Happy holidays!
It’s the time of year when we reconnect with family and friends, experience holiday magic through the eyes of children and slow down and relax a bit.
Whether you are celebrating at home or traveling, whether you’re having a big gathering or a small one, you want your holiday season to be joyful and worry-free. To that end, there are a few things to keep in mind to make your holidays as healthy and safe as possible for the entire family.
Cook & Eat, Safely!
Starting with Thanksgiving, our holiday celebrations tend to involve a lot of food. Holiday meals are wonderful times to celebrate with loved ones and friends. The last thing you or your guests want is a bout of food poisoning after the fact!
Food poisoning, technically known as foodborne illness, is quite common, impacting one in six Americans annually. It causes nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration and fever. For some, it can be especially severe and land you in the hospital. The elderly, children and immunocompromised are at heighted risk from food poisoning.
Food poisoning is caused by ingesting food with unhealthy levels of germs in the form of bacteria, viruses or parasites. To reduce the risk of food poisoning, we must store, clean and cook foods properly to kill or prevent harmful bacteria.
“Because holiday meals involve a lot of different foods – and you may have some helpers in the kitchen who aren’t used to doing much meal prep – it’s good to review the do’s and don’ts of food safety,” says Dr. Ashley Womack, an OB/GYN in North Dallas. “Following best practices for food preparation gives you and your guests peace of mind as you enjoy your holiday feast. Think about food safety in four phases: clean, separate, cook and chill.”
Clean
- Wash your hands: food can be contaminated by the germs on our hands. Wash your hands with soap and water before you touch food.
- Keep the kitchen clean: Make sure utensils, cutting boards, pots and pans, etc. are clean before you start prepping and cooking. For countertops and other surfaces, use a kitchen-safe cleaner that kills bacteria.
- Do rinse fruit and vegetables: Produce can contain bacteria, so it’s important to always wash it before eating or preparing.
- Do not rinse raw meat. We used to be told to rinse off chicken and pork, but this is no longer recommended. Rinsing meat causes bacteria to splash and land on your counters – or you. Plus, rinsing meat is unnecessary; the cooking process kills the bacteria.
Separate
- Keep meat, poultry and fish separate from other foods to prevent cross-contamination.
- That means using separate cutting boards and utensils for raw meats and other food, such as produce.
- Take advantage of plastic bags at the grocery store to prevent juices from meat leaking on to other foods
Cook
- Meat must be cooked to a certain temperature to ensure that it is safe. The only reliable way to know if your meat is done is with a food thermometer; appearance and color of the meat are not reliable to gauge doneness. An instant-read thermometer, inserted into the thickest part of the meat and not touching a bone, is the most effective means to get an accurate temperature.
- The minimum temperatures for meats, fish and poultry, casseroles and leftovers are :
- 145°F for whole cuts of beef, pork, veal, and lamb (then allow the meat to rest for three minutes before carving or eating; the meat temperature will continue to rise while resting)
- 160°F for ground beef and pork
- 165°F for all poultry, including ground chicken and turkey
- 165°F for leftovers and casseroles
- 145°F for fresh ham (raw)
- 145°F for fin fish or cook until flesh is opaque
Chill
- Always keep your refrigerator temperature below 40° F.
- The only safe ways to thaw frozen food are in the refrigerator, in cold water or by defrosting in the microwave. NEVER leave frozen food out on the counter to thaw. While part of the food is still frozen, the thawed portion can easily rise above 40° F, allowing bacteria to multiply quickly. Keep this in mind if you’ll be defrosting a turkey – move it from the freezer to the fridge a few days before Thanksgiving.
- Do not allow leftover food to sit out for more than two hours.
Dealing with Leftovers
Big holiday meals mean lots of leftovers. Leftover food should be refrigerated as soon as possible. It is not necessary for food to cool completely before placing it in the fridge; it is more important to get it in quickly.
The other important aspect of leftover safety is remembering how long the food will be good for. Even if you put your leftovers in the refrigerator right away, they won’t last forever. Refrigerated Thanksgiving leftovers are good for 3-4 days. That means the Monday after Thanksgiving is the last day you should eat any leftovers, unless you freeze them. For a comprehensive list of how long leftover food lasts, check out this chart from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Safe Decorating
For many of us, the holidays mean decorating our homes to reflect the wonder and warmth of the season. If that’s you, decorate away – just follow a few common-sense safety rules!
If you’re putting up a live Christmas tree, always keep the water basin full and position the tree away from heat sources. A tree that is too dry becomes a fire hazard.
When putting up lights, take a few safety precautions. First, check your lights carefully to see that the wires are not frayed or damaged and that the bulbs are not broken. If lights are damaged in any way, they are a fire and electrocution hazard – throw them away. Follow instructions on how many strands you can safely connect and take care not to create a circuit overload. Newer LED lights are safer – they use less electricity and do not get hot like older, incandescent lights.
