A reader writes, “How can I maintain a healthful lifestyle while traveling and socializing during the holidays.

This is a good question because it recognizes that maintaining a healthful way of life is more easily accomplished when we are at home in an established routine.

Because travel and increased social engagemnets places us in high-risk situations for continuing our healthful lifestyles, we need to recognize, identify, and practice a new set of skills in what is often a less regimented or more busily structured environment, as is the case with holiday travel and busy social calendar schedules.

What to Do?
Think about the health goals you want to maintain while traveling. Examples may be weight maintenance, cardiovascular conditioning, strength training routine maintenance, or simply active rest and relaxation. Also, if this time of year means increased social engagements,(and well it should) involving lots of food,fun, and frivolity than think about how you want to feel physically and mentally at the end of the holiday season. Ask yourself what will be needed to maintain a healthful way of life while still enjoying all the festivities of the season.

Action Steps:
1. Seven days prior, write one or two health goals you want to maintain while traveling/socializing. Keep it in a visible area and read it daily to reinforce mentally.

2. Five days prior, visualize what your days will look like while traveling/socializing and envision yourself accomplishing your written health goals in the location that you will be at. For example, if traveling visualize yourself after a spa treatment having a healthy light dinner to finish your day. Or, if you will be busy out socializing on Christmas eve night, visualize yourself paying more attention to, and enjoying your family and friends during the festivities instead of the rich foods and desserts.

3. Four days prior, mentally strategize any barriers that may occur in preventing you from accomplishing health goals while traveling/socializing. For example, if you know your mother in law is always tempting you with fat laden entrees and desserts, devise a strategy of how you will handle the situation. Have a little fun with it, and know that often humor is a great way of softening most mother in laws food temptations. You’ll be fine, I know.

4. Three days prior, write down possible goal barriers, as well as alternative strategies you will implement if barriers arise.

5. Two days prior, if traveling, pack what is necessary to accomplish health goals. Such items may include appropriate clothing for activity and projected weather, telephone numbers of fitness centers/spas; restaurant and grocery store locations as well as telephone numbers. Include other pertinent details that organize your time efficiently while traveling.

6. One day prior, mentally rehearse accomplishing health goals and overcoming all barriers that may arise. See yourself adjusting to new strategies in travel setting.

7. Day of travel , place written health goals and barrier strategies in visible area at destination. Read daily for awareness.

8. While traveling/socializing, use positive self-talk as tool to gain control of negative and defeatist attitudes.

9. Daily, remind yourself you are practicing skills that may be easy to implement at home, but a little more challenging while on vacation or outside of your usual social settings. Reward yourself for making good choices. You deserve it. And, rewards are a great way of helping us to change the neurological structures in our brains, further increasing our abilities to make healthy changes a lifestyle. This can be you. I am confident.

10. Daily, take solace in the fact that implementation of good healthful habits becomes easy, and by changing old neurological pathways now, better positions you for a high quality life as you progress through the ages.

Perspectives in Accomplishing Health Goals:
> Stay Organized and Thoughtful.

We tend to think that others are more disciplined in integrating healthy behaviors, but in reality, they are just more organized and thoughtful. Have a plan and tell yourself that you are in training for a new skill. As you improve at organizing yourself and projecting possible barriers, the newly learned skills will come naturally, and keeping healthy while you travel/engage in increased social activities that are centered around food will become a habit that is simple and part of an integrated healthy lifestyle that is envied by all!

> Stay Focused.
It is easy to rationalize unhealthful behaviors while traveling, especially while on vacation. Recognize this type of thought process as destructive, and replace those thoughts with visualizing those people you admire who have mastered healthy skills. Know that it is within your reach to enjoy travel/increased social activity while maintaining your health. Others are doing it and so can you.

> Stay Honest. Certain events while traveling during the holidays are out of our control. You should recognize these events as beyond your control. This is no time to indulge in self-berating behaviors. Conversely, many events are within our control, and directly correlated to the decisions that we make. Select choices that empower you to reach your health goals while traveling.

Maintaining a healthful lifestyle during the holiday requires pre planning. People that integrate healthy living practices daily regardless of life’s variety of activities such as traveling during the holidays, often feel better and look better. This is you! Enjoy the holidays. Have fun. Be good to yourself. You deserve it! Best to you!