You are going to enjoy yourself, forget about your email inbox, and hopefully your computer password. Surely, you will break away from your schedules and your eating and exercise patterns. That's what summer is for! "But try to maintain a basic structure that allows you to stay in control," advises Crys Dyaz, a holistic health professional with her own center in Madrid (La Finca, in Pozuelo, and La Moraleja, in Alcobendas) and now also in Galicia (A Coruña).
The physiotherapist and personal trainer sees well-being as a three-legged table: nutrition, exercise, and rest. And if one leg is weak, the table wobbles, even during vacations. Now that we have more time, she recommends that if we start a training program, we accompany it with good nutrition and conscious rest. This is how we recharge our batteries: "Our cortisol levels, related to stress or lack of sleep, are very high and generate inflammation in the body. Inflammation causes fluid retention, a pathology, and also mental and physical anxiety. This prevents maintaining healthy habits in the long term," she explains.
That's why when asked about the bikini operation when these dates arrive, she is not against it, but she believes it is not sustainable and therefore will not work. "I don't like the concept, but the spark it ignites. It's a wonderful opportunity for someone to embrace sports, even if it's for a physical goal. I will make sure that this operation lasts for 30 years. That's what's important."
She details that perfection is the enemy of good. Therefore, in her plan to establish good habits in summer, there is room for flexibility to have a treat or indulge. You don't need to do everything on the list, but it's interesting to incorporate what works for you, she states. "Adjust your routines to a new scenario and don't compare yourself to what you see on social media." Laura Escanes, one of the well-known women she helps get in shape, has explained this perfectly in one of her recent posts, says the trainer. "You never know what's behind a person. How a comment about their body can affect them due to their circumstances, life moment, energy... The important thing is to love yourself, have enough self-esteem to know that bodies change and it's perfectly fine. Embrace it, enjoy it. We only have one. And besides, life goes by fast."
1. Walking barefoot
Crys Dyaz encourages practicing the barefoot trend, being barefoot, taking advantage of this season to stimulate the muscles, ligaments, and tendons of the foot, contributing to a more natural and efficient gait that reduces the risk of injuries such as plantar fasciitis. "Summer is a perfect time to connect with the sand at the beach, with the grass in nature, and adapt our feet to different structures, as it has many benefits. Direct stimulation of the plantar nerve endings improves body awareness, proprioception, postural control, and reduces instability," she explains, advising that occasionally at home, we take off our shoes and walk. "There are many days when I train barefoot. Depending on the type of training, of course," she adds. In childhood, walking barefoot strengthens psychomotor development, the plantar arch, and balance, she details.
2. Get more sleep
Many times we go crazy with supplementation, spending huge amounts of money, when in sleep we have the most scientifically proven free habit in health. We already know that while we sleep, our cells repair, we consolidate memory, and regain energy, among many other processes. Crys Dyaz tracks her sleep with a ring, but she says there's no need to go crazy collecting data to reach an hour and a half of deep sleep. "There will be days when you sleep six hours because you have a baby waking you up, but you have to be aware of its importance by trying to go to bed when your body asks for it: synchronized with the sun." During sleep, the nervous system recovers, strengthens, and prepares to fight infections. "If that nervous system is strong because you have rested well, it will be prepared. If not, that's when pathologies appear," she reflects. She insists: if one day you go out to dinner and go to bed at two because you're on vacation, great! "But know what your goal is. Have a circadian rhythm, that is, stable and consistent routines with sunlight," she summarizes.
3. Reduce blue light
During leisure time, nothing better than disconnecting from the mobile phone and reading a book on paper or chatting with family on the sun lounger. We live surrounded by screens, and that's why the trainer encourages creating better sleep hygiene to rest. "It's vital to try to get 7-8 hours of sleep. The key is to transition from activity to the room where we sleep. We want to be on the phone, make dinner, put the child to bed, feeling overwhelmed, and now you're telling me to fall asleep? Give your body a signal. Enter your room and have the light already off; get into a routine with reading a chapter, meditation, a little yoga..., or take a short shower with warm water and finish with two minutes of cold water from the neck down before going to bed."
And a trick from Dyaz, if you have no choice but to use the mobile phone, is to activate the infrared light on the device. "What we try to simulate is what happens in nature when the sun goes down: the sky turns red, orange... That's what we try to artificially reproduce to not interfere with the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, with blue light. iPhones already have this mode available," she explains.
4. Take advantage of outdoor sports
No need to look for a gym before your vacation destination to take care of yourself. Crys Dyaz reminds us that "exercising in the morning and exposing yourself to natural light has positive effects on the endocrine system and mood." So, there's nothing better than getting up early on vacation to do yoga in the rented house's patio, go for an active walk, run on the beach... "My recommendation would be to keep moving. Perhaps we modify the type of training we do if we feel like resting our minds a bit or gaining energy to come back in September with intensity. Or continue with our training programs if we consider it part of our routine: running, strength training...".
You can also use summer to discover new activities, she encourages: "Sports related to water, mental release, focusing a bit on mobility and postural training, yoga, pilates, connecting with nature... to encompass all the benefits that sports offer, which go beyond physical appearance." Above all, she assures: "Celebrate what you do and don't punish yourself for what you don't."
5. Mindful and flexible eating
Intermittent fasting, ketogenic diet... It seems that in summer we are more open to trying everything to fit into the swimsuit, and the reality, as Crys Dyaz points out, is that there is no one-size-fits-all diet: "It depends on the life stage and lifestyle of the person. My general recommendations are to chew well (a minimum of 20 times per bite), not eat beyond our needs, and prioritize raw and natural foods, especially now that we have delicious dishes like salads and gazpachos that refresh us."
Many people undo their progress from the whole year on vacation, letting themselves go at the buffet. "If we have done a good job, we will have an active metabolism and good muscle capacity so that those little extras we have during the summer or in social situations we enjoy will not affect the final result we want. I recommend adjusting food quantities, making small compensations when necessary, trying to avoid days where we completely overindulge, and remembering why we do it: for health."
We must avoid a bad relationship with food, but that shouldn't lead us to have an ice cream every day. "First with alcohol, I would recommend thinking of it as empty calories. It's truly a toxin we should avoid. But now we have great options, like the Galician traditional gin Nordés 0.0% alcohol-free, with only four calories and no sugars. We must be consistent with what we choose, with why and for what we do it. Think about the well-being of the moment and the discomfort five minutes later when you realize you've gone overboard, it throws us off balance. It's not about restrictions or limiting our minds in a social plan because flexibility is part of self-care," she points out.
In conclusion, if we take small steps forward, we move faster, the personal trainer concludes. "Fulfill 80%. And go with the flow 20%. We are not machines. And above all, be aware that improving sleep, nutrition, exercise, and having moments of enjoyment improves our relationships, our environment, and everything around us." That's why Crys Dyaz moves away from the typical extreme sports and express diet approach for the bikini operation and offers a more holistic, lasting, and realistic view of health.