This week’s Ultimate Transformation Moment focuses on simple tips to help you remain mentally and physically healthy during the holiday season. There are infinite possibilities to keep a positive mind and physically strong body during the season known for overindulgent eating and spending.

First and foremost, you must remain firmly committed to your plan to achieve health and wellness. In order to stay on course, you must keep a close watch on your mental and physical health plan during this trying time of the year.

Mental focus
Words are powerful. Be very mindful of the words that you speak to others, as well as the thoughts and the ideas that you carry within yourself. Keep your words and your thoughts positive and helpful. Unbeknownst to you, the words that you speak to someone may be the words that uplift them, which is just one reason to keep a positive outlook. No matter where you are or what the situation, know that the presence of God is there with you.

During this time frame, marketing efforts bombard consumers to purchase, no matter the cost. The season of giving is the season that provides retail stores with their dollar quota for the year. Stakes are high and the external stimulus is intensified. Now is the time to step back, calm your mind, and focus on the things that matter: Enjoying family and friends during your time off from work. It is not necessary to break the bank, in order to enjoy your family.

Physical focus
Physically, you’ve got to focus on your immune system, resting, and flushing the body. To keep the immune system strong, you must feed the body the right foods, and make sure to take a multivitamin. A good vitamin will contain Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Beta-carotene, Zinc, Magnesium, and Selenium. I like liquid vitamins because they get into the system much faster.

Also, garlic and onion are considered anti-bacterial, and act as an antiseptic for a wide range of infections. When you’re cooking during this time of year, feel free to season with plenty of garlic and onions.

Another nutritional benefit comes from taking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before a work out because it acts as a fat burner and also helps to build white blood cells, which in turn helps fight viruses and bacteria. Lemon does the same thing.

The final nutritional point is to stay away from sugars, particularly refined white sugar. Refined white sugar slows your metabolism down, as well as lowers the immune system.
The second physical focus is to get rest. Use time off to get a full six to 10 hours of sleep, or whatever your sleep cycle is. The body takes time to heal during the sleeping hours. This is how your body refurbishes and rejuvenates itself.

The final physical focus is on flushing the body daily. Like I tell all my clients: “drink half your body weight in ounces of water and continue to exercise.”

Water provides a daily flush of the entire body system, and exercise helps you continue to keep the body strong and healthy. Water helps you fight off the germs you encounter on a daily basis.

We have to take time in our lives to do the things that we have control over. Mentally, we can control what we say and think. Physically, we can control what we eat and drink, and when we sleep.

Focus on being a good person. Put positive words out and believe in the positive life that this infinitely vast world has to offer. There are more good things happening in this world than there are bad things. For example, while the family of Mitrice Richardson remains steadfast and focuses on the truth, let us send the same positive energy to the family, as well as toward all situations that we encounter in our day.

Stay positive and do the things that we can do everyday to stay strong mentally and physically, and we will find that infinite possibilities are the order of the day.

That’s our ultimate transformations moment. Peace and be more.

(Erich Nall is the owner and founder of Ultimate Transformations Training in Los Angeles, Calif. The certified trainer, nutritionist, motivational speaker, and dedicated life coach is a regular guest and commentator on KJLH 102.3 FM’s the “Front Page with Dominique DiPrima.” As founder of Collegiate Search Youth Organization, Erich has been assisting youth in the community for more than 20 years.)