The holidays can be a time of joy and stress, with family gatherings, indulgent meals, and busy schedules. Managing stress is crucial to enjoying the season, whether it’s navigating family dynamics or balancing responsibilities. Staying active through games or walks, prioritizing sleep, and hydrating properly are simple ways to maintain physical and mental well-being. Small adjustments, like replacing sugary treats with healthier alternatives or opting for lower-impact alcoholic beverages, can also make a big difference.
Boosting immunity is especially important during the holiday season, with more people gathering in close spaces. Taking essential vitamins, probiotics, and immune-supporting supplements can help keep illnesses at bay. For those celebrating with alcohol, preparing ahead with remedies to reduce hangovers and staying mindful of intake can ensure the festivities remain enjoyable and memorable.
Highlights of the Podcast
00:03 – Managing Holiday Stress
02:18 – Staying Active
03:29 – Key Health Concerns
06:29 – Sleep and Hydration
09:36 – Boosting Immunity
10:41 – Hangover Prevention
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:00:03] So we’ve been doing lots of interviews on radio and a couple of TV stuff on stress eating and stress around the holidays and stuff like that. And it’s a real thing. So I want to touch on that a little bit. The easiest way people here like how do we deal with the stress? First of all, give yourself give, guys. Give yourself a little bit of grace. Like, yeah, there’s, you know, Aunt Susan and her weirdo staff and you’ve got politics and, you know, I guarantee you, you. That, and this is just how things are going to be. If you’ve got conservative family members and liberal family members, they’re going to be arguing about the election and stuff like that. That’s just let it go. Yeah. Talk to people ahead of time. Be like, Hey, you know. Try to chill it out and especially when alcohol gets involved, that’s going to happen. But here’s the deal. A lot of the things that we’re super worried about. Are the things that make the memories. Like if everything goes off without a hitch. Right? Which is the goal, right? We’re all stars. That has to be perfect. And everything goes off without a hitch. No one’s gonna remember that day if you know it’s the one where you know.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:01:15] You remember when Timmy got cut? You know, he got hit in the nose with the football on Thanksgiving, and his nose bled and all that was so like, it’s terrible at the moment, but it’s one of those things you talk about later. Like the whole point of this is to get your family together for the memories and so let the memories happen like that. We remember the silly stuff, so let that stuff go. You implant in some stuff and this is what we talk about. You know, you’re trying to get some exercise in. Play the football games. Play you know, play baseball. If you guys have a we play, we do something active, go for a walk, you know, find a botanical garden and go walk through that, like get out and do something active and move. The very best thing we’ve ever done, we had to connect with a lot of connect and we had the kids play, connect and so they all get together and they’ll jump up and down in the playing this game, super active, it’s super sweaty and they get their wiggles out and so they’re not tearing stuff up. They’re also in one room. So like it’s easier to deal with.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:02:18] So if you guys have access to stuff like that, man ways and connects and like active video game stuff is fantastic. That’s great. The the issue in this is this kind of ties into the whole political arguments. Alcohol is going to be probably the biggest issue that you guys are going to face from a health standpoint all the way through this. And so I want to give some points on the things that make people sick during the holidays. Stress is definitely a big one, so you guys need to manage that. Remember the the stuff that burns up in your body real quick, the nutrients that your body burns through real fast. Method B vitamins, D3, Coke, you can, you know, stuff like that really, really big. I would also start recognizing that if you guys are really eating a whole bunch of stuff digestive, especially if you’re a little stressed out. Digestive enzymes and probiotics, fantastic for this time of year. But the other thing is, is that there’s there’s three main things that we see Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s that are the massive, massive hits to your health.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:03:29] So stress, you’ve already hung over that a couple times. Alcohol, you know, a lot of people are having to do my alcohol because I like it. It makes you feel good, you know, improves the time. Sure. Okay. That’s that’s where you’re at. That’s fine. That’s going to be a major, major, major hit for your immune system into your health. So just keep that factored in. You know, drink how you’re going to want to. But kind of think about that as you go through it. The better alcohols are going to be the clear ones. So, you know, tequila, vodka, A, you know, if you’re going to drink wine, don’t drink American wine. And everybody’s big on California. California’s got a lot of trash, not a lot of bad chemicals, not wine. Argentina, Malbec from Argentina. They’re not very expensive in there. They’re really good. And then some from Italy. And the stuff from France, like imported stuff like those are going to be your cleanest wines if you’re looking for wines. And a lot of them are not super expensive, be like, wine from Italy is going to be super expensive. It’s not.