Small Steps to Stay Jolly and Bright this Holiday Season

Lisa:                                       Welcome back to Good Day Kentucky. The holiday season is now in full force, and that means it’s time to enjoy friends and family and food, but because of all the running around and the extra fun, it can be a little stressful. You might skip out on eating right, and then of course there’s the looming new year to think about.

Today, we have Tara Wellington with us. She is going to give us some simple solutions for healthy and happy holidays. She is the editor in chief of simplemomsguide.com.

Welcome back to the show, Tara.

Tara Wellington:               Hey, thank you so much for having me, Lisa, it’s great to be here.

Lisa:                                       Well, you know, the holidays are supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, and that’s usually the case. But there are also a lot of things that can stress us out too. Do you have any de-stress tips for us?

Tara Wellington:               Yes, and I’m here on behalf of several companies that I’ll talk about today. One of the best ways to reduce your stress and to increase your compassion during this time of the year is with meditation. Even 3 to 10 minutes of meditation can make a difference. A meditation tool that I use is called HeadSpace. This is an app for the whole family. Research shows that it reduces your stress, it increases compassion, and actually reduces aggression as well. Just in time for the holidays, the app has a new family plan for just $19.99 a month for up to six members per household. This means that you’ll get nearly 1,000 hours of meditation and mindfulness content, even short meditations for kids as young as three years old, which is really innovative.

Lisa:                                       That is really neat. I’ve never seen anything like that. Also, you know, this time of year there are a lot of food temptations too, and sometimes a little time for … and sometimes very little time for eating right. Do you have any food tips for us?

Tara Wellington:               Yes, I have two tips. The first one would be make sure you get in your veggies because these are going to give you the nutrients that you need, vitamin C, it’s also going to reduce your stress. If you’re on the go and you need a convenient way to get the veggies, you can check out Nissin’s Cup Noodles Very Veggie. This has carrots and edamame and bok choy, one full serving of vegetables per package, has an updated recipe with reduced sodium of less than 50% of your daily intake with no added MSG and no artificial flavors. It’s also affordable and available at Walmart.

Now, if you are getting those temptations on cookies and cakes and candies during this time of the year, you can make sure that you have natural snacks on hand to help you, like the whole fruits and a handful of nuts and some whole grains. Now, for whole grains, I love Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP. This is a hugely flavorful popcorn snack. It’s so super tasty with the sweet and salty kettle corn and the sea salt varieties for the whole family. I love how it’s non-GMO and gluten free as well.

Lisa:                                       I love Chicka Pop. That is so good. We have that home. Then also, as we look into 2019, are there decisions that we can make now that will affect our health?

Tara Wellington:               Yes. Protect your hearing because 48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, even people that are in their 30’s and 40’s are having more hearing loss because they’re exposed to more one time loud noises or ongoing noise.

One thing you can do is consider hearing protection if you’re at a loud concert or a loud sporting event, even those group exercises where they’ll have loud music going, you can protect your hearing there. Now, to protect your hearing and get the support for that, United Healthcare is now launching expanded coverage for hearing testing and hearing aids in 2019. This means the nation’s largest health plan will provide greater access to high quality hearing solutions at more affordable prices. If you’d like more information, you can go to simplemomsguide.com.

Lisa:                                       Awesome. Well, Tara, thank you so much for being with us, we really appreciate it.

You are watching Good Day Kentucky. Keep it right here, everyone.