Woohoo's rigorous, but totally achievable, 40 day nutrition challenge to get you through the holidays with your health and fitness intact.

Woohoo Fit is constantly looking for innovative, fun ways to inspire our community to higher levels of health. Last month we encouraged our participants to complete our 10,030 challenge and we were blown away by the positive results. This time, instead of focusing on in exercises, we decided to tackle nutrition.

Don't get scared away! Cooking and enjoying food with family and friends is a great part of this time of year. But we believe that you can appreciate th e holiday season while maintaining or even increasing your wellness. Here's how:
For 40 days, from 12/6/2011 – 1/8/2012, we challenge you to make one positive nutritional change. Some ideas are: getting rid of refined sugar, ditching alcohol, going gluten free, cutting out fried food, or improving your portioning. The idea is to pick something that feels challenging and yet doable.

We've been talking over the Healthy Holiday Challenge with our participants to help them start thinking about nutritional goals that feel like an achievable stretch. To give you a better idea about how to get started on this challenge, we'll share some of the conversations we've been having:

Your daily indulgence:
Many of us have a daily ritual that we really enjoy, be it a glass of wine in the evening, a cup of coffee in the morning with cream and sugar, or an afternoon cookie as you push through the last hour of work. Here's the good news! That doesn't have to be the thing you give up. This challenge is more about guarding against holiday excess, than it is about eliminating a regular treat. To complete the challenge you should make a nutritional change that feels possible, not one that will make you miserable. For example: you can have your nightly glass of wine and successfully complete the Healthy Holiday Challenge by cutting out fried food.

Eat everything but:
One of our participants has an Italian husband who is an amazing cook (we're all jealous!). She was trying to figure out a way to make a positive change without asking him to majorly adjust his cooking habits. The answer? Eat everything but the pasta. By cutting out the pasta she is making a healthy choice, and yet she still gets to sit down to a family dinner every night and enjoy her husband's cooking skills.

Similarly if you love Mexican food, go appreciate your carnitas, beans, salsa, and salad. Just lose the rice and you'll be taking a great step towards healthier eating.

“Instead of” journal:
We want you to succeed and meet your nutritional goal, so we've set up an online component to the nutritional challenge. Food journaling, or writing down everything you eat is a great way to keep track of what you're eating and adjust your nutrition. But man it can be a lot of work! So in true Woohoo style we've come up with an easier solution. In lieu of writing down every last thing, you just keep track of the times you make good choices instead of eating unhealthy food. For example:
Instead of having my usual after dinner sugar filled desert I had a banana with peanut butter.
Or

• Instead of having a chicken sandwich, I got a chicken salad for lunch so I got to eat everything but the bread, which is consistent with my gluten free goals.
• By uploading your nutritional success to "My Woohoo" we get to help you keep track of your goals and share your ideas or recipes in Woohoo classes and personal training sessions.
   

Pick your party days:
It is the holiday season and everyone needs days off. So out of the 40 days where you follow the Healthy Holiday Challenge, you get 5 days “off”. That way you can have a cocktail at your office party, or cookies and hot chocolate with the family on Christmas Eve. You get to enjoy your holidays and stay healthy!

What we're hoping to see:
Our primary goal is to help our clients avoid gaining weight during the holiday season. But we're always ready to be amazed. After all, our group of superstar participants totally exceeded our expectations in the 10,030 challenge. We think it will be an awesome testament to our techniques if some of our challenge takers lose weight during the 40 days. And what happens when 40 days are over and you've sailed through with healthy eating and stable weight? We're hoping to leave you with healthier eating defaults, so that when you add gluten, sugar, or alcohol back into your diet, it feel more like a treat than a staple.

We challenge you to a healthier holiday season!

Questions, comments, want to run your idea by the expert? You can reach Eva Bramwell at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)