December 20, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of The Ask Dr Ernst Show, Dr. Ernst breaks down the top 5 health mistakes people make between Christmas and New Year’s that quietly drive inflammation,weight gain, fatigue, and nervous system burnout. Learn the functional, nervous-system-based truths behind holiday stress, constant eating, alcohol, skipped self-care, and why waiting until January is already too late—plus what to do instead to finish the year strong and start the next one with real momentum.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Ask Doctor Ernst Show is presented by doctor Aaron Ernst,
a board certified doctor of Natural Medicine, chiropractic physician, and
a functional health coach specializing in root calls, examination using
spinal correction, nutritional coaching, and cellular detoxification, and is for
informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a
substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Seek a qualified
(00:23):
functional healthcare professional before changing your health program or embarking
on a new one. Visit ask doctor Ernst dot com
for credentialing, certifications or more information. It's time to transform
your health with one of the nation's leading and growing
authorities and Total Health. Over the next hour, learn from
countless hours of research and clinical experience on how to
revolutionize your health and the health of those you love most.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good afternoon, Happy Saturday. You're listening to the Ask Doctor
Ernst Show. Hey, today is a very special livestream only broadcast.
The tar Heels are doing really, really well, so we
got preempted from our air streams. That doesn't hold us
back from coming at you live on Saturdays with some
great information. As you guys know, this is a show
where pounds are shed, disease is dead. Where you get
(01:08):
to be set free from your health problems as you
learn to take control of your health, become responsible, become
your own doctor. And our topic today is going to
be profound the top five holiday mistakes that we make
during the holiday season that has a major impact on
our health. And remember, the holidays is not just one
(01:28):
or two days. A lot of us will take the
timeframe from November to December even into early January and
will excuse away the stress of the holidays as a
way to just put our health on the side burner
or back burner, not because of just one meal or
not because of just one dessert. But I'm going to
tell you whatever happens from now, like today, this Saturday,
(01:51):
all the way through to the end of New Year's
can set your future so it can look vibrant and bright,
or these last couple weeks could be the anchor and
the sabotage that holds everything back. Look, a lot of
people think that their health journey begins in January, right
the New Year resolutions. Let's hit the ground running. But
(02:12):
the weight you gained, the fatigue you have, the brain fog,
the joint pain. All of those didn't just show up.
It's progressive from the time before, even preceding holidays, on
the decisions you make and the things that you do. Remember,
your body only responds to input, the food you eat,
the stress you have, the sleep you get, the movement
(02:34):
that you give yourself, how you regulate your nervous system,
and consistency. And often what happens is these things change
during the holidays, especially between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's
and unfortunately, this is a time when a lot of
our routines will shift or lighten. We sleep less, we
eat more, we become inconsistent with things we put in
(02:56):
our body. Our self care often gets postponed because again,
remember it's the holidays. I'm so stressed out, I've got
so much going on. I'll do that later. We're already
starting to hear it in our practice, and we want
to help you to squash that mentality. Conventional thinking, conventional
medicine will often shrug this off and say, hey, it's
normal during the holidays, holiday weight gain expected come January,
(03:21):
you're going to hit your resolutions and lose it. You know,
the fatigue, the seasonal issues, etc. Normal In my opinion.
We need to reset the way we look at the holidays.
So I want to give you today again the top
five mistakes that I see people make every single day
that sets them up for further stress come January, and
(03:42):
how you can use this time right now to hit
your January resolutions and start losing weight now, start feeling
better now, start getting your fatigue gone, your joint pain right.
From a functional perspective, ready, what's happening now is a
prediction of where things are going to be come twenty twenty.
Blood sugars need to be stabilized, inflammation needs to be reduced,
(04:04):
Your nervous system needs to be stimulated so it gets
out of sympathetic fight or flight. So when January, why
it arrives. It's no wonder that so many people are
kind of like, oh, I'm just so tired and fatigued
because they're coming out of that holiday slump. The answer
is not a lack of willpower. It's how you can
train your physiology now for success in the next couple
(04:25):
of weeks. So remember, today's show is not about becoming
guilty or restricting or talking about perfection. It's just simply
about awareness. Because once you understand, listen to this. That
your body responds to stimulus is during the holiday seasons,
you can make simple, intelligent choices that will massively protect
(04:46):
you from sabotaging your health. So these top five mistakes
I'm going to show you is what people do between
now and the end of New Year's and this is
what sets the stage for inflammation, weight gain, hormonal mistakes.
And I'm gonna give you the options, the suggestions of
how you can correct this now so you can live
(05:06):
an exceptional end of twenty twenty five and turn twenty
twenty six into the best year for your health. Okay,
Mistake number one here it comes turning just a few
days into a free for all of multiple weeks. Okay.
The first most common mistake I see people make between
(05:26):
especially Christmas and New Year's is mentally deciding that somehow
this time is a excuse to say, well, it's the holidays,
so I'm gonna put this off. There's this subtle shift
that happens right before Christmas and as we shift into
New Year's where we say it's only just a few days,
(05:46):
like it's just Christmas Eve or it's just Christmas Day.
I'm just gonna slip on my routines. I'm gonna skip
my supplements, I'm gonna skip my adjustments. I'm gonna eat
that food I wouldn't normally eat because it's the holidays.
I'll just enjoy it this week and I'll take care
of it come January. This belief changes behavior. Structures often disappear.
(06:08):
Disciplines relax intension can become replaced with autopilot, and before
you know it, you look at the end of the
year and you go, oh, I gained seven pounds. I've
been completely off my routine. And look, sometimes it's hard
to get back on the wagon. From a functional standpoint,
this right here, this mindset is where it begins. Your
(06:28):
body doesn't require months of poor input to change your direction.
Some people think, oh, I have to be off track
for months before I'm going to physically see a change. No.
