Getting Back on Track After the Holidays
A gentle reset for digestion, energy, lymph, and metabolism.
The holidays nourish the soul, but they often leave the body asking for a reset. Rich meals, irregular schedules, sugar, salt, alcohol, and disrupted sleep can create puffiness, fatigue, cravings, and blood sugar swings. The beautiful truth is that your body responds quickly when you give it steady, restorative support.
Here is a simple, gentle, doable plan to help you ease back into balance. No harsh cleansing. No perfection required. Just consistent choices that feel good.
Rebuild Your Foundation with Stabilizing Foods
After festive eating, the digestive system and adrenals respond best to foods that calm, alkalize, and replenish.
Bieler’s Soup + Bieler’s Veggies with Protein
A cup or bowl of Bieler’s Soup once or twice a day stabilizes blood sugar, reduces cravings, and gently detoxifies without weakening the body.
Enhance your bowl of Bieler’s Soup or plate of Bieler’s veggies with a protein of your choice eggs, turkey, chicken, beef, tofu, or a scoop of goat’s or sheep’s whey will keep your energy steady.
Start Your Day with a Blood-Sugar–Steady Breakfast
How you begin the morning determines your cravings for the next 8–12 hours. Choose breakfasts that combine protein + produce for stable energy.
Options include:
- Eggs and veggies for a grounding, savory start. You can also add a small ½ cup side of oatmeal, cooked brown rice or quinoa for extra fiber and energy boost.
- A yogurt smoothie (recipe below), especially helpful if you’re easing back into rhythm and need something simple, quick, and nourishing
Reset Smoothie: Fruit + Goat’s Whey Protein
A stabilizing, alkalizing blend perfect for mornings or afternoon pick-me-ups.
Ingredients (1 serving):
- ½ cup goat’s milk yogurt or ½ cup unsweetened almond, oat or coconut milk
- ½ cup berries (blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries)
- ½ ripe banana or ½ pear
- 1 scoop goat’s whey powder (gentle, non-inflammatory)
- 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed or chia seeds (optional)
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼–½ cup water or coconut water to thin
- Optional: cinnamon, fresh ginger, vanilla extract or a few mint leaves
Directions:
Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Thin with water or coconut water to your preference. Sip slowly to support balanced blood sugar and digestion.
This smoothie is ideal as a breakfast, snack, or post-walk replenisher. It provides protein, fiber, minerals, and antioxidants which are exactly what the body needs after holiday indulgences.
A Clean, Nourishing Midday Meal
For lunch, keep your choices uncomplicated so your body can continue resetting:
- A bowl of veggie soup with a palm sized portion of protein (fish, poultry, egg, goat cheese, etc.).
- A salad with a palm-size portion of protein protein (fish, poultry, egg, goat cheese, etc.).
- Optional small portion of fiber-rich starch (winter squash, sweet potato, quinoa) if needed for grounding
This is not about restriction, it’s about easing digestion and stabilizing insulin so cravings quiet down naturally.
Smart Afternoon Snack Choices
Keep it blood-sugar steady:
- Yogurt smoothie fortified with goat/sheep whey
- yogurt + fruit (Goat/sheep options are ideal if dairy-sensitive)
- Bieler’s Soup with a few slices of protein on a Wasa rye cracker (or similar) with Dijon mustard
Evening Reset Dinner Plan
A nourishing way to end the day that’s balanced, satisfying, and supportive of deep overnight repair.
One of the most effective habits for weight balance, digestion, and restful sleep is simply timing your final meal of the day. Finishing dinner before 8:00 PM gives the body time to digest, easing bloating, stabilizing blood sugar, supporting liver detox, and reducing late-night hunger.
This isn’t about eating less, it’s about eating the right foods at the right time, in alignment with your natural circadian rhythm.
What to Eat in the Evening
Think Protein + Vegetables, with warm, easy-to-digest meals that calm the nervous system and support hormone balance.
A healthy evening plate looks like:
- Palm-size portion of protein
- 1–3 cups steamed or sautéed vegetables
- Optional grounding starch: winter squash, sweet potato or a lighter grain like quinoa
Warm foods digest more easily at night than raw salads, especially during colder months or after holiday eating.
Evening Eating Guidelines
- Finish dinner by 8:00 PM
- Avoid heavy desserts or late-night snacking
- Sip herbal tea or ginger tea after dinner
- Take a short 5–10 minute walk (or stationary bike if you have one) after dinner to balance blood sugar and support digestion
When evening meals are warm, simple, and finished early, sleep becomes deeper, the liver works more efficiently, and mornings feel lighter and clearer.
Small changes, practiced consistently, create lasting health foundations.
