How to Maintain Healthy Holiday Habits

This post was sponsored by Optimum Nutrition as part of an Influencer Activation and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

Do you ever wish Thanksgiving leftovers could last you until Christmas? And you could just skate through the entire month of December without having to grocery shop or cook? Or maybe that’s just me. In any case, since that’s just a pipe dream we have to find other ways to cope. And that’s where protein snacks come in!

It’s really easy to let healthy habits fall by the wayside during the holidays. I’ve done it before and I’m sure I’ll do it again. But if there’s anything I can do to help ensure I stick to my usual routine even during the most indulgent time of year, I want to do it.

Healthy Holiday Habits

So with healthy habits in mind, during the winter I make sure to do the following things:

Maintain my mental health by practicing yoga and meditation, using my light therapy lamp to prevent seasonal affective disorder from kicking my butt, and getting plenty of sleep.

Stick to my fitness routine. I already mentioned yoga above, but it’s part of my mental health routine AND my fitness routine. When I travel, I bring my yoga mat along so I can squeeze in a session here or there. I often search on YouTube for a video that suits me that day. Yoga With Adriene is a favorite! Sometimes I use the Down Dog app for a customized practice.

I’ve also recently started re-incorporating weightlifting workouts after a month of only yoga. Stay tuned for a whole post about that…

Keep fresh foods and protein-packed snacks around. Although it’s really tempting (and easy) to rely on takeout, delivery, and convenience foods when it’s cold outside, it’s really important to resist the urge to do that.

I’ve made sure to stick to a regular grocery-buying schedule so I always have healthy options around, and have been keeping protein snacks by Optimum Nutrition in my pantry and in my bag for when I’m on the go. I like that I can use them stave off hangriness while still reaching my fitness goals!

Optimum Nutrition ready-to-eat protein snacks are super easy to find at Walmart—in the Walmart locations I’ve been to I usually see them near the pharmacy section. There are TONS of flavors to choose from, and a good number of them are gluten-free if that’s something you look for in protein snacks. And since you’re shopping at Walmart, you’ll get the everyday low prices you’re used to.

Optimum Nutrition Ready-to-Eat Protein Snack Options

As you can see above, there are lots of ON protein snacks to choose from:

• Protein Cake Bites. Each snack pack contains 20g protein and comes with 3 mini cakes. They come in Birthday Cake, Red Velvet, Chocolate Frosted Donut, and Peanut Butter Chocolate (gf). My personal favorite is Birthday Cake, and if you know me IRL you won’t  be surprised by that. 🙂
• Protein Almonds. These are such a cool idea! They are whole almonds with protein-packed flavored coating.  They contain 10g protein per serving and come in two flavors: Cinnamon Roll and Dark Chocolate Truffle.
• Protein Crisps. These are crispy bars with 20g protein each. They come in Salted Toffee Pretzel and Peanut Butter Crunch and are gluten-free.

If you’re traveling for the holidays and need snacks to keep you on track or are just looking for something sweet to munch on to help you avoid all those holiday cookies, give Optimum Nutrition’s on the go protein snacks a try. Get your hands on some—look for them at Walmart next time you’re there!

Happy snacking!