One day of elevated sugars, refined carbohydrates, late night eating
alcohol can drastically create inflation within the body, increasing fat
(06:49):
storage enzymes, irritating your gutlining. This isn't opinion, it's just
basic physiology. Your metabolism is incredibly adaptive. It adapts to patterns,
not intentions, So When your body experiences repeated blood sugar spikes,
it responds and becomes less sensitive to insulin. When food
(07:10):
intake extends into the later part of the nights, your
circadian cycles are disrupted, and it tells your body to
store fat. When your structure I'm gonna get up at
this time, I'm gonna work out it this time, I'm
gonna take myself as to this time. When that disappears,
you lose internal rhythm. And what most people don't realize
is that this damage of internal rhythm shifts isn't caused
(07:32):
by just one meal itself. It happens during the entire timeframe.
One meal doesn't derail your health, but a week of
that same thing can. Conventional advice often will encourage you
just you know what, relax, enjoy the holidays. It's okay,
have an extra slice, have an extra drink. But abandonment
(07:53):
tells your body, Hey, there's no rhythm, there's no consistency,
it's not predictable, and your body responds by taking the
stored excess and putting it into fat. This is why
most people generally feel the most stressed out and the
most irritated, the most tired, and the most achy from
now till New Year's right, energy goes down, Close feel tighter,
(08:18):
digestion slows down. We feel less motivated, less restored. Okay,
we can't blame our age, or our genetics or our
bad luck. Finishing the year strong doesn't mean avoiding celebration.
It means returning to a structured consistency, defining your meals
instead of eating all the time, stopping food intake before
(08:40):
you go to bed at least two hours, re establishing
a rhythm of your exercise routines, your supplements, your adjustments
to your chiropractor. Your body thrives on consistency far more
than it does perfection, and a simple decision to not
take a few days and turn it into a free
for all for several weeks is the biggest mistake most
(09:02):
people make. It's the holidays is a phrase. You should
be very careful if you hear yourself saying that you
should go, oh my gosh, what did I just do? Okay?
Mistake number two eating all day instead of eating consistently.
The second major mistake that people make between now and
New Year's is not necessarily what they eat, but it's
how often they eat. We tend to let go of
(09:24):
our intermittent fasting. We start going to more of the
constant grazing style. A little bite here, a handful there,
leftovers from the evening as my next meal, desserts, after dinner,
snacks at night. Food becomes consistent and continuous because it's
part of the holiday parties. From a functional perspective, our
(09:45):
bodies were never designed to be eating food all day long.
Every time you eat, insulin goes up, and insulin's job
is to move nutrients into your cells. That's a good thing,
but it also stimulates your body to stop burning fat.
So when insulin stays high all day long because food
is coming in, fat burning turns off. I want to
(10:06):
say this again. Fat burning what you want right, especially
come the New year, turns off because you're constantly putting
stuff in your mouth. I know, it's crazy, that little
candy cane. No big deal, right, Yes it is. It's food.
It's considered a sugar stimulus. Hot chocolates and the holiday
desserts and the holiday foods, your body gets locked into
(10:28):
storage mode. Most people assume that the weight they gain
during the holidays is because they eat too much when
they had their dinners. No in reality, it's the frequency
that you've been putting food in your body for the
last couple of weeks. This is again why most of
us feel swollen and sluggish and inflamed, and it's just
because we are constantly putting food in Continuous overeating can
(10:51):
overwhelm your digestive system. Stomach acid, stomach enzymes, and biols
start to go down when they should be going up
to help digest food. So, if we are looking at it,
it's a conventional thought, right. Nutrition advice during the holidays
often almost focuses on watching out for calories and food choices,
(11:13):
but not ignoring the fact that your body receives signals
from the foods you eat. When and how often you
eat matters so much more than what you eat. Let's
say it again, when and how often you eat is
way more important than what you eat. Eating with intention
means to create a defined meal structure during the holidays
(11:36):
with a very clear beginning and end. Stick to your
intermittent patterns. I'm going to start lunch at noon. I'm
going to finish dinner by seven or eight. No food after,
no food before. It means allowing space for various meals
to let your body react to them, so you have
time for your sugar to come down, your insulin to
(11:56):
come down, and for your body respond. So between now
and New Year's one of the smartest things you can
do for your metabolism is stop grazing on food, eat
real meals, lunch, pause for several hours, eat a dinner,
pause throughout the night, give your body permission to digest
and flush without constantly having a reaction, and this single
(12:21):
shift can dramatically reduce inflammation, craving's, holiday weight gain, etc. Okay,
mis s take number three. This is a big one.
Ignoring your nervous system during the holidays. One of the
most damaging mistakes people often make between now and New
Year's is to say I'm too busy to do my
self care. I'm too busy to go into my chiropractor
and get adjusted. Most people think the holidays is full
(12:45):
of emotional stress or situational stress travel families, schedules, finances,
but functionally, stress is a neurological reaction. Every late night
you stay up, or every rushed errand or every tense interaction,
and every packed calendar is sending a message to your
nervous system that your environment is unsafe. So when your
(13:07):
nervous system perceives this, it shifts into what's called sympathetic mode.
During the holidays, the sympathetic nervous system, this fight or flight,
is almost chronically activated short bursts of stress that your
body doesn't recover from. It's like sustained activation that lasts
all day. When your sympathetic system is in a dominant mode,
(13:29):
digestion slows down, blood sugar rises, your immune system function drops,
sleep becomes lighter, and inflammation increases. This is why most
people I got that flu during the holidays, or I
got that headache, or I got that pain that came back.
Your body shifts away from repair into protection mode, and
(13:51):
this is the challenge. Chiropractic care is the greatest thing
you can do during the holidays to release that neurological stimulation.
