It’s Thursdays with Trina! As I sit here in downtown Toronto thinking about the land of excess that we live in I realize how easy it is for us to start packing on the artery clogging fat and head down a path of heart disease, hormone disruption and depression. It starts with a bad choice, followed by cravings, addictions of sugar, salt and fat and voila, we are busting out our spare tire over our jeans. I went to a Corporate event last night with a bunch of really important people. Every thing was free from drinks, appetizers, a massive amount of food and a desert cart that never ended and then more dessert after the dessert.
Sugar, Salt and Fat
As someone who loves food, it’s definitely hard to resist but I eat clean 80% of the time and the rest I don’t worry about. The truth is that when you start eating healthy you don’t want to eat like crap because it makes you feel horrible and leads to a “food hangover”. Train yourself to sift out the healthy choices in a sea of alfredo sauce, caesar salad, danishes, fancy drinks and the calories and fat after calories and fat.
I have to admit that the spread was fantastic and the food choices were both good and bad depending on what you chose. All of us Corporate people drinking and eating never acknowledging how much sugar, salt and fat we were consuming. All of the sudden in the middle of business conversations they call “dessert cart is here”. Now I have never seen so many people rush towards a candy filled cart. I mean, I can’t even get some of my clients to hustle like that when I am howling at them in Boot Camp! I might yell “Dessert cart hustle!” 20 people stopped dead in their conversations and power walked to the dessert cart. I was the only person that chose to opt out despite all of the peer pressure to eat it.
Imagine a sea of everyone eating fancy and colourful desserts and then me with a glass of wine in hand. I stood out like a sore thumb, in fact almost every person made their way over to me and said “go to the cart and get something, why aren’t you eating dessert?” Suddenly I’m explaining my dessert choices to everyone that asked. “I’m simply not a dessert person, but hand me a plate of nachos and I’m your girl”. The peer pressure to eat this “delicious” dessert tray actually forced me to go to the cart because I could no longer stand hearing people telling me to eat it. As I walked to the cart I realized how ridiculous this land of excess is. So many choices, so much excess and not only one giant dessert but people went for seconds and thirds! I enjoyed the beautiful art in this cart, colours, the visual and the beauty that someone went into making all of these desserts. I smiled and left empty handed. I was full, simple as that.
Decisions are what matter
It all comes down to making a decision about what you want to spend your calories on. People feel badly about themselves when other people make healthy choices because it forces them to think about their choices. Having a small piece of dessert is not the end of the world but having seconds and then more is not “moderation” and it adds up the sugar, salt and fat. Here are some quick tips to beat calories and never sacrifice taste:
- Have a home made juice, soup or salad before a big event, this way you can fuel up with healthy calories and never go hungry
- Drink 1 glass of water for every alcoholic beverage you drink
- Choose oil and vinegar dressed salad as opposed to caesar or creaming dressings
- Choose fish over the hamburgers or heavy read meats
- Get away from the snacks (I physically moved the bowl of pringles and popcorn because I knew I would eat it)
- Fill up on fibre whenever possible, you can never eat enough veggies
- Don’t be afraid to tell people that you just don’t want it. It’s ok to stand out because chances are your choice will make someone else think twice
- Splurge on something but not everything
- Get a workout in before hand so you feel fantastic
- Don’t eat until your pants are too small, pay attention
I woke up this morning to more free corporate food. There is always a good, bad and better choice and you have to decide which it’s going to be. Even when it’s free, think about your choices.
This is what I chose.
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