It’s Black Friday. Your alarm wakes you up when it’s still dark. You throw on some clothes, maybe grab a coffee, and stagger out the door. Sound familiar? If you’re going to kick off the Christmas shopping season bright and early, you’ll need to fuel up somehow to keep going through the day.

Breakfast
If you have time to make something before you head out, try a peanut butter banana smoothie. You can make with one banana, two tablespoons of peanut butter, and a cup of milk. If you want to make it even tastier, add greek yogurt, vanilla extract, and a cup of ice. This smoothie will give you long lasting energy with a big boost of protein, plus potassium to keep those leg muscles going.

Want to grab something quick? McDonald’s breakfast menu now boasts Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. It has only 290 calories. It also gives you 130% of your daily Vitamin C requirement, which may help you fend off all those germs you come across in the shopping crowds. Not an oatmeal fan? They also have a Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait with only 150 calories and four grams of protein.

Lunch
If you’re not all cooked out from Thanksgiving, try making your own granola. Pack it in plastic zipper bags, and throw some in your purse for Black Friday. One granola recipe from Cooking Light has 9.8 grams of protein and 7.8 grams of fiber for just 384 calories. You can make it about an hour.

Want a homemade energy boost without cooking? Throw together some trail mix. Since you’re a grownup, you don’t even need to go the M&Ms and peanuts route. The Internet is overflowing with trail mix recipes. (Who knew?) Pick your favorites from the many healthy options, then keep some with you while you shop. For an energy boost, choose seeds, nuts, and grains. Avoid sugary dried fruit or candies — they’ll set you up for an energy crash later.

If you’re thinking fast food for lunch, order grilled chicken. Whether it’s in a wrap, on a salad, or in a sandwich, grilled chicken is one of the healthiest, low calorie foods you can find at almost any fast food restaurant. You’ll get a bunch of lean protein to help you power through the afternoon without overdoing the calories. Just remember that any dressing or sauce you use will add fat and calories to your meal, so choose wisely.

Dinner
Plan on shopping well into the evening? You’ll need more fuel. Shopping areas tend to be full of chain restaurants where you can get a tasty, affordable meal, quickly. They are also full of diet landmines. If you want to eat healthy, you must be smart about what you order. Some dishes may sound healthy even when they aren’t, such as Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad — a TGI Friday’s dish that packs 1,360 calories. However, many restaurants help you choose better by highlighting healthy fare with special symbols or a separate part of their menu.

One very simple way to trim calories when you eat out is to order only water to drink. Unsweetened tea and low-fat milk are also much better choices than soda, beer, or cocktails. Ask for sauce and dressing on the side, as these tend to be loaded with calories. Lastly, pay careful attention to portion size. Many chain restaurants give you enough food for two or three meals on one plate. Consider getting a container and dividing up your portion to take home before you begin eating.

With a little planning and a little knowledge, you can make healthy food choices even on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The best food choices will help you feel full and maintain energy all day long without breaking your diet. Happy shopping!

Increased spending, tense visits with extended family, and crowds everywhere you go. Blissful memories of holidays past that you can never seem to quite recapture. Sure, the holidays do have their high points, but for many of us they’re an incredibly stressful time of year. How can you stay calm through the storm?

Keep Up Your Workouts
As busy as your holiday schedule may be, don’t give in to the temptation to skip workouts. Not only will it help you work off those extra holiday calories, it will give you an outlet for stress, help you sleep soundly, and probably give you a little alone time. If you typically workout at home, but expect to have a houseful, consider a short term gym membership or a fitness class outside your home. If that will stretch your budget too much, prepare for the weather and get outdoors. Walk, run, start a snowball fight, anything to get moving and destress.

Make A Budget And Stick To It
Money is one of the biggest stressors during the holidays. Of course, we all feel compelled to spend loads of money on big meals and gifts and decor. Whether your budget is big or small, it’s vitally important to create a budget that won’t drive you into debt and stick to it. Sticking to your budget is a little easier if you’ve been saving up for holiday expenses. If you haven’t got some money set aside though, find places to cut back on spending to make up the difference. Buying someone a smaller gift (or even limiting the recipients on your gift list) is so much better than burying yourself in debt and all the stress that comes with it.

Give Meditation A Try
Christmas Eve in a house full of people who are driving you crazy is not the best time to start a meditation practice. However, if you start before the holidays are in full swing and make it a daily habit, then it can be a powerful tool to combat stress through the holidays and all year long. Meditation involves focusing on the present. Rather than trying to clear your mind or think about nothing, meditation helps you pause and recenter in the midst of chaos. That’s something we could all use during the holidays.

Get Some Sunlight
With so much focus on protecting our skin from harmful ultraviolet rays, it became increasingly common for people to develop conditions such as low Vitamin D levels due to too little sun exposure. During the cold weather, we tend to stay indoors more often, getting even less sunshine. While it’s true that you should wear sunscreen and avoid sunburn, your body still requires some sunshine to function properly. Sunlight first thing in the morning can help your body produce melatonin at the proper time to aid in falling asleep. It even boosts serotonin production, helping to melt away that holiday stress.

Don’t Procrastinate on Shopping
Ditto for wrapping, shipping, and everything else you can do in advance. Waiting til the last minute during peak shopping season is worse than usual procrastination because when you do finally drag yourself to the store, it is even more stressful. Add crowds and picked-over selection to your already rushed mood and you have a recipe for a terrible experience. The story is the same for major shippers. Even if you shop online, you risk your item not arriving in time or paying a lot more for expedited shipping methods. Save yourself all that stress by just not waiting until the last minute.

Be mindful of the fact that the holiday season will end as swiftly as it began, just like it does every year. The good parts and the bad parts are all temporary, so the better you cope with the down sides, the more you’ll be able to enjoy the great parts.