It helps you to sleep, it helps you use your spine, movie,
it helps to regulate your nervous system. And if you
often say to yourself, like you know what, I'm so
stressed during the holidays, I'm gonna take time away from
(14:11):
my self care, it's again, it's a big mistake a
lot of us do. I'll put myself on the back burner,
I'll sacrifice for everyone else. From a functional perspective, chiropractic
care is not something you do when your life is calm.
It's something you should do when your body's under heavy
amounts of stress. As you know this, spinal adjustments reduce
(14:32):
neurological interference. They help your nervous system to shift out
of fight or flight and get back into relaxational or
paris sympathetic mode. So if you skip your chiropractic care
your self care during the holidays, you're taking away one
of the most powerful tools that you have for reducing
the various stress that you're under. Holiday stresses can compound
(14:55):
because they stack one on top of each other. We
get stressed out, we sleep less, our sugar start to increase,
we drink more alcohol. These irregular routines create further irritation
to your nervous system. This vicious cycle is very difficult
to get out of, and this is often why cravings increase,
digestion slows down, sleep gets worse. It gets harder to relax,
(15:18):
even to relate to people and be emotionally calm down.
This is why during the holidays most people are like, man,
I'm just tired and I'm wired and I'm stressed. The
best thing you can do during the holiday season is
not reduce your activities to say, well, I'm going to
de stress That way is to increase your neurological regulation.
(15:40):
Getting adjusted more frequently stimulates your spine. Think of chiropractic
care as like charging your battery. The more you're draining it,
the more often you need to recharge it. So people
often think that they're too busy for self care during
the holidays, big mistake. In reality, self care is what
will allow you to function even better during the holiday times.
(16:04):
When your nervous system is healthy and regulated, digestion improves,
blood sugar stabilize, sleep gets deeper, inflammation drops, decision making
can even become easier. Guys, It's not just a theory.
This is physiologically reactions that happen when you calm your
nervous system down by getting yourself adjusted under chiropractic care.
(16:26):
If you want to finish this year strong, this is
an area that you must really heavily focus on. Do
not abandon your holiday care. Self care, chiropractic massages, taking
time for yourself, support your spine, calm your nervous system down,
because when your nervous system is balanced, your body doesn't
just survive the holidays, it can thrive, it can heal,
(16:50):
and you can actually come out stronger at the end
than you did coming into it. Okay, mistake number four,
we have to talk about alcohol during the holidays. The
fourth major mistake that people make between now and the
end of New Year's is looking at that little beverage
or that glass of wine or that cocktail that you're
having as just a harmless, expected necessary part of the holidays.
(17:14):
Every dinner party, most people are bringing cocktails or they
have bottles of wine, et cetera. Drinks become tied traditionally
to relaxation, celebration, social connection, and stress relief. Right like,
most of us think that having a glass of wine, alcohol,
and beverage whatever's going to help us to calm down
(17:34):
because we're so stressed out during the holidays. It's often
culturally accepted and normalized. But what most people never stop
to ask is what is that drink doing to your body?
Alcohol is not neutral technically by definition, it is a toxin,
and your body has to prioritize that above everything else.
(17:55):
The moment alcohol enters your bloodstream. Your liver will shift
at resource is too detoxification because it has to. This
means by chance, fat metabolism slows down. Hormone clearance often pauses,
removal of other toxins is delayed because your body is
putting all other healing aspects on hold. So what makes
(18:17):
the holiday season particularly damaging is it's not just a
single drink. Typically it's repeated exposures without enough rest and recovery.
A glass of wine at night, cocktails the next day,
holiday parties that pile up dinners, celebrations, and it's possible
that your liver never gets a chance to actually catch up.
(18:37):
Inflammation will start to build up. Alcohol drives up blood sugars,
metabolic flexibility because you're shifting your liver towards recovery mode
and detox rather than repair regeneration is a lot of stress,
and if you don't know this, alcohol has profound effects
on blood sugar even when they don't taste sweet, alcohol
(18:59):
disrupts sugar regulation. It can lead to elevations and sugar
during the night, followed by cortisol spikes, which is the
main reason that most people will say, well, I had
that drink at that dinner party. Whatever, I didn't sleep
very well, I woke up, I was tired, I was anxious, etc.
Because it disrupts sugar metabolism during night sleep is another
(19:23):
major causality. Alcohol can make you feel more relaxed and drowsy,
but it disrupts your sleep cycle. It interferes with deep
restorative sleep ram. Your rapidie movement where you're dreaming the most,
is suppressed. Whenever you drink an alcoholic drink several nights
in a row, this can cumulate into fatigue, and most
(19:45):
people often misinterpret that fatigue to again, well, it's just
I'm tired because of the holidays. Often we're told there's
no major impact against having a little bit of a
beverage here there a glass of wine with dinner, or
because of it's a celebration. But your body doesn't care
whether alcohol is consumed at a celebration time or not.
It doesn't get to say, oh, this is a holiday
(20:05):
glass of wine. We're gonna treat it different than if
it was something different. During seasons, when your nervous system
is already stressed out, when your digestive system is slowed
and your immune system is already under attack, alcohol only
exemplifies the stress to your body. Does this mean you
have to abstain from alcohol during the holidays, Now, it
means being intentional. Number one. If you're gonna drink alcohol,
(20:29):
make sure that it is a grainless source. Grain based
alcohols are very highly inflammatory, so the corn and the
weeds and the rye based cocktails. Shoot for the ones
that come from grape or from agave, etc. As far
as wines, almost every wine in the United States is
contaminated with glyphesate, so stick with wines that come from
(20:52):
the countries that don't use the pesticides and herbicides. This
would be mostly Italy and France and possibly Spain. So
making sure that you're I know, it's rough, not drinking
US based alcohol. Beverages. Alcohol, in my opinion, should be
treated as optional, not just well, I'll do it because
it's the holidays. Choosing specific days I'm gonna have a
(21:15):
glass of wine only during my Christmas meal or only
to ring in the new year, but not every single time,
can be helpful because between now and the start of
the new year, protecting your liver function, in my opinion,
is one of the greatest investments you can make in
your health. A supported liver means better blood sugar regulation,
it means more stable hormones, it means deeper sleep. It
(21:39):
means that your body can start to repair itself, so
you wouldn't need to do a major detox in the
future if we prevent our liver from getting stressed down
in the first place. And mistake number five is a
big one, a lot of us are gonna say, you
know what, I'm gonna wait till January, come twenty twenty six,
the new chapter. That's that's when I'm gonna put all
(22:00):
my energy into my health. This is by far another
major damage gen mistake that people make because it's so
deeply ingrained in our culture that most people never even
question it. We assume that discipline for health begins in January.
