A healthy winter lifestyle

One major obstacle to keeping fit in the weeks leading up to Christmas is the many holiday cookies and chocolates that have been adorning grocery store shelves since September. Every German eats roughly 7.5 kilograms of cookies a year and half of that is Christmas fare like gingerbread or spiced cookies ("Spekulatius"), according to the German Association of Candy Producers.

A healthy alternative to all these sweets are nuts. Hazelnuts or chestnuts - roasted on an open fire - are tied to a lower risk of early death, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study says that people whose diet is rich in nuts are less likely to die from cancer or heart disease.

Another way to combat all the fat and sugar ingested during the holiday season is to exercise regularly. But it's especially young people who are spending more and more time in front of screens than being active. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that children spend an average of seven hours a day on entertainment media such as computers, TVs and smartphones.

This inertia is one of the reasons for the results of a study presented at an American Heart Association conference: kids these days can't run as fast as their parents could when they were kids. Over a mile, kids run about 90 seconds slower than their parents would've done 30 years ago. So it will take them longer to run into the living room to open their presents on Christmas Day.

The lack of physical activity and all that Christmas candy can quickly lead to weight gain. For children worldwide, that's an issue regardless of the season. According to the World Health Organization's Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative, on average, every third child aged six to nine is overweight or obese.

A good way to avoid the weight gain trap this winter is to be more active. Children should get at least one hour of physical activity a day to stay fit. So instead of watching "Elf" or "Santa Claus" for the 100th time, families could go ice skating or burn calories in a snowball fight.

A growing tradition among Christmas enthusiasts and athletes alike are the Santa Runs. For these special races, participants dress up as Father Christmas to jog off their winter calories. For the organizers of the "Santa Hustle Race Series" in the US, health doesn't seem to be a primary factor, though: they offer cookie-stations along the course.