Daris Lancaster Stojakovich: Hi! I am Daris Lancaster Stojakovich and today I am talking today about tips and techniques for handling holidays stress. Right now, I am going to be talking about the stress of overeating and overindulging in alcohol during the holidays.

During the holiday season, its very tempting with all the foods, the special treats and the extravagant meals to really overindulge in both food and alcohol. Unfortunately, both of these things, while they can be comforting at the moment, can add more stress to your holidays, stress after the holidays with the increased weight gain, stress perhaps after the holidays with an increased dependency on alcohol or food for comfort.

What can you do to manage the stress of overeating and overindulging in alcohol during the holidays? Well, one thing you can do is to be aware of it, to practice a mindfulness towards your eating, which I will talk about later, the actual practice of being present and mindful when eating. That can really help, dont overindulge. Its always far better to have a little bit of something thats completely decadent than to have a whole lot of something that just is junk food or not good for you.

One thing you can do to eliminate the temptation to overeat before those decadent holiday parties is to have a snack, something healthy, like a banana and apple or just a light meal before going to the party. Then that will curb your appetite and your tendency and temptation to really dig into the buffet or to overindulge the food thats there.

A little advanced planning can really help you from overindulging in food during the holidays. One thing that you might find helpful is to actually, rather than trying to lose the weight after the holidays, which is the mindset of saying, its okay to gain weight. Well, if you tell yourself that, its going to happen. So rather than allowing yourself to think of it that way, you can do some advanced planning and say, choose to lose a few pounds, 2, 3, maybe 5 pounds before the holidays actually begin. Its always easier to lose it when you havent gained it, isnt it?

But what about the stress of overindulging in alcohol? During the holidays, we can often feel the temptation to overindulge in alcohol as a form of entertainment, as a form of self-medicating or even as just a form of lightening the mood and perhaps, making ourselves feel less inhibited around people we are not comfortable around our holiday social gatherings. Being aware of how you are viewing that alcohol, the drinks that you are having and keeping it to a minimum, understanding that the stress of overindulging in alcohol and the hangover or the sleeplessness that it causes can really add the stress of the holidays.

Keep in mind, also it could be helpful for every alcoholic beverage you have, every glass of wine, for example, you want o have a glass of water with it. They have done studies to show that the one thing that can really prevent and help with the hangover is to keep your body and your brain well-hydrated while drinking alcohol.

Well, I hope that those tips on how to cope with overindulging in food and alcohol during the holidays have been helpful to you. Next, I am going to be offering some tips and techniques on how to eliminate stress during the holidays with quick stress breaks.