Hi Friends,
The holidays are here—filled with connection, celebration, and of course… incredible food. 🎄✨
It’s a season meant to be enjoyed—not endured.
But for many people, the holidays also come with bloating, fatigue, sugar crashes, reflux, poor sleep, and frequent colds. The good news? A few intentional choices can make all the difference—allowing you to fully enjoy the season and feel great doing it.
Below are my 7 favorite holiday health strategies I personally use and recommend to my patients each year.
Let’s be honest—sugar and carbs dominate the holiday table: cookies, cakes, chocolate, cocktails, and comfort foods everywhere you turn. While enjoying special treats is part of the season, excess sugar can disrupt blood sugar, weaken immunity, inflame the gut, and leave you feeling sluggish and bloated.
With so many viruses circulating right now, protecting your gut and metabolic health is more important than ever.
My Top 7 Holiday Health Strategies!
1️⃣ Eat Mindfully (Small Portions, Big Satisfaction)
Try using a smaller plate and starting with smaller portions. When eating something rich or decadent, slow down and savor it—often 2–3 intentional bites are all you need to feel satisfied. This simple shift allows you to enjoy holiday favorites fully, without guilt, bloating, or uncomfortable heaviness afterward.
For added digestive support during richer meals, consider 1–2 capsules of Digestive Enzyme Pro before or after eating to help reduce bloating, gas, and that heavy post-meal feeling.
2️⃣ Protect Your Gut Microbiome
Stress, sugar, and alcohol all promote dysbiosis—an imbalance of gut bacteria and yeast that affects digestion, immunity, hormones, and energy.
A daily probiotic can help keep your microbiome resilient. Two of the strongest ones to keep your gut health this time of year are our Probiotic 100 billion or Probiotic 225 billion, taken in the morning on an empty stomach.
3️⃣ Use Intermittent Fasting Strategically
Intermittent fasting supports Autophagy your body’s natural cellular clean-up process.
If you enjoyed a heavier meal, consider giving your body a break afterward. For example, if you had a heavy dinner, you might skip breakfast and wait until noon for your first meal. If lunch was more indulgent, consider keeping dinner light or skipping it altogether.
Creating a 16–18 hour break between meals, even a few days per week, allows your body time to reset and can support energy, mental clarity, and metabolic health—without needing a strict schedule.
4️⃣ Move After Dessert
Dessert doesn’t need to be followed by guilt—just movement. Take a quick “digestive lap,” dance in the kitchen, or do a few calf raises or gentle squats. Even light movement helps muscles use up glucose and keeps blood sugar steadier.
You can also make dessert work for you by choosing better-for-you options. My healthier chocolate chip cookie recipe uses quality ingredients to satisfy a sweet craving without the usual sugar crash.
For additional support, Berberine Pro or Cinnamon and Chromium can help improve insulin sensitivity during higher-carb meals.
5️⃣ Start the Day with a Holiday Green Smoothie 🥬
Beginning the day with nutrient-dense foods helps stabilize blood sugar and reduce cravings later.
Holiday Peppermint Smoothie:
2 handfuls of organic baby spinach
½ ripe avocado 🥑
1 frozen banana 🍌
¼ cup of walnuts
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
12 oz of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 pitted Medjool dates
2 drops of pure food-grade essential peppermint oil (recommend by doTERRA)
¼ cup ice cubes (optional)
Collagen or vegetarian protein 1 scoop (optional)
Cinnamon Pear 🍐 Smoothie:
½ frozen banana 🍌
1 ripe pear, cored and seeded (recommend cutting up ripe pear and freezing)
2 tbsp of raw almond butter (or ¼ cup soaked whole almonds)
12 oz of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Handful of organic baby spinach
¼ cup ice cubes (optional)
Collagen or vegetarian protein 1 scoop (optional)
6️⃣ Prioritize Hydration
Hydration supports immunity, digestion, and regular bowel movements—three things many people struggle with during the holidays.
Add variety with herbal teas or water enhanced with Electrolyte Powder to stay energized and hydrated.
7️⃣ Support Detox Pathways
Between stress, sugar, alcohol, and environmental toxins, your liver works overtime this season.
Glutathione, the body’s master antioxidant, supports liver detoxification and cellular protection—helping your body process the holiday load more efficiently.
🎄 Bonus Tip: Skip the Alcohol This Holiday Season
If you want to wake up clear-headed, energized, and bloat-free, consider skipping the alcohol this holiday season. Alcohol quietly disrupts blood sugar, disrupts sleep, irritates the gut lining, worsens reflux, and leaves many people feeling inflamed and exhausted the next day.
That’s why I created my Holiday Non-Alcoholic Drink Guide—festive, delicious mocktails that feel indulgent without sabotaging your gut, hormones, or sleep. These drinks support hydration, curb sugar cravings, and let you fully enjoy the celebrations—no regret required. 🧡
Cheers to feeling good this season! 🥂✨
Kick off the New Year feeling your best with our 7-Day Chocolate Liver Detox—a delicious, structured program designed to gently reset your system after the holidays. This $150 program helps support your liver’s natural detox pathways, reduce bloating, curb sugar cravings, and jumpstart healthy weight loss.
👉 Learn more: Watch the Core Restore 7-Day Program Video
👉 Ingredients: View the full ingredient list
👉 To order: Please email us at ocintegrativemedicinestaff@gmail.com
Start the year feeling lighter, clearer, and more energized!
Not sure what to get someone? Why not give a gift that supports their health in 2026 and beyond—something they’ll truly benefit from long after the holidays are over. 🧡
Digestive Enzyme Pro
Digestive Enzyme Pro supports healthy digestion—helping reduce bloating, gas, and acid reflux so you can enjoy festive meals without discomfort.
Methyl B Complex
Methyl B Complex supports mood, energy, and nervous system balance—while also helping reduce stress-driven sugar cravings that tend to spike during the holidays.
Adrenal Support
Adrenal Support helps support a healthy stress response and energy balance during this high-demand season.
Berberine Pro
Berberine activates key metabolic pathways involved in insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation.
Its antimicrobial properties also help protect the gut microbiome from dysbiosis and Candida overgrowth!
Metabolism Support
If weight feels harder to manage this time of year, Metabolism Support offers gentle, stimulant-free metabolic support using clinically studied polyphenols.
Start supporting your metabolism now—and enter the New Year ahead of the curve.
Probiotic 100 Billion
Probiotic 100 Billion supports a diverse, resilient microbiome—foundational for energy, mood, skin, immunity, and hormone balance.
Glutathione
Glutathione is the body’s master antioxidant, supporting liver detoxification and cellular protection throughout the body.
It's especially helpful during holiday travel, increased stress, flying (radiation), and exposure to toxins such as alcohol.
Viramune
Between holiday travel, crowds, and late nights, immune defenses can dip.
Viramune helps support immune resilience on the go and may help you bounce back more quickly at the first sign of illness.
Ingredients:
4 large ripe pears
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions:
Warm up the coconut oil and drizzle over the pears.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
— Albert Einstein
And that choice makes all the difference.
I personally consider it a miracle to be able to do the work I love—educating, supporting, and walking alongside so many of you on your health journeys. It’s a privilege I never take for granted.
Wishing you a blessed and healthy holiday season filled with love, light, and wonder—and a beautiful beginning to 2026, where your dreams feel possible and the sky truly is the limit. ✨🧡
Warmest regards,
Rajsree Nambudripad, MD
