‘Guest post’ by Trudy Abood

I’m welcoming Trudy to my blog today to give us her ideas on healthy choices!

“Eating healthy generally makes us feel good, right? And feeling good usually makes us want to make more healthy choices, like exercising and taking care of our bodies and minds, doesn't it? So why don't we all do it more often, and why do some of us try and fail so miserably?

For many of us, the holidays can be a difficult time to stick to a healthy eating plan or to keep to a regular schedule. Even outside of the holidays, any type of celebration or vacation or spontaneously change in plans can take someone from their normal routine and throw them for a loop. Parties involve, by nature, a bit of overindulgence, and in turn our healthy eating plans often turn into eat-whatever's-quick-and-easy-or-right-in-front-of-me plans. Who doesn't love a little cake on everyone's birthday, chicken wings at football parties, or some chocolates on Valentine's Day? And then of course there's the holiday gift baskets from clients sitting in the office break room, taunting you at 3:00pm, overflowing with every type of sugar or tasty snack that you're determined is the only thing that could possibly get you through the day.

When we're stressed for time or just feeling frazzled or overwhelmed, we think less about what we're putting in our mouths. When we feel tired or unbalanced because of our not-so-healthy diets and out-of-whack schedules during these busy times, we often don't find the time to exercise or take good care of ourselves in other ways either. Our bodies shut down and we get sick, and the vicious cycle follows us throughout the year and there doesn't seem to be a thing we can do about it.

But what if we could? What if someone started a Happy (Healthy) Holidays plan of action, and it caught on like a fashion trend? What if we stopped treating holidays and celebrations as excuses to overeat and overindulge? What if we found new ways to spend quality time with the people we care about, and made a promise to be more active and healthy in our celebrations? Maybe it's not such a bad idea. Maybe we'd end up with healthier, happier America.”

About the author; Trudy Abood is the VP of GourmetGiftBaskets.com, one of the top suppliers of quality gift baskets. She is a mom of 2 boys, one of which founded GGB and the other is also VP at the company. She formally owned Chalifour's Flowers in Manchester, NH; the largest flower shop in the state.