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Hey everyone, it's Mikki here. You're listening to Mini-Mikkipedia on a Monday. And if you are listening on a Monday, it is the second of December. Can you even believe it? We are in the final month of the year. I don't wanna say the final push to 2025 because it sort of sounds like I'm waiting for something else more exciting or that it's a big grind to the end of the year. To be fair, no month is particularly different.

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things, you have to do things every month. It's not like there's some big holiday at the end of this, or I can go on a big rest or whatever, but can sort of feel like that. You know, it's a festive season, lots of us will be putting our trees up. Many of us might have an advent calendar. We've got one at our house. It's a beer jerk one. So we get to sample 24 delicious beers across the course of December, albeit probably won't sample

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back into the habit of drinking every day. So might just save them up and sample a few at a time. But the anticipation of looking at what's behind the door every day, I think that's the most exciting thing about an Advent calendar really, isn't it? And then of course, meanwhile, Mariah Carey's going in the background, you've got the Pogues, I'm actually starting to look forward to the month of Christmas songs too. And it did get me thinking, obviously,

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You can get so inventive when it comes to Advent calendars. So I thought I would put together an Advent calendar for you. And what you might want to do is take the transcript from this episode, write it down, or in fact, if you're subscribed to my emails, then you would have received this in your inbox this morning of 24 different things that you can do that move you towards the person you want to be. You might already be that person, which is fantastic.

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And then you're just continuing to grease the groove of you being the best version of yourself. But interesting though, like I was chatting to my friend Grant, who will be in a podcast interview and that will be released in a couple of weeks. And we were talking about the fact that your best work is still ahead of you. Because ultimately you don't really want to think that the best work that you've ever done is behind you. Because it sort of makes the rest of the world.

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your, I guess we were talking about it in a professional sense, the rest of your professional life a little bit, well, not worthless, but there's no goals attached. So if you can continue to work towards something, this makes for a more enjoyable, satisfying experience. And so when I say that I've put together 24 different things for you to become the best version of yourself, does it mean you're not already awesome? It just means that you get to enhance.

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what you've already got in front of you. So I'm just gonna kick it off. Firstly, tip number one, reverse engineer your day. So when it comes to your diet, and think about this across the course of a week actually, if you plan your sort of social occasions and indulgent meals into your daily intake or weekly intake, then outside of those meals, plan to adjust them a little bit. So,

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For example, if you're going out for dinner tonight and you know it's going to be a three course or four course degustation, you're going to have a couple of drinks, et cetera, try and make your other meals of this day be higher protein, lower carb, lower fat than they generally would be. Now, I don't suggest that you want to starve yourself all day and not eat anything because I think that would actually be a bad idea, but choose to have

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lighter meals that are protein rich, fiber rich, and be very lean on the fat and the carbohydrates. So you're able to regulate your blood sugar across the day, but you've saved some calories for the evening meal. And have a think about how you can do that across the course of this month. Tip two, holiday gratitude board. Shift your focus from food to other meaningful moments. We can get very much tied into the food at this time of year, understandably. But

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You know, holidays are also for being appreciative of those around you. So create a gratitude board and add one thing daily you would appreciate about the season. And it might be about the people. It might be about your work life. It might be about anything at all, but practice gratitude on a daily basis and write it down. Number three, so focus on holiday specific treats rather than indulging in everyday foods. And this is a big one.

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So often there are morning teas at work, there are people bringing cakes and biscuits and whatnot. And sometimes these can just be foods that are around every single day and they are not only available at Christmas. So when you are indulging, make sure you're savoring something that you would otherwise not have at any other time of the year. Like, I don't know, homemade gingerbread, or maybe trifle. I mean, trifle is often a Christmas.

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sort of base dish, you know, that kind of thing. So really pick and choose what it is that you're choosing to eat. Number four, turn holiday music into a fun workout at home. Why not? So create a 10 minute playlist of festive songs and dance to them for a cardio burst. Movement is movement people. And so if you love Christmas music and you're not much into exercise or you haven't managed to get in because you've been super busy, why not?

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turn your house into some sort of dance party. Number five, on the workout front, mini workout snacks. So if time is tight, break exercise into small chunks throughout the day. So do 10 squats, 10 pushups, and 10 lunges whenever you have a spare moment and try and do this three to four times across the course of a day. It makes a huge difference. And in fact, there's good research showing that breaking

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into 10 squats every 45 minutes gives you the same glucose benefits as going for a walk after a meal, which is pretty incredible. Number six, obviously I love and I talk all the time about protein, but number six, why not focus on fiber? Use fiber to keep you full and balance your blood sugar during these indulgent meals. So add chia seeds or psyllium husk to your morning smoothie or drink.

