Budget Friendly Holiday Wellness Tips

It’s the “most wonderful time of the year” – winter holiday season. With Thanksgiving and the holidays just around the corner, there is no shortage of unhealthy foods and stress-inducing travel and shopping. Some employers launch extensive “maintain, not gain” campaigns, but if that isn’t an option for your business, below are some easy and affordable ways to promote healthy behaviors in your workplace and beyond.

Healthy, Happy Holiday Parties

Everyone loves holiday parties. They are a great way to celebrate the season and a year full of accomplishments with your colleagues. To all those on the planning committee, here are some tips to have fun without the calorie overload.

• Drink Smarter – Stick with simpler drinks that don’t contain heavy cream, sugar-laden juices, and other high-calorie additions. From fruit-infused margaritas to sparkling white wine, serve up some of low-calorie drinks and cocktails so everyone can enjoy a toast without overdoing things in the calorie department.
• Bigger Isn’t Always Better – Encourage everyone to eat light by serving only miniature portions of holiday favorites, tapas style. Set up a buffet table with large platters filled with hors d’oeuvres and tapas-style snacks so that guests can sample and enjoy a variety of different foods sans the typical holiday food coma.
• Go Green – Support your local farmers market by picking up fresh fruit, vegetables, and handmade baked goods for your holiday spread. Not only is it eco-friendly, its healthy too!
• Head Outdoors – Even though it might be snowing, head outdoors for sledding, snowman-building, and other fun activities outside. Spending time outdoors can be a refreshing change of pace for everyone and a fun way to just relax, have fun, and even burn a few extra calories.
• Healthy Dessert Buffet – What’s a holiday bash without dessert? Spend some time tracking down low-calorie versions of your favorite holiday desserts and put together sampler platters for guests to taste and enjoy. You can replace sugar and fats in many recipes with natural sweeteners, fruit purees, and egg whites.

Sharing is Caring

Outside of holiday parties, employees are dealing with the stress of shopping, traveling, and closing out the year. Employers can ease this burden by sharing free resources with employees about managing these fun but hectic times. We suggest thinking about the needs of your employees and conducting a quick online search to find a few resources that would be valuable to them. Since we are in the sharing mood – here is another great resource for a stress-free holiday.

Time Off

A great holiday perk is time off for employees to manage the extra workload of gifts and holiday planning. Even a few hours makes a big difference and shows you care. Your employees will be more productive at work if they aren’t stressed by the holidays.

Happy holidays from your Wellable team!