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:04:28] So check those. Get the preservatives and stuff out with the alcohol as clean as you can or limit or eliminate the alcohol, there’s not really a whole lot of I mean, if you had a glass of red wine healthwise, it’s not going to hit you that big. But anything more than that, like the alcohol is a major player. Sugar Sugar’s going to be your next massive, massive hit to your to your health. There’s a lot of stuff you can do. And I realize it’s a little bit late now. If you guys will start looking at the recipes. You know, this is great for Christmas though. If you guys are looking at recipes for cakes and cookies and pies and stuff like that, look at the keto ones. You know, like I am. You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to my mom’s keto pecan pie like I love. I love the pecan pie. It’s so good. And the cakes are great because all you’re really doing is you’re swapping out the high lacy make sweeteners like sugar for the lower glycemic stuff, you know, the monk fruit, the allulose, the stevia erythritol like those type of things. And so those are going to be really, really helpful if you just ratchet down that sugar, it’ll also help you keep from getting fat.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:05:36] So keep that in mind. Great Desserts are always gonna be berries and whipped cream. You know it. The difference is like if I have a piece of you have a piece of normal, like store bought cake or pie and you’re like, okay, like a normal piece, like, not like half the pie, but like a normal piece. And you’re like, how many strawberries and blueberries and raspberries and blackberries with whipped cream can I eat? That’ll equate to the damage that’s going to have to be fat wise or health wise from that pie. If all you ate for the entire like day for like the you know, you get super year like I’m uncomfortably full with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and whipped cream you would not get to the point of damage was first fat as far as you know nasty chemicals or anything that you would with that one piece of pie that you could literally eat until you feel like you’re going to throw up on berries and you’re never going to get anywhere near as damaging is that pie is.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:06:29] So if you guys are looking for something to snack on all day long, get a bunch of berries, blueberries, like you just go to town on them and have some whipped cream with them like it’s whipped cream has very, very, very little negative function with it. And so you go that route. Let’s see. The other thing is you’ve got to get your sleep. This is one of those big things like especially your kids, like this is a big, big, big deal for kiddos. Like you’re like, they don’t have schools. They can stay up as late as they want to and so get up, you know, And now, now that’s the fat though. Your body heals, regenerate and repairs while you’re asleep. So that’s a big one. Even for adults. You guys got to really get your sleep in. If you’re not going to your sleep and you’re going to be broken down. And I know a lot of people are like. Well, I’ll. I’ll wake up early and stay up late cooking and cleaning and stuff like that. If you can try to spread it out over over a little bit of time, you know, that’s gonna be a really great one as well. As far as the all day grazing again, go back to the kiddo stuff. You know, if you guys can find some Quito chocolates and desserts, Lily’s is fantastic. Choc zero makes good stuff. You know, even I’m not a huge fan of the the sweeteners, you know, sucralose and aspartame.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:07:40] So I think that quest makes some pretty good stuff. But here’s the deal. If you guys are going to be snacking all day long. Go ahead and replace that option with something that’s just better for you like is eating. Quest Is it and is eating Lily’s chocolate all day long. Good for you? No. Is going to make you fat, probably. Is it going to be as damaging and make you as fat as Hershey’s? God, no. No, not at all. When you start adding the sugars and that’s when things get bad. So if you know you’re going to do that, find a way to just replace it. That’s why I like the berries. It’s why first chocolates in there, like the Lily’s chocolates. And one of things you there’s Lily’s dark chocolate chocolate chips. That’s a great option. There’s a little hand, you know. Great. But again, they’re not. It’s not going to make you not fat. Like, it’s just gonna make you a lot less fat.