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Raspberries are another super high fiber option. Look on an app like Chronometer or Easy Diet Diary and look at the 10 most fibrous foods and try to add two to three to them to your daily meals. Tip seven, create a no stress zone. So identify a specific holiday trigger, which might be say a last minute shopping and prepare in advance. So an actionable tip from this might be

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that you do 15 minutes of holiday prep to reduce overwhelm. Figure out what you need to do to avoid rushing to the shops December 24 to panic by a bunch of different things for people. And in fact, your action might be not to bother doing that at all and giving people the things that aren't gifts, but.

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Do anything that is going to help reduce that stress by planning in advance. And it's much like food, right? And exercise, anything that can reduce the pressure always really helps. Tip number eight, holiday movement challenge. Can you set a fun fitness goal, which is something you would otherwise not do in and around Christmas Eve, Christmas day, boxing day? For example, walk 20,000 steps boxing day. For a lot of people that is like ridiculously high,

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For some people, that's just what they normally do. So trying to do something outside of your norm that lifts up that movement and then allows for your body to better handle the additional calories. And in fact, when you look at the research around Christmas holiday weight gain, what the literature tells us is those people who gain the most weight tend to also reduce their physical activity, which of course makes sense because you're not moving as much, you're not burning as many calories. So one way to...

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offset that is to actually plan something interesting and different that becomes a bit of a holiday challenge and get other people interested in joining you as well. Tip 9, digital detox hour. Protect your mental health by taking time away from your screens. So actually designate one screen free hour daily to focus on something else like connecting with loved ones.

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doing a stretch session or a yoga type session. Maybe you'll try a jigsaw puzzle or do a crossword puzzle or something like that, which you might not otherwise do, but it'll allow that sort of break that you get from doom scrolling on social media because we're tired or we're anxious or we're trying to distract ourselves from something else. But try to put that hour into something meaningful. Tip 10, random acts of.

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Kindness. This is pretty lovely. Reduce stress by focusing on others. So why don't you commit to one small act of kindness daily, like complimenting someone or donating to charity or bringing along cupcakes to morning tea or making someone else a cup of coffee and actually make a note of it. Much like the gratitude journal that I mentioned earlier, can you do a random acts of kindness journal? So you'd note down each day the random act

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kindness that you executed. And it's not for anyone else, it's just for you because sometimes when we're feeling a bit low or a bit down, it's really easy to sort of spiral into this negative self-talk and we think about ourselves and talk about ourselves in ways we would never talk or think about other people. So if you actually have evidence in front of you of the really lovely things that you've done for someone else, it'll remind you of the person you are and I think that can be really helpful for some people.

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Tip 11, DIY, do-it-yourself, mindful eating tool. So before a big meal, practice a simple grounding technique like the five, four, three, two, one method. So take a moment before eating to notice five things you see, four things you hear, three things you feel, two things you smell, and then one that you taste. So it'll just allow you to be a bit more

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present in the moment of your meal, which helps slow down eating. It helps your brain stay connected to your stomach and your fullness cues. And you're able to engage in that experience. And it really makes a difference to the amount that you eat and the enjoyment of that meal. Tip 12, holiday meal experimentation. Try swapping traditional dishes with healthier options. And I think that this is something which

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people poo poo about, but I think it's really valuable. If you can save calories or save carb calories or fat calories from a particular dish and still enjoy it, why not? I mean, there'll be foods that you just do not want to compromise on. Maybe there's just this really delicious white chocolate cheesecake that only can be made with mascarpone and cream and white chocolate chips and I don't know, you know, all the delicious things, if you like that kind of thing.

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that you wouldn't want to compromise on. But maybe you're happy enough to try, I don't know, like a low carb version of stuffing or some sort of dessert that you make with low fat yoga as opposed to cream. Whatever it is, have a play around with that stuff because it doesn't have to be an all or nothing. You don't have to go all in and have all of the things. If you can make changes elsewhere, it will just spread the load a little bit. Tip 13, social cues for portion control.

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So use these social cues to slow down eating in a group setting. So the actionable step here, match your eating speed to the slowest person at the table. Tip 14, festive themed workouts. Get others involved. And for example, if you're listening to Christmas music at work, every time that you hear the word Christmas tree or jingle bells or anything like that, you have to do 10 press ups.

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or 10 squats or something like that within an hour. So you just get a little bit more activity throughout the day and you make it a fun challenge with those around you. Tip 15, suggest a family stroll between dinner and dessert to break up sitting time. And this is like a pre, it's a pre-dessert walk. So not only will this help lower your postprandial glucose, so it helps lower that glucose response to the meal that you've just had.

