Physician Dr Scott Stoll of The Plantrician Project says his upcoming 23-24 Christmas-New Year holiday break will provide a time of personal reflection and review. He also has a handy tip for dealing with your pantry this season.

His contributed comments published here are part of a short seasonal series Whole Food Living is running to help Whole Food eaters stay on track over what can be a difficult time. We approached several of our WFPB advocates across the globe. Their responses will be published over the coming days.

Dr Stoll says this period of year is always a time for reflecting on the past year and reconnecting with the people and things in life that are most important.

“I am grateful for the gift of time with family and friends and the opportunity to pull back from the busyness of life and recalibrate my life to all that is good,” he says.

Where food is concerned, Dr Stoll says he always makes a mental note to enter the new year healthier than before the season.

Making better decisions

“This simple short-term goal helps guide better decisions during the season.  Also, I always recommend keeping your home environment packed with plants and free from any unhealthy foods. This protects you from the holiday tsunami of gift food and guides your shopping decisions to ensure that the majority of your holiday food choices will support your health.”

And just as importantly, this is also a time of personal reflection.

“I always spend time in reflection, prayer and planning. I like to read, review my year’s activities and work projects, re-read my journals, and reflect on what is valuable, good and important for the next year.”

In the coming year, he hopes to spend more time with family and loved ones and “connect with everyone in a more authentic way that builds deep trust, hope, and love into all my relationships. From this place of abundance and connection, everyone’s special gifts can be shared, received and appreciated, cultivating healthy communities and healthier people.”

The Plantrician Project is preparing for next year’s Health Equity and Lifestyle Project (HELP) conference in Huntsville Marriott, Alabama, March 24–26.

The conference will examine the critical relationship between social determinants of health and health disparities and the role of evidence-based lifestyle medicine as a critical and underutilized tool in addressing health disparities and reversing the chronic disease burden trend.