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:08:28] So, again, quantity of consumption is always going to be a thing. So keep that in mind. And then water. Yeah, especially when it gets cooler outside, people are like, they just don’t think to drink water if your lips are chapped. You’re dehydrated. Not you’re getting dehydrated. Not you need drink water soon. You’re already dehydrated. You’re already there. If your urine isn’t clear, you’re already dehydrated. And so giant amounts of water over the next couple of days like this is gonna be a massive, massive thing. So I’ll call back as much as you can. Catch a sugar back as much as you can. Drink lots of water. Get your sleep and take your vitamins. This is a big, big deal for right now. Take. Take all your monthly B vitamins. Take your CoQ10, take you, take your digestive enzymes, take your probiotics. You know, it’s a really, really big deal. Here’s the other thing. If you’ve got people coming in from all over the country or all over town, you’re going to have 15 different people, especially if you have a lot of kids in the house. You guys are going to want to take a little anti or extra anti-virals and stuff like that.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:09:36] And you can you know, you can swim the offices, get them, you can get them on the Pillars of Wellness website lysine. And Alison and RFA are great options. So lysine is the amino acid your body uses to literally fight viruses. So it works on all viruses, herpes virus or cold sores. It works on colds. It works on flus. It does not work on manmade bioweapons, so it does not work against Covid. We’ve got some other options we’re coming up to use on that one. So Covid typically we’ll use quinine. We’re working on processing and figuring out how to use wormwood. But, you know, those are the things that work on that one. So if you’ve got if you’re worried about Covid quinine, not okay and it’s not okay, we subsidize the blood vessels, we get more oxygen. It’s a fantastic thing to take all the time. All these are on the ones website and AC and AC increases what’s called glutathione, which helps your body process and clean things out. So in a season, be a great one to take as well. And then, you know, adrenal support, that type of stuff. So if you guys are looking for that type of stuff, definitely walk that way.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:10:41] Also, if you guys are going to be drinking. So I used to drink a lot like. Considerable amount, and I developed a supplement called Tomorrow Effects that completely blocks hangovers. So if you guys are in around first, go swing up and grab some tomorrow effects. Take four of them with a bottle of water. The night shoes get done drinking like before you go to bed and it’ll block your hangover. It will not resolve your sleep issues though. So here go. Like it was great back. I was still really tired the next day and I really like I went to bed at three, got up at five. I’m like, Well, you got two hours of really bad sleep, so you’re going to be tired. But. That’s one of those things that it’ll really kind of help, you know, block The hangover, make you feel a little bit better the next day. So New Year stuff, Christmas stuff. If you guys have Christmas parties coming up, you’re going to be drinking that swing by the office. Grab some tomorrow. Facts. It’s really, really great. For most people, you know, I tell them, put four capsules in a plastic cup next to a bottle of water. And then before you go to bed, swallow your pills and you’ll wake up. Good.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:11:46] So if you guys are needing some of that, some of the opposition, grab it or we can ship it to you. Obviously we can’t get it to you by tomorrow. But if you guys are like, Hey, that’s something that I want to deal with for Christmas or New Year’s or whatever. Call the office. We can ship it to you. That’s kind of the big stuff that we want to do to kind of keep ourselves healthy and keep ourselves from getting sick. And if you guys keep that up, you know, build your immune system up to keep your body’s defenses strong and you guys can kind of make it through without getting sick. So we’re going to we’ve got some recipes and stuff where we’re putting all together the getting all the recipes together and everything together as a giant pan. Well, we’re going to get together for you for the website if you guys are looking for keto stuff. Go to Amazon. The ultimate Keto Baking guide is a great option. It’s a great book that’ll help out. If you guys have anything else, drop in the comments. Send us questions at questions at Chalmers Morningstar.com and tell everybody about the about the morning podcast up on the 16th of December. We’re going to start doing a How to Find your Wellness Team, how to find your Health Care team.
Dr Matt Chalmers [00:12:53] So tell all your friends about that one, because that’s going to be a really big deal when we’re looking at you. Anybody who’s doing any type of New Year’s resolution, anybody who just wants to be healthier, anybody who’s into health at once, you know, it’s more options and stuff like that that those two weeks, the 16 to the 31st are going to be really, really beneficial for everybody because there’s things in there that, you know, maybe you don’t know about, you know, DNA methylation tests. We’re going to do lots of cardiovascular stuff. We’re going to talk about hormones. We’re talking about peptides. We’re talking about fat loss and talk about muscle building, where you talk about how to find the right people to build your team to do all that stuff. So 16th to the 21st, sorry, 16th through the 31st 745 Central Time. So I’m going to do on Christmas and holiday. So get tell your friends that, share that around and we’ll see you guys there. Have a nice day. Thanks for your time.
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