Health During the Holidays

Dr. Jim Applegate joins us to discuss how to stay healthy during the holiday season. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's talk about health during the holidays. Woo. This is
West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly bred Bikita, Laurence Smith,
our friend doctor Jim Applegate back with us on the liveline.
Happy holidays, Doc, Here we go.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Where we go. I know it's the holidays, and you know,
I know it sounds like sort of an oxymoron to
talk about health and Christmas together, but there are some
things that you need to be doing to keep yourself
healthy as much as possible during the holidays. We all
know we're going to cheat, we all know we're not
going to be perfect, but you need to take a

(00:34):
few steps that are important to help with your health.
And the first one we should, of course talk about,
it's food and that you have to balance your food intake.
I like to say, when you go to the buffet,
you need to take a taste, not a trophy. Try
to stay away from the seconds, you know, don't go
back and back and back. And the most important thing

(00:55):
I tell people to do during the holidays is don't
skip meals because when you get there, you're going to
be really hungry and you will take that trophy, not
just the taste. So just some suggestions of ways to
approach the food that you're going to be exposed to
in the holidays.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
I will tell you this that just over a year ago,
I lost just over twenty pounds and it was with
my relationship with food, and it became such a pattern.
And I'm one of those guys that likes to do
the same thing every day that I'm shocked at the
stuff that I can get away with. Nothing happened to
me with weight gain during Thanksgiving and I had some

(01:34):
splurgy sort of days Doc, and I guess getting into
a little rhythm and teaching yourself better nutrition really works.
Who knew?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, it really does. Another thing we don't think about
a lot during the winter is hydration and keeping yourself hydrated.
We talk a lot about it during the summer when
it's hot, we're all outside and we're sweating, but you'll
lose two to three teaspoons of liquid out of your
body every hour by just breathing. That doesn't talk even
about kidney functions. So and when the ear gets dry,

(02:05):
you lose even more. So one of the things we
want you to do over the holidays is stay hydrated,
and that we're not talking about alcohol. Here we're talking
about making sure that you drink a lot of water
or fluids. And what most people don't realize or they've
heard the things about coffee and tea having diuretics in
them and they'll suck water from your body. That's not true.

(02:26):
If you have a cup of coffee to stay hydrated,
you know, at the office, or some tea, those are
all good things. You need to be in positive fluid
balance for the holidays, and that way you'll feel better.
And if you do have, you know, a few too
many drinks, it'll help prevent you from getting a hangover.
Good to know what else done. One of the things

(02:48):
I always tell my patients to is keep moving. You know,
I never can make it to the gym around the holidays,
always too much to do. Therefore, my fitbit comes in
real handy to tell me how many steps I have
every day. And so it's really important that you look
at your movement and how much you're doing each day

(03:09):
and try and maybe take a walk. I know it's
cold outside, but it's really good for you to try
and get that movement. Think about all the chores that
you have to do, reframe those into movement that'll help. Also,
you know, movement is very very important to keep yourself
healthy during the holidays.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Doc, one of the things I want to ask you
about as we get older, especially specifically for guys, you
get the guy gut right, whether it's you know you
have a few beverages, or whether you splurge or overrate,
it just starts to develop. There is there anything else
besides walking, like a simple exercise that you recommend that
you can do daily maybe to help with that.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
I think the first thing you need to do is
recognize that movement is important and stay movement. And then secondly,
we talked about a little bit about it your household chores,
the things that you do around the house. Be careful
when you shovel snow. But just that anything you can
do will help burn more calories. As you get older,
your metabolism slows down, so therefore you'll gain more body

(04:09):
weight just by living. You don't even eat more necessarily,
you'll gain that gut. But think about reframing, how can
I make this activity harder for me and do it.
It's okay to bend down and pick up that you
think kid's toy from the floor or whatever. Just stay
moving during the holidays, that's an important place to start.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Doctor Jim Applegate, former Family Physician of the Year in
the state of Michigan. Always great stuff, Thanks man, Merry.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Christmas, Merry Christmas.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Do you all what Radio News Time