Dinner Options You Can Rotate All Week …Or Swap For Lunch
Soups & Broth Bowls
Gentle | Nourishing | Easy to digest:
- Chicken + zucchini + leafy greens in bone broth
- Turkey and vegetable soup with herbs, ginger + garlic
- Creamy blended Bieler’s or Bieler’s with added shredded chicken, ground turkey or ground beef
- Miso broth with tofu, mushrooms, scallions, wakame
Serve with steamed greens on the side or stirred directly into the bowl.
Stew Style Comfort Meals
Deeply warming, perfect winter reset dinners:
- Turkey or chicken stew with carrots, celery, squash
- Grass-fed beef or bison stew with mushrooms + kale
- White bean + vegetable stew with rosemary and olive oil
- Lamb or chicken tagine-style stew with vegetables + turmeric
Lightly seasoned, not heavy, focus on vegetables and moderate protein.
Protein & Veggie Plate
Simple, clean, stabilizing:
- Baked salmon with steamed asparagus + lemon
- Chicken or turkey breast with sautéed power greens
- Poached white fish with cauliflower mash + dill
- Tofu or tempeh stir-fried with broccoli + ginger
Optional grounding starch: ½ cup roasted sweet potato, quinoa, millet or squash if needed for satiety.
Hydrate + Detox with Infused Waters
Salty, sugary, fat laden holiday foods dehydrate the entire system. Rehydrating reduces puffiness, headaches, fatigue and assists in de-toxing the system.
Sip throughout the day:
- Cucumber–ginger infused water. Warm, cool or room temp.
- Warm water with a few drops of lemon or lime juice
- Ginger tea
Ease Back Into Exercise (Gently and Consistently)
Your body does not need intensity after the holidays, it needs consistency.
10-Minute Walks
Start small: 10 minutes a day.
Outdoors, indoors, or on a treadmill. Add 5 minutes every week as your energy returns.
Workday “Balance Breaks”
Quick resets for your posture, core, and metabolism:
Note: Start any balance exercise by gently engaging your core muscles. Scoop your transverse abdominal muscles in and up towards your belly button to 30% of max. Keep breathing naturally while supporting with your light core hold.
- Tandem stance (one foot directly in front of the other while lightly holding a chair)
- Standing on one leg while lightly holding a chair
Just 30–60 seconds per leg helps improve stability and circulation.
Support Your Lymph + Energy Pathways
After richer foods and sedentary days, the lymph system needs gentle stimulation.
Lymphatic Self-Massage in the Shower
When you are lathering up, use light, upward strokes toward the heart. After you are dry, follow with a few drops of magnesium oil on arms, legs, or back for nervous-system calming and better sleep.
Jin Shin Detox and Rebuild Energy
(DM me with your email for a Jin Shin SEL location chart)
- SEL 3 + same-side SEL 19 enhances detox & lymphatic cleansing
- SEL 1s to open energy pathways and move stagnation
- Legs up with Calf Holds to support detox through the skin, reduce swelling, and restore circulation. Propping your feet up on a few pillows makes this hold much easier.
These practices can be done in minutes and are deeply effective.
Stress Less to Reduce Cravings
Even gentle nervous system support brings cortisol down and helps sugar metabolism.
- Magnesium oil with lavender applied to your inner wrists
- Holding your fingers (any one of them is instant calming) See my website for instructions.
- Slow breathing: exhale longer than you inhale
- A few minutes of quiet meditation with Jin Shinfinger holds or Jin Shin 8 finger mudras
Give Yourself a Graceful Week
This isn’t a quick fix diet or exercise boot camp. It’s a gentle total body reset. Your body will bounce back faster than you think when you:
- Hydrate
- Rebuild with vegetables + protein
- Move lightly but consistently
- Keep stress low
- Support your lymph, detox and energy pathways
You’ll notice your energy, digestion, and shape shifting back into balance naturally.
Closing Thoughts: The Power of One Small Change
You don’t need to transform everything at once. Pick one small change in each category: food, movement, stress, and Jin Shin and commit to it for 30 days. This creates a stable foundation that lasts.
- In diet, add one daily nourishing food like Bieler’s Soup or your protein-rich smoothie.
- In exercise, maintain your daily 10-minute walk.
- In stress reduction, choose one calming practice: magnesium oil, deep breathing, or holding your fingers.
- In Jin Shin, hold a single daily flow like SEL 1s or SEL 3 + 19.
Thirty days of consistency becomes a habit.
A few habits become a lifestyle.
A lifestyle becomes your health foundation.
Start where you are.
Choose one small step.
Let your body show you how quickly it can return to balance.
Coming Next Month:
Fine-Tuning the Sensitive System….Lessons learned from Aging Bodies Human and Canine
Have a question or a natural healing story of your own? I’d love to hear from you, reach me at Kaaren@kaarenjordan.com