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It'll also allow time for you to digest food before you kick on into that next course. So map out some sort of scenic route near your holiday gathering spot and then incorporate more activity into your actual day. Tip number 16, create a holiday stress jar. Sounds a bit weird, but so often, particularly in times of heightened stress, we can catastrophize and ruminate in our minds.

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are going wrong, which may not actually be as big a deal as what we really think they are. And so if you create a holiday stress jar and you write down one thing, one worry in the jar, seal it, and then you could review it in January for perspective, it's sort of like letting go of those holiday stresses by putting them in a sealed jar. You're sort of removing yourself from the actual trigger. And then of course, if you do in January, open up the jar and relook at them.

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you'll be able to have a little bit more perspective on them. Tip 17, turn, this is mindful gift wrapping. I'm not sure about you, but I really cannot stand wrapping gifts. However, turn a holiday tour into a meditative practice. So wrap the gift slowly, focusing on the textures and sounds as you go. Any kind of a mindfulness at this time of year that allows you to slow down and be present can help prevent that holiday overwhelm.

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come at something like wrapping gifts instead of the way I would, which is with a little bit of dread and a lot of CBA, can't be bothered. Well, that's CBB really, isn't it? And turn it into more of a mindful session where you're actually getting some benefit from doing it. Tip 18, host an active holiday gathering. So can you plan a family game? Like a little mini Olympics?

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plank contest or even charades, something which gets people up and active where you otherwise would be sitting around. Tip 19, pre-party stretching. If you're like me and you struggle to fit in time to get your foam rolling or stretching or that kind of flexibility and mobility stuff in, why don't you stack it before headed out anywhere?

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and use five or 10 minutes before heading out to stretch or do the thing like the mobility work that you've always been meaning to do but you always forget. So if you can set your alarm five minutes before you go this will be a good sort of stacker for you habit it's like a habit stacker to ensure you're getting in that time to do what you need. And look it might not be just before you go out it could be

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just before you brush your teeth or something like that, but you're actually just instigating it into your normal everyday life. Tip 20, say no with confidence. So practice declining invitations politely. And this is because we can get overwhelmed with all of the social gatherings that are happening and also feel obliged to attend all of them. And the reality is, is if you did do that for a lot of people, it would actually just

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physically wear them out and it makes it more likely that you'll be suffering from a bit of burnout and a lot of overwhelm before we get to Christmas Day. So can you write down a polite response that you would feel comfortable using when someone asks you to attend something that, and this is no intent, no offence intended, but it's just not a priority for you. It's not one of your priority things that you would like to do. And my other tip here is...

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You also don't have to give a reason or an explanation because that will just give someone more armor to try and to convince you otherwise because they'll just wanna try and solve your problem. Instead, can you just practice saying no thank you or writing it down so you feel well-versed in either having the conversation or sending back a text or whatever, if you get a Facebook invite, so you feel confident and comfortable about that decision.

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because we do need some boundaries in and around this time. And this is a boundary that I feel many people could do better with being able to sort of keep. Tip 21, can you focus on holiday traditions that don't revolve around eating or drinking? For example, can you organize a family wreath making session or a holiday trivia night or a puzzle competition, something which becomes a bit of a tradition that doesn't involve eating and drinking?

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Tip 22, set a holiday health mantra. Choose a simple phrase to say motivated, like progress not perfection, or act as if, or be it till you see it. So write your mantra down on a sticky note and place it on your fridge or mirror as a reminder. Tip 23, hey, this is one we could all do, regardless of time of year, but can you?

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Make holiday shopping an active outing by parking further away or walking to the stores or always taking the long route around, that kind of thing. I have a friend who, to get her steps in, she goes down to the local shopping mall and does laps around there, which is actually a really good idea, particularly if the weather is a bit trash, the way it is right now. So track your steps while shopping and aim to hit your daily step goal. So that's a good actionable tip from that. And then finally, tip 24.

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The last of the Advent Calendar tips. Can you create a calm evening routine to combat the holiday stress and promote better sleep? Sleep is our biggest recovery tool and is one of the first things to go when we've got a really tight schedule. So can you spend five minutes writing down tomorrow's to-dos and five minutes stretching before bed? So these are all tips that help, hopefully balance some actionable advice with a little bit of creativity, a little bit.

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for some of you that hopefully will just add to your holiday toolkit. And I know probably many of these you've thought of before and a lot of these things we do think about and don't actually do. So maybe the best gift to yourself this December pre-Christmas gift is to put into place some of these things that allow you to keep showing up as the best version of yourself in a time of year that is so frantic and so busy.

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Let me know what you think and let me know if you do it. Hit me up on Instagram at Mickey Willadon. That's also my username on Twitter and on threads and of course, Facebook at Mickey Willadon nutrition. You guys have the best week. See you later.