Think about it. Right now, most of the gyms are
completely empty, but come January first, they're gonna be packed.
(22:24):
Most people are not thinking about what can I do
now to start losing weight and have my energy get
back and reduce my medications. They're going, you know what,
I'll just wait till the holidays end. Your body doesn't
operate on motivation or intention. It operates on what's called
biological readiness. When January begins, most people are already severely
(22:47):
inflamed and sleep deprived and slightly instantly resistant and neurologically exhausted.
That's just because of the effects of the physiological decisions
they made from now to the end of the year.
No matter how much willpower you have, it's very hard
to override when your body's depleted going into it. This
is why so many New Year's resolutions fail. People try
(23:10):
to demand performance from a system when their body is
stuck in recovery mode. They want energy, they want focus,
they want weight loss, they want to be disciplined, but
they're entering it in a season of stressed out hormones,
blood sugar swings, and a sympathetically overly stimulated nervous system.
(23:32):
From a functional perspective, let me give it to you
this way. January shouldn't be a time to push harder.
It should be a time to build on the consistency
in the stability you already made for yourself in the
holiday season. If your body enters a new year already regulated,
calm down, and nourished, then you just keep doing what
(23:53):
you've already been doing, and you get great results. Remember,
too many people go into January highly inflamed stress stout,
so when January comes around and you have to change everything,
it becomes very difficult. The last few weeks of this year,
in my opinion, is the most powerful time for you
to start optimizing your healing. Begin right now by cutting
(24:17):
out processed foods, carbohydrates, dairy, wheat, grains, etc. Start to
implement an intremented fasting pattern. Skip breakfast every day, Eat
a very clean lunch and a clean dinner. Give your
body the nutrients it needs. Start getting chiropractic care more
frequently during the winter and the seasons of now till
(24:39):
the New Year's because it calms down your stress. Start
supporting your digestive system. Taking a digestive enzyme when you
eat your foods is one of the greatest things you
can do to help upregulate the ability for to absorb
your nutrients. Drink more water. Prioritize your sleep. Focus on
setting a specific time to go to sleep and a
(25:00):
specific time to wake up, because don't just say, well,
I'm going to sleep in because it's the holidays. When
you finish your year already in a state of healing,
January can feel wildly different. You can start off the
year with energy. You can have your cravings break, you
can have great sleep, you can have your focus. You
can enter it going I've already lost the ten, fifteen
(25:23):
to twenty pounds that I wanted. The truth is often simple,
but sometimes uncomfortable. Right, you don't rise to the level
of your new year goals. You fall to the level
of your nervous system's current stress and metabolic health. This
is how you can set the tone for the new
year now. So I want you to leave today the
(25:45):
special broadcast with a unique thought. Your health is not
determined by what you do in January. It's determined by
the mindset you have now and the decisions you make
from today till the end of the year. Look, you
still have a good two weeks that you can push, push,
push and get some great results. It doesn't need to
be perfect between now and the end of the year.
(26:08):
You don't need to give yourself a lot of guilt
or restrictions. You just need to be aware that your
mindset sets at all. Don't let two to three days
become two to three weeks of just excusing things out.
Small choices you make now can give you great promises
in the future. Eat with intention. I'm going to be specific.
(26:30):
Return your body to its natural structure instead of drifting.
Get back to your exercise routine, get back to taking
your supplements. Carve out your calendar and lay out exactly
when you're gonna do things. Look at those holiday parties
as just once and done, not a repeating pattern. And
make sure that you look at alcohol during the holiday
(26:51):
seasons as not required but optional. You get to choose,
doesn't have to be automatic. Care for your body now
instead of waiting for January. If you do that, January
will not feel like I'm recovering from a mess. It'll
feel like the momentum has already been created. And look
at how powerful that is for you. Hey, this is
the Asktoks your earned show. We have some exceptional resources
(27:14):
for you at Assdoctorarns dot com. There's recipes, meal plans, protocols,
even steps you can start implementing. Subscribe to our newsletter.
We're going to send out a holiday survival pack, Christmas meals, recipes,
shopping list, all kinds of great things for you guys.
And remember, as we turn into the new year, I
am hosting on Saturday, January tenth, a New Year, New
(27:38):
You Body Makeover. It's three weeks away from today. Use
the link above or blow to register, and I'm going
to show you how to focus on the top three
moving priorities for your health. Getting your nervous system one
hundred percent regulated, getting your digestive system sealed and cleaned out,
and removing your toxins so that your body can take
care of itself and heal itself. Master class is on Saturday,
(28:01):
January tenth. It's completely free. I'm going to give you
the resources and the tools you need, so the January
of twenty twenty six is Recovery and Healing Year. Another
special announcement starting next week, which is the twenty seventh,
we are airing on one oh seven point nine FM
instead of eleven ten AM. The station has expanded their broadcast.
