The holidays can be really taxing on a sick body. Traditions are an amazing part of the magic of Christmas, but when they cause a setback on your health, it may be better to change them up a little.

When I first got sick (way back in 2006), much of my life had changed. My girls and I had moved away from family and friends (for a job opportunity). So we didn’t have much of a support system.

Pain and fatigue made travel very hard. But I wanted holidays to be special for my kids. So we created new traditions.

I have never much cared for the traditional Thanksgiving meal – as a vegetarian, I don’t eat turkey; I can’t stand cranberry’s or yams, and I wasn’t a fan of green bean casserole. My girls would eat it if it was on the table but none of that was their first choice either.

One year, I made homemade enchiladas and we stayed in our PJ’s all day. We watched the Macy’s parade in the morning and movies the rest of the day. Over the thanksgiving weekend, we put up the tree and decorated the house for Christmas. The 4 day weekend gave my body a chance to rest – not having to decorate all at once made the chore a lot easier.

That became our tradition.

This year I made drastic changes to the food I eat – enchiladas are not part of my healthy living diet, so we decided to change the meal up. We made Indian food – curried black beans, aloo gobi, dal, naan, and coconut ladoo. It was delicious!

The key to the holidays is making sure you and your loved ones are spending time together. You don’t need to hold onto a tradition just because it’s what you’ve always done (see The Pot Roast Story below).

This year, if your traditions are affecting your health and well-being, think about creating new traditions that nurture your body and build family relationships. You can still cherish traditions of years past.

The Pot Roast Story

A woman was teaching her young daughter to make pot roast. Mom cut the ends of the roast and the little girl asked why she did that. Mom said “because that’s what my mom taught me to do”.

Mom called her mother and asked “why do we cut the ends off the pot roast”. The reply: “because that’s what my mom taught me to do”.

A call to grandma gave the answer: “so the roast will fit in the pot!”