How to Re-establish Healthy Daily Routines After a Holiday

After a summer without alarms filled with relaxation, outings, BBQs, and afternoons on the terrace, it can sometimes be challenging to get back into the rhythm of work or school. Additionally, all the delicious snacks, ice creams, and spontaneous coffees can affect your hormone balance and gut health. With the tips below, you can re-establish healthy daily routines after a holiday. 

1. How's Your Diet? 

Did you indulge in wine, baguettes, cheeses, and desserts during your holiday? You're not alone. But you probably agree that for the sake of your health, it's time to restore some balance. To get back into a healthy cooking routine, it can help to plan your meals a few days in advance. This way, you can shop purposefully and won't have to decide what to eat each evening. When planning your meals, focus on plenty of vegetables, supplemented with complete proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. A balanced meal might look something like this: 

• 1/2 plate of fibre-rich, leafy green vegetables 
• 1/4 plate of complete proteins (grass-fed meat, eggs, poultry, oily fish. Prefer no meat? Then opt for lentils, chickpeas, or tempeh) 
• 1/4 plate of complex carbohydrates (sweet potato, brown rice, buckwheat, or quinoa) 
• 1-2 tablespoons of healthy fats (ghee, olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds) 

2. Reset Your Sleep-Wake Cycle to School or Work Mode 

During the summer and on holiday, we often tend to go to bed later and wake up later. This can mean your body clock is still in holiday mode, making it difficult to wake up earlier for work or school. Instead of starting your day with a cup of coffee, try beginning with a large glass of warm water (with a pinch of sea salt and lemon juice) and exposing your eyes to natural daylight for at least 10 minutes. The photoreceptor cells in our eyes are very sensitive to light and signal our brain's internal clock that it's morning. This suppresses the sleep hormone melatonin and stimulates natural cortisol production, leading to increased alertness and energy. Try to spend time outdoors during the day to support this process. 

Drinking a large glass of (warm) water with some sea salt and lemon juice hydrates your body, replenishes electrolytes, and supports digestion. Additionally, having something in your stomach signals your body that it's time to activate. 

Finally, it's advisable to avoid blue light from devices like mobile phones or TVs at least 1 hour before bedtime. Blue light suppresses melatonin production, much like daylight, which can hinder a good night's sleep. Dim the lights in the evening, light some candles, and prepare for bed in a relaxed manner. 

3. (Continue to) Exercise Daily 

Did you prefer lounging on the beach during your summer holiday? Or perhaps you went on adventurous hikes and exercised more than usual. Whatever it was, it's important that exercise is (or remains) part of your daily routine. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise daily, such as brisk walking, cycling, or gardening. Additionally, it's beneficial to engage in more intense forms of exercise three times a week, like swimming, running, fitness, or martial arts. 

4. Limit Eating Occasions for More Energy, Less Stress, and a Healthy Hormone Balance 

An ice cream here, a handful of strawberries there. A sneaky biscuit with coffee. During the holiday, we're understandably not in the routine of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, it's better for your body to limit eating occasions to a maximum of three to four times a day. Every time you consume calories (even from a cappuccino or a small tangerine in between), your digestion requires energy to process it. Insulin is also released to keep your blood sugar stable. Eating small meals throughout the day can be incredibly energy-consuming for your body. Furthermore, constant insulin release can contribute to hormonal imbalance, stress, and insulin resistance. 

It's advisable to eat a maximum of three to four nutritious meals a day that fully meet your needs. This allows your digestion ample time to process the food peacefully between meals. As a guideline, you can maintain 4-6 hours between meals. If your stomach starts rumbling before then, add more proteins to your meals to keep you satiated longer. 

5. Support Your Gut 

When we're on holiday abroad, it often affects our eating habits. We might eat dinner later than usual and consume more of certain products than we're used to. Additionally, long flights can significantly impact our gut health. All this can result in discomforts like irregular bowel movements, bloating, gas, and cramps. To support your gut, you can do the following: 

• Eat more fibre from sources like flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. 
• Add probiotic foods to your diet, such as organic dairy (kefir, yoghurt, buttermilk), tempeh, sourdough bread, and fermented vegetables like kimchi, pickles, and (raw) sauerkraut. 
• Drink at least 1.5 to 2 litres of water or herbal tea daily. 
• Stay active (even on the plane). In addition to healthy eating, exercise plays a crucial role in supporting your gut. We recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise daily to increase your breathing rate. 

6. Try to Maintain the Summer Relaxation 

Returning to work after a holiday can be quite challenging. An overflowing inbox, a never-ending to-do list, and you, still in holiday mode. While it might be tempting to dive straight into the rat race, it's wise to try and maintain your relaxed state a little longer. After all, you'd prefer to keep stress at bay. Being outdoors, taking a walk, focusing on your breathing, or listening to calming binaural beats can help you relax and organise your thoughts daily. Also fun: create a photo book of all your summer photos to mentally revisit your holiday.