(28:22):
We are now on an FM Talk one oh seven
point nine. Join us every Saturday starting next Saturday and
into the twenty twenty six year three pm for the
asstocs for own show. Hope you guys found today's show
to be helpful. Let's avoid these five holiday mistakes and
make the new year the best year ever be blessed.
I'll see you guys next Saturday.
The Ask Doctor Ernst Show is presented by doctor Aaron Ernst,
a board certified doctor of Natural Medicine, chiropractic physician, and
a functional health coach specializing in root calls, examination using
spinal correction, nutritional coaching, and cellular detoxification, and is for
informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a
substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Seek a qualified
(00:23):
functional healthcare professional before changing your health program or embarking
on a new one. Visit ask doctor Ernst dot com
for credentialing, certifications or more information. It's time to transform
your health with one of the nation's leading and growing
authorities and Total Health. Over the next hour, learn from
countless hours of research and clinical experience on how to
revolutionize your health and the health of those you love most.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good afternoon, Happy Saturday. You're listening to the Ask Doctor
Ernst Show. Hey, today is a very special livestream only broadcast.
The tar Heels are doing really, really well, so we
got preempted from our air streams. That doesn't hold us
back from coming at you live on Saturdays with some
great information. As you guys know, this is a show
where pounds are shed, disease is dead. Where you get
(01:08):
to be set free from your health problems as you
learn to take control of your health, become responsible, become
your own doctor. And our topic today is going to
be profound the top five holiday mistakes that we make
during the holiday season that has a major impact on
our health. And remember, the holidays is not just one
(01:28):
or two days. A lot of us will take the
timeframe from November to December even into early January and
will excuse away the stress of the holidays as a
way to just put our health on the side burner
or back burner, not because of just one meal or
not because of just one dessert. But I'm going to
tell you whatever happens from now, like today, this Saturday,
(01:51):
all the way through to the end of New Year's
can set your future so it can look vibrant and bright,
or these last couple weeks could be the anchor and
the sabotage that holds everything back. Look, a lot of
people think that their health journey begins in January, right
the New Year resolutions. Let's hit the ground running. But
(02:12):
the weight you gained, the fatigue you have, the brain fog,
the joint pain. All of those didn't just show up.
It's progressive from the time before, even preceding holidays, on
the decisions you make and the things that you do. Remember,
your body only responds to input, the food you eat,
the stress you have, the sleep you get, the movement
(02:34):
that you give yourself, how you regulate your nervous system,
and consistency. And often what happens is these things change
during the holidays, especially between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's
and unfortunately, this is a time when a lot of
our routines will shift or lighten. We sleep less, we
eat more, we become inconsistent with things we put in
(02:56):
our body. Our self care often gets postponed because again,
remember it's the holidays. I'm so stressed out, I've got
so much going on. I'll do that later. We're already
starting to hear it in our practice, and we want
to help you to squash that mentality. Conventional thinking, conventional
medicine will often shrug this off and say, hey, it's
normal during the holidays, holiday weight gain expected come January,
(03:21):
you're going to hit your resolutions and lose it. You know,
the fatigue, the seasonal issues, etc. Normal In my opinion.
We need to reset the way we look at the holidays.
So I want to give you today again the top
five mistakes that I see people make every single day
that sets them up for further stress come January, and
(03:42):
how you can use this time right now to hit
your January resolutions and start losing weight now, start feeling
better now, start getting your fatigue gone, your joint pain right.
From a functional perspective, ready, what's happening now is a
prediction of where things are going to be come twenty twenty.
Blood sugars need to be stabilized, inflammation needs to be reduced,
(04:04):
Your nervous system needs to be stimulated so it gets
out of sympathetic fight or flight. So when January, why
it arrives. It's no wonder that so many people are
kind of like, oh, I'm just so tired and fatigued
because they're coming out of that holiday slump. The answer
is not a lack of willpower. It's how you can
train your physiology now for success in the next couple
(04:25):
of weeks. So remember, today's show is not about becoming
guilty or restricting or talking about perfection. It's just simply
about awareness. Because once you understand, listen to this. That
your body responds to stimulus is during the holiday seasons,
you can make simple, intelligent choices that will massively protect
(04:46):
you from sabotaging your health. So these top five mistakes
I'm going to show you is what people do between
now and the end of New Year's and this is
what sets the stage for inflammation, weight gain, hormonal mistakes.
And I'm gonna give you the options, the suggestions of
how you can correct this now so you can live
(05:06):
an exceptional end of twenty twenty five and turn twenty
twenty six into the best year for your health. Okay,
Mistake number one here it comes turning just a few
days into a free for all of multiple weeks. Okay.
The first most common mistake I see people make between
(05:26):
especially Christmas and New Year's is mentally deciding that somehow
this time is a excuse to say, well, it's the holidays,
so I'm gonna put this off. There's this subtle shift
that happens right before Christmas and as we shift into
New Year's where we say it's only just a few days,
(05:46):
like it's just Christmas Eve or it's just Christmas Day.
I'm just gonna slip on my routines. I'm gonna skip
my supplements, I'm gonna skip my adjustments. I'm gonna eat
that food I wouldn't normally eat because it's the holidays.
I'll just enjoy it this week and I'll take care
of it come January. This belief changes behavior. Structures often disappear.
(06:08):
Disciplines relax intension can become replaced with autopilot, and before
you know it, you look at the end of the
year and you go, oh, I gained seven pounds. I've
been completely off my routine. And look, sometimes it's hard
to get back on the wagon. From a functional standpoint,
this right here, this mindset is where it begins. Your
(06:28):
body doesn't require months of poor input to change your direction.
Some people think, oh, I have to be off track
for months before I'm going to physically see a change. No.
