After the great response to my Low Cal Cocktails post, I felt it my duty to provide you with healthy ways to EAT at summer events. I mean, the drinking part is fun and all, but without food, you may get yourself into trouble. And I don’t want to be responsible for your drunken shenanigans.
Let out a sigh of relief. You MAY enjoy your summer events. You MAY indulge. You MAY fill your plate. Just be smart about it. VERY smart.
The trouble with summer is that it’s like a 3 month holiday. Over Christmas and New Years we often let up on our food rules and pay the price. But it’s just a couple weeks. Then we start fresh in January. The same thing can happen in summer, but it lasts much longer. 3 months of indulgence (even if it’s just every weekend) is trouble. TROUBLE!!!
My moms work too hard all year to lose fat and tone up to let summer ruin it for them. In fact, many of you are just getting to a place where you’ve lost all your baby weight. You’re fitting back into pre-pregnancy clothes (which I love to hear about!!) Blowing all that over the course of summer would be nothing short of heartbreaking. So let me tell you how to EAT SMART this summer.
Eating smart will keep your Mama belly flat, your butt reasonably sized and your super buff push up arms well toned. If you’re still working on these body parts – getting them in tip top shape, all the more reason to listen up here.
8 TIPS FOR SUMMER SLIMDOWN PARTY PLANNING:
1. Eat well before attending events. Make sure the meal you have before you head over to a BBQ or party is wholesome and full of veggies and protein. This will keep cravings at bay as you graze. You will be able to say “No Thank You” to many temptations just because you’re not starving or sugar crashing.
2. Drink a ton of water before the event. This will keep you feeling fuller and you’ll burn a few extra cals running to the potty for the first hour or two fo the party!
3. Be the one to bring the healthy option. I’m always this person. Yup, big ole nerd and proud of it. I try to mix it up a bit, just so people don’t roll their eyes at me. Like tonight, for example, I’m taking a big salad to a BBQ, with a side of chocolate covered strawberries I’ll post this recipe soon – super easy and fun!) The chocolate covered strawberries will give me a little cool credibility to balance out the salad nerdiness. Your other option is to bring super pretty healthy food. See the fruit kebabs above? They rock. You can’t keep them on a BBQ table. Adults and kids gravitate to pretty food. I have two great quinoa salad recipes that folks love too:
Quinoa Salad with Pears, Baby Spinach and Chick Peas in a Maple Vinaigrette
Greek Quinoa Salad with Peppers and Cukes
4. Step away from the table. Do not linger by the food table chit chatting. You will consume exponentially more food. Fill your plate. Walk away. Don’t go back.
5. Use small plates whenever possible. If you use a smaller plate, you can guiltlessly fill it to the brim so you feel like you’re eating a whopper of a meal for half the calories as a large plate.
6. Fill your plate with mostly healthy options. Grab any fruits/veggies/lean proteins you can. With the little remaining room on your plate, take a little scoop of the potato salad if you’re dying to try it. It is a party for Pete’s sake. It’s ok to try things. Plus, if you only have a few bites, you’ll truly enjoy each morsel, rather than shoveling a big pile mindlessly down the hatch.
7. Drinks – don’t make me lecture you about drinking empty calories again. I don’t expect you to not drink. I would never ask you to do something I wouldn’t ask of myself… Read this post for low cal cocktails. And step away from the juice/pop/mixers. NOW!
8. If you know you’re going to have a day of indulgence, plan ahead and kick the day off with a KILLER sweat sesh! If you get some serious sweat in prior to your indulgence, your metabolism will be all revved up to burn those few extra calories. Yes, I said FEW, a workout is not a license to eat whatever you want later in the day, unless you run a marathon, literally. Then you can eat whatever the heck you want.
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