious damage control if you’ve been partying hearty.

Holiday pro-tip: You can also turn that leftover turkey into liquid gold: Turkey Bone Broth.

Coconut oil

Your body metabolizes coconut oil differently than other fats, so this oil actively helps you burn off fat. To get a dose of it, enjoy a hefty serving of cauliflower “rice” sautéed in coconut oil at dinnertime.

Green, leafy vegetables like spinach, cabbage, and kale.

These foods contain thylakoids that lower your blood sugar—and that translates into faster weight loss. In addition, thylakoids are powerful natural appetite suppressants. Greens also contain lots of fiber, which fills you up.

Eggs

Egg yolks are loaded with choline, a potent lipotropic nutrient that helps carry fat away from your liver so your body can break it down and metabolize it. Banned diet drugs like ephedra worked because they were lipotropic—but you can get the same fat-burning boost from eggs in a healthy way.

Berries

The nutrients in berries help your body turn white (bad) fat into beige (good) fat. White fat makes you fat, while beige fat helps you burn fat.

7. Keep Your Daily Routine

This will help your body and mind feel safe and secure and discourage them from feeling frazzled and searching for self-soothing mechanisms like snacking and napping instead of eating well and working out.

8. Nibble Before You Go

An hour or so before your party, eat a small snack – some salmon or turkey and a generous serving of non-starchy veggies topped with a little healthy dressing. This will take the edge off your appetite.

9. Drink Wisely

Steer clear of sugary mixed drinks and eggnog. Instead, reach for wine, vodka, tequila, or rum—no soda mixers! And limit yourself to one or two drinks because you won’t make wise food choices if you’re tipsy.

10. Don’t Forget to Have Fun

While you work hard to take care of yourself and make a wonderful holiday season for your loved ones, don’t forget to have some fun. Fun is important for both mental and physical wellness. It can help relieve stress and remind you to be present in the moment.

After all, being present is the BEST present… during the holiday season and all year long.