NIFS Healthy Living Blog

The holiday season is here, and Thanksgiving often marks the beginning of celebrations focused on family, food, and gratitude. While it’s a time to enjoy yourself, it can also present challenges if you’re trying to stick with healthy habits. The good news is that you don’t have to choose between enjoying the holiday and maintaining your wellness goals. With a few thoughtful approaches, you can do both!

Stay Active with Family Fun

Thanksgiving traditions don’t have to be confined to the dinner table. Incorporate movement into your holiday plans by organizing family-based activities that get everyone outdoors. A short walk after the big meal can aid digestion and provide a chance to connect in a different setting. You might also consider starting a new tradition, like a family hike or a friendly game of touch football in the backyard. Not only does this add a layer of fun, but it also helps balance out the indulgence of the holiday meal.

Enjoying Food Without Guilt

Thanksgiving is about more than food—it’s about spending time with loved ones and creating lasting memories. The key to balancing enjoyment with health is mindful eating, which lets you savor your favorite dishes guilt-free. Mindful eating encourages you to slow down and truly appreciate each bite. Pay attention to the flavors, textures, and aromas of the food, and listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues. Take smaller portions to start, and go back for seconds if you’re still hungry. By eating mindfully, you can fully enjoy your meal, indulge in your favorite foods, and still feel good about your choices. Remember, this is a time to celebrate and connect with family, so let food be part of that experience, not something to stress over.

Structuring Your Plate for Balance

One way to enjoy the feast while keeping balance in mind is by being strategic about how you fill your plate. Start by prioritizing vegetables and lean proteins, which help keep you satisfied longer. Roasted vegetables, green beans, and salads are excellent choices alongside turkey or other protein sources. Aim for a colorful plate, with about half filled with veggies, a quarter with protein, and the last quarter reserved for your favorite indulgent foods, like mashed potatoes, stuffing, or that slice of pie you’ve been looking forward to.

Thanksgiving is an opportunity to celebrate family and food, and with a few thoughtful choices, you can make the most of both. By staying active through family-friendly activities and building a balanced plate, you’ll leave the table feeling good—both physically and emotionally. After all, the real focus of the holiday should be on making memories, and that’s something you can’t put on a plate.

As we get into the season of gratitude, it’s the perfect time to think about how we can strengthen our bodies and minds. This November, we’re super excited to kick off the holiday season with a Planksgiving Challenge! Whether you’re a fitness pro or just starting out, planks are a fantastic way to build your core strength, improve posture, and up your overall fitness game.

Let’s chat about the benefits of adding planks to your routine and tips to make the most of your Planksgiving efforts. Get ready to boost your fitness while appreciating the strength and resilience of your body by committing to a stronger you—one plank at a time!

Why Planks?

1. Posture and Low Back Pain Prevention: Planks are a great way to help maintain good posture and can prevent lower back pain by strengthening the core muscles.
2. Balance and Coordination: They engage multiple muscle groups at once, which helps improve your balance and coordination, making everyday activities easier.
3. Convenient, Total Body Exercise: Planks are super versatile! Whether you are doing a workout in a gym, at a park, or at home, planks activate multiple muscle groups at once to allow a bigger bang for your buck.

How to Work Planks into Your Routine

There are several ways to incorporate planks into your routine. For example, you can add them at the beginning of your workout as a full-body warm-up before you start. Performing three to four sets of planks before you start your workout is a great way to warm up those tiny stabilizer muscles and help you build a mind-muscle connection before performing your workout. Planks can also be added to the end of your workout as a finisher. Adding in planks at the end of a workout is a great way to strengthen your core and help build endurance in the muscle groups activated.

Sample Plank Circuit

• Standard plank hold: 2 sets, 30 seconds each
• Side plank hold: 2 sets, 30 seconds each side

If you’re new to planks, they can also be easily modified by dropping the knees to the ground, coming up to the hands in a high plank position or by being performed on an elevated surface such as a weight bench or box.

Make November a time to celebrate fitness, resilience, and gratitude by joining us for the Planksgiving Challenge! Whether you’re looking to strengthen your core, improve your balance, or just try something new, this challenge is for everyone. See a NIFS staff member to get started!

Looking to build strength that lasts a lifetime? Squats are a foundational movement that supports health, mobility, and longevity, yet many of us overlook this natural exercise due to our modern, sedentary lifestyles. Incorporating squats into your routine can help you stay strong, flexible, and resilient as you age.

Importance of Squats

Sitting for long periods weakens key muscles like the glutes and reduces hip mobility. But with consistent squatting movements in your routine, you can reverse these effects, improving your posture and making daily activities—from climbing stairs to picking up objects—much easier. Squats help maintain strength, mobility, and stability, making them essential for daily life.

Muscle Activation

When you squat, you’re not just targeting your legs. You’re working the gluteus maximus, quadriceps, and hamstrings, while also activating secondary muscles like the gluteus medius and erector spinae. This full-body engagement helps you move with more power and stability throughout the day, allowing you to perform everyday movements with ease and efficiency.

Benefits Across Ages

Squats aren’t just for athletes—they’re essential as we age. Studies show that enhanced single-leg strength correlates with increased physical activity, particularly in individuals over 50. Increasing single-leg strength can correlate to increased Activities of Energy Expenditure (AEE) and often directly affect activity levels in these populations. The easier it is to move, the more likely we are to stay active and reduce disease risk.

Preventative Health

As we age, muscle mass, bone density, and reaction times decline. Resistance training, including squats, can mitigate these changes. Loading bones through resistance training stimulates bone density, making our pelvic, femur, tibia, fibula, and small foot bones stronger and more resilient to injury. We also strengthen tendons through resistance training, which aids in maintaining joint health.

No matter your age, it’s never too late to start squatting. Building strength, mobility, and bone density now will help you move with ease and avoid injuries later. Start your squat journey today to protect your health for tomorrow.