One of the most common household injuries — at any time of year — involves ladders. If you’re hanging outside lights and it involves a ladder, hire an insured professional to do the job. “We see a lot of injuries, such as broken bones and even head trauma, stemming from ladder falls,” says Dr. Erich Gerhardt, a trauma surgeon in Grapevine. “Falling off a ladder is very dangerous – don’t chance it.”
Healthy Holiday Living
One of the challenges of the holiday season is that it can strain a healthy lifestyle routine. Part of that is because people tend to get busy around the holidays and then have less time to focus on themselves. This dynamic, coupled with big, celebratory meals, can lead to hit to our health and our waistlines in particular. However, with a little bit of planning and discipline, you can enjoy your holiday season while keeping up your healthy routines.
Eating Healthy (OK, healthy-ish)
“As long as you don’t have a chronic health condition that requires a strict diet, no one is going to tell you to skip the great food that’s served at our traditional holiday celebrations,” says Dr. Triwanna Fisher-Wikoff, a family practice physician in Fort Worth. “Instead, it’s better to just keep a few rules of thumb in mind that will help you avoid overeating.”
- Go light on appetizers: Your main course will likely be filling, so try to skip the cheese and crackers, chips and dip, etc.
- Don’t load your plate: Resist the urge to fill every square inch of your plate – if you do, you’ll end up eating it, whether you are already full or not.
- Enjoy everything, but in moderation: Don’t deprive yourself of the foods you want; instead, enjoy them in reasonable quantities: don’t heap the mashed potatoes and gravy on your plate. Have a smaller slice of pie.
Drink Responsibly
Holiday celebrations tend to have plenty of alcohol available. Whether it’s wine over Thanksgiving dinner or cocktails at an office holiday party, it seems like there is alcohol everywhere this time of year.
If you drink, it’s important to do so in moderation. Established health guidelines say that men should have no more than two drinks per day and women, no more than one. When considering this, keep in mind what a “drink” is: a standard drink refers to a specific amount of alcohol – 0.6 ounces, or 14 grams.
The following servings are equal to one drink:
- A 12-ounce beer (approximately 5% alcohol content)
- A 5-ounce glass of wine (12% alcohol content)
- A 1.5 ounce shot of liquor, such as whiskey, vodka or tequila (40% alcohol content)
“If you’re drinking alcohol at a holiday celebration, pace yourself,” advises Dr. Robert Zwernemann, an OB/GYN in Fort Worth. “Be alert at parties or dinners where people are offering to replenish your glass of wine – that’s a sure-fire way to end up drinking too much, too quickly. Don’t be afraid to tell your host that you’re good on your drink for now and don’t need more.”
In the event you over-indulge, don’t get behind the wheel. Call for a ride and come back for your vehicle the next day. Alcohol-related traffic fatalities increase in December – don’t be part of this sad statistic.
Find an Outlet for Stress
For all the joy, warmth and happiness that the holiday season brings, it can also bring with it a lot of stress. “Too often, we allow ourselves to get stressed out by a to-do list that is too long, coupled with unrealistic, self-imposed expectations,” says Dr. Traci Bartkus, a Fort Worth OB/GYN. “Between cooking, baking, decorating, entertaining, shopping and wrapping, it can just be too much sometimes.”
Planning and organization will help you manage your holiday season chores, but you also must feel empowered to draw a line and not take on more than you want to handle.
Equally importantly, you must have an outlet for your stress. Keeping up with your exercise routine is a good way to relieve stress and stay physically healthy, as well. Even just going for a walk is a good stress reliever.
Finally, do nice things for yourself. Allow yourself to unwind by reading a book, watching a movie or listening to music. Spend time with friends who make you laugh – or spend time alone if you prefer.
Sometimes, holiday stress goes beyond the logistics of entertaining and gift-giving. “For some people, the holidays can dredge up feelings of loss and sadness,” explains Dr. Alan Davenport, a Fort Worth internal medicine physician. “It may be that we feel the loss of a loved one more acutely or simply feel lonelier. If you experience feelings of immense sadness or depression, there is nothing wrong with you; it happens – but you should talk to someone to help you work through it. Maybe that’s a friend or your pastor. Don’t forget, your primary care provider is also someone you can confide in – we are there to help in any way we can.”
Make These Holidays the Best Yet!
This holiday season, take some time to unwind, enjoy your family and friends and give thanks for what you have. The best holiday celebrations aren’t dependent on what’s on the menu or how many gifts there are to open. They’re defined by the quality of time we spend together and the chance to make new memories with those we cherish.
From all of us at Privia Medical Group North Texas, stay safe, stay healthy and Happy Holidays!
This article has been reviewed and approved by a panel of Privia Medical Group North Texas physicians.
This article contains information sourced from:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
