This is the one healthy meal you should have over the holidays if you plan to indulge, according to the personal trainer who has worked with Jourdan Dunn and Deliciously Ella

The Model Method

• Hollie Grant is a personal trainer, pilates instructor, owner of the PilatesPT studio in London, and founder of “The Model Method.”
• Her clients have included Jourdan Dunn, Ella Mills, and Melissa Hemsley.
• During Christmas season she said the most important thing is to “start the day on the right note” with a breakfast full of fibre and vegetables.
• However, she believes people shouldn’t see food or alcohol “as the enemy” and shouldn’t restrict themselves over the holidays.

Festive food and drink is one of the best parts of the season, but if we approach indulgence the wrong way, we could end up overdoing it and feeling unnecessarily guilty — or bloated and hungover.

Hollie Grant — personal trainer, pilates instructor, owner of London studio PilatesPT, and founder of “The Model Method” — reminded Business Insider that part of the holiday period is about being realistic.

“It’s the Christmas period, there will be work drinks and having the family over, and [it’s about] not beating yourself up over it, being allowed to have cake and have a few drinks,” she said.

“It’s okay to not see food or alcohol as the enemy and just see it as part of a balanced diet. If people have too rigid a structure, it’s too easy to binge and purge, and then binge and restrict.”

A former pastry chef herself, Grant says she would never tell a client to completely avoid eating a food they love.

“We don’t believe in the diet approach,” she said, instead adding that people should “think about putting as many good things into your body as you can.”

However, she did have a few suggestions for setting your body and digestive system up for success over the holidays.

Fuel up for the day — then enjoy it

“Always start the day — if you’re having breakfast — on the right note,” Grant said.

“Make sure you’re getting lots of vegetables and fibre in the the beginning. Then even if you’re going out in the evening and it’s greasy food and alcohol, you’ve got some fibre and some vegetables.”

Some of Grant’s go-to breakfasts include black beans with coriander guacamole and poached eggs….

The Model Method

…as well as corn and lime fritters with avocado, rocket, and sriracha sauce; or smoked salmon, egg, and turmeric muffins.

When it comes to alcohol, Grant suggests going “like-for-like,” having one drink, then one glass of water, and not “mindlessly downing pints” — instead, make sure you drink something you really enjoy.

‘The Model Method’ is an effort to ‘change perceptions’

Grant is, of course, also a proponent of pilates, which she says is “all about function and form, not about aesthetics and losing weight.”

However, she believes that pilates on its own is not enough, and her “Model Method” — a plan available for online clients as well as clients she trains in person — incorporates HIIT (high-intensity interval training) as well.

She says the program — which has clients including the likes of “Deliciously Ella” Ella Mills, Melissa Hemsley, and Jourdan Dunn — is 50/50 HIIT and pilates/biometrics (using your body weight to jump).

“I started to introduce it into my client sessions with the pilates, and it seemed like the perfect fit,” she said. “All sessions are based around that.”

Grant’s book — also titled “The Model Method” — is due for release on December 28. Grant describes it as an effort to “try to change perceptions of what people should be doing.”

The Model Method

The book is divided into three sections: Nourish, which compares what people in the UK are eating to government recommendations, and provides recipes based around that; Strength, which explains what pilates is and why it’s good for the body; and Sweat, which talks about the benefits of cardio exercise and HIIT.

Still, while maintaining a bit of exercise over the Christmas period is certainly the goal — and Grant’s Method might be a good place to start — don’t beat yourself up if you don’t make it to the gym every day.

“A healthy relationship with food and exercise is where you don’t see it as the enemy, [but as] something that’s vital and enjoyable,” Grant said. “Dieting and choosing to over-exercise because you hate your body doesn’t work.”