One day of elevated sugars, refined carbohydrates, late night eating
alcohol can drastically create inflation within the body, increasing fat
(06:49):
storage enzymes, irritating your gutlining. This isn't opinion, it's just
basic physiology. Your metabolism is incredibly adaptive. It adapts to patterns,
not intentions, So When your body experiences repeated blood sugar spikes,
it responds and becomes less sensitive to insulin. When food
(07:10):
intake extends into the later part of the nights, your
circadian cycles are disrupted, and it tells your body to
store fat. When your structure I'm gonna get up at
this time, I'm gonna work out it this time, I'm
gonna take myself as to this time. When that disappears,
you lose internal rhythm. And what most people don't realize
is that this damage of internal rhythm shifts isn't caused
(07:32):
by just one meal itself. It happens during the entire timeframe.
One meal doesn't derail your health, but a week of
that same thing can. Conventional advice often will encourage you
just you know what, relax, enjoy the holidays. It's okay,
have an extra slice, have an extra drink. But abandonment
(07:53):
tells your body, Hey, there's no rhythm, there's no consistency,
it's not predictable, and your body responds by taking the
stored excess and putting it into fat. This is why
most people generally feel the most stressed out and the
most irritated, the most tired, and the most achy from
now till New Year's right, energy goes down, Close feel tighter,
(08:18):
digestion slows down. We feel less motivated, less restored. Okay,
we can't blame our age, or our genetics or our
bad luck. Finishing the year strong doesn't mean avoiding celebration.
It means returning to a structured consistency, defining your meals
instead of eating all the time, stopping food intake before
(08:40):
you go to bed at least two hours, re establishing
a rhythm of your exercise routines, your supplements, your adjustments
to your chiropractor. Your body thrives on consistency far more
than it does perfection, and a simple decision to not
take a few days and turn it into a free
for all for several weeks is the biggest mistake most
(09:02):
people make. It's the holidays is a phrase. You should
be very careful if you hear yourself saying that you
should go, oh my gosh, what did I just do? Okay?
Mistake number two eating all day instead of eating consistently.
The second major mistake that people make between now and
New Year's is not necessarily what they eat, but it's
how often they eat. We tend to let go of
(09:24):
our intermittent fasting. We start going to more of the
constant grazing style. A little bite here, a handful there,
leftovers from the evening as my next meal, desserts, after dinner,
snacks at night. Food becomes consistent and continuous because it's
part of the holiday parties. From a functional perspective, our
(09:45):
bodies were never designed to be eating food all day long.
Every time you eat, insulin goes up, and insulin's job
is to move nutrients into your cells. That's a good thing,
but it also stimulates your body to stop burning fat.
So when insulin stays high all day long because food
is coming in, fat burning turns off. I want to
(10:06):
say this again. Fat burning what you want right, especially
come the New year, turns off because you're constantly putting
stuff in your mouth. I know, it's crazy, that little
candy cane. No big deal, right, Yes it is. It's food.
It's considered a sugar stimulus. Hot chocolates and the holiday
desserts and the holiday foods, your body gets locked into
(10:28):
storage mode. Most people assume that the weight they gain
during the holidays is because they eat too much when
they had their dinners. No in reality, it's the frequency
that you've been putting food in your body for the
last couple of weeks. This is again why most of
us feel swollen and sluggish and inflamed, and it's just
because we are constantly putting food in Continuous overeating can
(10:51):
overwhelm your digestive system. Stomach acid, stomach enzymes, and biols
start to go down when they should be going up
to help digest food. So, if we are looking at it,
it's a conventional thought, right. Nutrition advice during the holidays
often almost focuses on watching out for calories and food choices,
(11:13):
but not ignoring the fact that your body receives signals
from the foods you eat. When and how often you
eat matters so much more than what you eat. Let's
say it again, when and how often you eat is
way more important than what you eat. Eating with intention
means to create a defined meal structure during the holidays
(11:36):
with a very clear beginning and end. Stick to your
intermittent patterns. I'm going to start lunch at noon. I'm
going to finish dinner by seven or eight. No food after,
no food before. It means allowing space for various meals
to let your body react to them, so you have
time for your sugar to come down, your insulin to
(11:56):
come down, and for your body respond. So between now
and New Year's one of the smartest things you can
do for your metabolism is stop grazing on food, eat
real meals, lunch, pause for several hours, eat a dinner,
pause throughout the night, give your body permission to digest
and flush without constantly having a reaction, and this single
(12:21):
shift can dramatically reduce inflammation, craving's, holiday weight gain, etc. Okay,
mis s take number three. This is a big one.
Ignoring your nervous system during the holidays. One of the
most damaging mistakes people often make between now and New
Year's is to say I'm too busy to do my
self care. I'm too busy to go into my chiropractor
and get adjusted. Most people think the holidays is full
(12:45):
of emotional stress or situational stress travel families, schedules, finances,
but functionally, stress is a neurological reaction. Every late night
you stay up, or every rushed errand or every tense interaction,
and every packed calendar is sending a message to your
nervous system that your environment is unsafe. So when your
(13:07):
nervous system perceives this, it shifts into what's called sympathetic mode.
During the holidays, the sympathetic nervous system, this fight or flight,
is almost chronically activated short bursts of stress that your
body doesn't recover from. It's like sustained activation that lasts
all day. When your sympathetic system is in a dominant mode,
(13:29):
digestion slows down, blood sugar rises, your immune system function drops,
sleep becomes lighter, and inflammation increases. This is why most
people I got that flu during the holidays, or I
got that headache, or I got that pain that came back.
Your body shifts away from repair into protection mode, and
(13:51):
this is the challenge. Chiropractic care is the greatest thing
you can do during the holidays to release that neurological stimulation.
It helps you to sleep, it helps you use your spine, movie,
it helps to regulate your nervous system. And if you
often say to yourself, like you know what, I'm so
stressed during the holidays, I'm gonna take time away from
(14:11):
my self care, it's again, it's a big mistake a
lot of us do. I'll put myself on the back burner,
I'll sacrifice for everyone else. From a functional perspective, chiropractic
care is not something you do when your life is calm.
It's something you should do when your body's under heavy
amounts of stress. As you know this, spinal adjustments reduce
(14:32):
neurological interference. They help your nervous system to shift out
of fight or flight and get back into relaxational or
paris sympathetic mode. So if you skip your chiropractic care
your self care during the holidays, you're taking away one
of the most powerful tools that you have for reducing
the various stress that you're under. Holiday stresses can compound
(14:55):
because they stack one on top of each other. We
get stressed out, we sleep less, our sugar start to increase,
we drink more alcohol. These irregular routines create further irritation
to your nervous system. This vicious cycle is very difficult
to get out of, and this is often why cravings increase,
digestion slows down, sleep gets worse. It gets harder to relax,
(15:18):
even to relate to people and be emotionally calm down.
This is why during the holidays most people are like, man,
I'm just tired and I'm wired and I'm stressed. The
best thing you can do during the holiday season is
not reduce your activities to say, well, I'm going to
de stress That way is to increase your neurological regulation.
(15:40):
Getting adjusted more frequently stimulates your spine. Think of chiropractic
care as like charging your battery. The more you're draining it,
the more often you need to recharge it. So people
often think that they're too busy for self care during
the holidays, big mistake. In reality, self care is what
will allow you to function even better during the holiday times.
(16:04):
When your nervous system is healthy and regulated, digestion improves,
blood sugar stabilize, sleep gets deeper, inflammation drops, decision making
can even become easier. Guys, It's not just a theory.
This is physiologically reactions that happen when you calm your
nervous system down by getting yourself adjusted under chiropractic care.
(16:26):
If you want to finish this year strong, this is
an area that you must really heavily focus on. Do
not abandon your holiday care. Self care, chiropractic massages, taking
time for yourself, support your spine, calm your nervous system down,
because when your nervous system is balanced, your body doesn't
just survive the holidays, it can thrive, it can heal,
(16:50):
and you can actually come out stronger at the end
than you did coming into it. Okay, mistake number four,
we have to talk about alcohol during the holidays. The
fourth major mistake that people make between now and the
end of New Year's is looking at that little beverage
or that glass of wine or that cocktail that you're
having as just a harmless, expected necessary part of the holidays.
(17:14):
Every dinner party, most people are bringing cocktails or they
have bottles of wine, et cetera. Drinks become tied traditionally
to relaxation, celebration, social connection, and stress relief. Right like,
most of us think that having a glass of wine, alcohol,
and beverage whatever's going to help us to calm down
(17:34):
because we're so stressed out during the holidays. It's often
culturally accepted and normalized. But what most people never stop
to ask is what is that drink doing to your body?
Alcohol is not neutral technically by definition, it is a toxin,
and your body has to prioritize that above everything else.
(17:55):
The moment alcohol enters your bloodstream. Your liver will shift
at resource is too detoxification because it has to. This
means by chance, fat metabolism slows down. Hormone clearance often pauses,
removal of other toxins is delayed because your body is
putting all other healing aspects on hold. So what makes
(18:17):
the holiday season particularly damaging is it's not just a
single drink. Typically it's repeated exposures without enough rest and recovery.
A glass of wine at night, cocktails the next day,
holiday parties that pile up dinners, celebrations, and it's possible
that your liver never gets a chance to actually catch up.
(18:37):
Inflammation will start to build up. Alcohol drives up blood sugars,
metabolic flexibility because you're shifting your liver towards recovery mode
and detox rather than repair regeneration is a lot of stress,
and if you don't know this, alcohol has profound effects
on blood sugar even when they don't taste sweet, alcohol
(18:59):
disrupts sugar regulation. It can lead to elevations and sugar
during the night, followed by cortisol spikes, which is the
main reason that most people will say, well, I had
that drink at that dinner party. Whatever, I didn't sleep
very well, I woke up, I was tired, I was anxious, etc.
Because it disrupts sugar metabolism during night sleep is another
(19:23):
major causality. Alcohol can make you feel more relaxed and drowsy,
but it disrupts your sleep cycle. It interferes with deep
restorative sleep ram. Your rapidie movement where you're dreaming the most,
is suppressed. Whenever you drink an alcoholic drink several nights
in a row, this can cumulate into fatigue, and most
(19:45):
people often misinterpret that fatigue to again, well, it's just
I'm tired because of the holidays. Often we're told there's
no major impact against having a little bit of a
beverage here there a glass of wine with dinner, or
because of it's a celebration. But your body doesn't care
whether alcohol is consumed at a celebration time or not.
It doesn't get to say, oh, this is a holiday
(20:05):
glass of wine. We're gonna treat it different than if
it was something different. During seasons, when your nervous system
is already stressed out, when your digestive system is slowed
and your immune system is already under attack, alcohol only
exemplifies the stress to your body. Does this mean you
have to abstain from alcohol during the holidays, Now, it
means being intentional. Number one. If you're gonna drink alcohol,
(20:29):
make sure that it is a grainless source. Grain based
alcohols are very highly inflammatory, so the corn and the
weeds and the rye based cocktails. Shoot for the ones
that come from grape or from agave, etc. As far
as wines, almost every wine in the United States is
contaminated with glyphesate, so stick with wines that come from
(20:52):
the countries that don't use the pesticides and herbicides. This
would be mostly Italy and France and possibly Spain. So
making sure that you're I know, it's rough, not drinking
US based alcohol. Beverages. Alcohol, in my opinion, should be
treated as optional, not just well, I'll do it because
it's the holidays. Choosing specific days I'm gonna have a
(21:15):
glass of wine only during my Christmas meal or only
to ring in the new year, but not every single time,
can be helpful because between now and the start of
the new year, protecting your liver function, in my opinion,
is one of the greatest investments you can make in
your health. A supported liver means better blood sugar regulation,
it means more stable hormones, it means deeper sleep. It
(21:39):
means that your body can start to repair itself, so
you wouldn't need to do a major detox in the
future if we prevent our liver from getting stressed down
in the first place. And mistake number five is a
big one, a lot of us are gonna say, you
know what, I'm gonna wait till January, come twenty twenty six,
the new chapter. That's that's when I'm gonna put all
(22:00):
my energy into my health. This is by far another
major damage gen mistake that people make because it's so
deeply ingrained in our culture that most people never even
question it. We assume that discipline for health begins in January.
Think about it. Right now, most of the gyms are
completely empty, but come January first, they're gonna be packed.
(22:24):
Most people are not thinking about what can I do
now to start losing weight and have my energy get
back and reduce my medications. They're going, you know what,
I'll just wait till the holidays end. Your body doesn't
operate on motivation or intention. It operates on what's called
biological readiness. When January begins, most people are already severely
(22:47):
inflamed and sleep deprived and slightly instantly resistant and neurologically exhausted.
That's just because of the effects of the physiological decisions
they made from now to the end of the year.
No matter how much willpower you have, it's very hard
to override when your body's depleted going into it. This
is why so many New Year's resolutions fail. People try
(23:10):
to demand performance from a system when their body is
stuck in recovery mode. They want energy, they want focus,
they want weight loss, they want to be disciplined, but
they're entering it in a season of stressed out hormones,
blood sugar swings, and a sympathetically overly stimulated nervous system.
(23:32):
From a functional perspective, let me give it to you
this way. January shouldn't be a time to push harder.
It should be a time to build on the consistency
in the stability you already made for yourself in the
holiday season. If your body enters a new year already regulated,
calm down, and nourished, then you just keep doing what
(23:53):
you've already been doing, and you get great results. Remember,
too many people go into January highly inflamed stress stout,
so when January comes around and you have to change everything,
it becomes very difficult. The last few weeks of this year,
in my opinion, is the most powerful time for you
to start optimizing your healing. Begin right now by cutting
(24:17):
out processed foods, carbohydrates, dairy, wheat, grains, etc. Start to
implement an intremented fasting pattern. Skip breakfast every day, Eat
a very clean lunch and a clean dinner. Give your
body the nutrients it needs. Start getting chiropractic care more
frequently during the winter and the seasons of now till
(24:39):
the New Year's because it calms down your stress. Start
supporting your digestive system. Taking a digestive enzyme when you
eat your foods is one of the greatest things you
can do to help upregulate the ability for to absorb
your nutrients. Drink more water. Prioritize your sleep. Focus on
setting a specific time to go to sleep and a
(25:00):
specific time to wake up, because don't just say, well,
I'm going to sleep in because it's the holidays. When
you finish your year already in a state of healing,
January can feel wildly different. You can start off the
year with energy. You can have your cravings break, you
can have great sleep, you can have your focus. You
can enter it going I've already lost the ten, fifteen
(25:23):
to twenty pounds that I wanted. The truth is often simple,
but sometimes uncomfortable. Right, you don't rise to the level
of your new year goals. You fall to the level
of your nervous system's current stress and metabolic health. This
is how you can set the tone for the new
year now. So I want you to leave today the
(25:45):
special broadcast with a unique thought. Your health is not
determined by what you do in January. It's determined by
the mindset you have now and the decisions you make
from today till the end of the year. Look, you
still have a good two weeks that you can push, push,
push and get some great results. It doesn't need to
be perfect between now and the end of the year.
(26:08):
You don't need to give yourself a lot of guilt
or restrictions. You just need to be aware that your
mindset sets at all. Don't let two to three days
become two to three weeks of just excusing things out.
Small choices you make now can give you great promises
in the future. Eat with intention. I'm going to be specific.
(26:30):
Return your body to its natural structure instead of drifting.
Get back to your exercise routine, get back to taking
your supplements. Carve out your calendar and lay out exactly
when you're gonna do things. Look at those holiday parties
as just once and done, not a repeating pattern. And
make sure that you look at alcohol during the holiday
(26:51):
seasons as not required but optional. You get to choose,
doesn't have to be automatic. Care for your body now
instead of waiting for January. If you do that, January
will not feel like I'm recovering from a mess. It'll
feel like the momentum has already been created. And look
at how powerful that is for you. Hey, this is
the Asktoks your earned show. We have some exceptional resources
(27:14):
for you at Assdoctorarns dot com. There's recipes, meal plans, protocols,
even steps you can start implementing. Subscribe to our newsletter.
We're going to send out a holiday survival pack, Christmas meals, recipes,
shopping list, all kinds of great things for you guys.
And remember, as we turn into the new year, I
am hosting on Saturday, January tenth, a New Year, New
(27:38):
You Body Makeover. It's three weeks away from today. Use
the link above or blow to register, and I'm going
to show you how to focus on the top three
moving priorities for your health. Getting your nervous system one
hundred percent regulated, getting your digestive system sealed and cleaned out,
and removing your toxins so that your body can take
care of itself and heal itself. Master class is on Saturday,
(28:01):
January tenth. It's completely free. I'm going to give you
the resources and the tools you need, so the January
of twenty twenty six is Recovery and Healing Year. Another
special announcement starting next week, which is the twenty seventh,
we are airing on one oh seven point nine FM
instead of eleven ten AM. The station has expanded their broadcast.
(28:22):
We are now on an FM Talk one oh seven
point nine. Join us every Saturday starting next Saturday and
into the twenty twenty six year three pm for the
asstocs for own show. Hope you guys found today's show
to be helpful. Let's avoid these five holiday mistakes and
make the new year the best year ever be blessed.
I'll see you guys next Saturday.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.