Not to mention, many of the options presented are often coated in hidden excess butter, salt, preservatives and who knows what else – which can really wreak havoc on your body especially if this is a regular part of your diet – peep the shocking statistic above. As a food blogger you are often asked to attend special events or to test out new restaurants, meals and write reviews. With this being a major part of your job you could easily say it would be difficult to maintain your health but never fear, I’ve got you covered, with these 5 simple suggestions my fellow foodies can keep exploring the culinary world without sacrificing their health. If you want to learn more about how your food affects your mind and body check out this post HERE. Here are my 5 simple steps for maintaining your health as a food lover. 1. Eat a Nutritious Breakfast & Lunch If you know you have an event that day where food will be the main focus, do NOT think that skipping breakfast and lunch will be beneficial, it won’t. This will cause you to be ravenous by the time you get to your event and you will definitely overeat (I say definitely because we all know we’re sitting there like, “this time I won’t, I’m determined”) no, no & no this is a restrictive mentality that will: a) ruin your relationship with food b) cause you to have excessive weight gain c) make you feel guilty because you didn’t “have enough willpower” Instead of all of that awfulness happening, I suggest you make yourself a nice nourishing breakfast filled with fruits & vegetables and then an even nicer, more nourishing lunch filled with tons of vegetables! This way you won’t be starved by the time of your event & you’ll enjoy the foods you actually like in a reasonable quantity.  2. Vegetables Save Lives! Any time you are out at a restaurant or food event there will be vegetables (somewhere, they might be hiding but they’re there). Find them. Add them to your meal, any meal, even if you are about to go out for a dessert event – make sure you eat a side of vegetables before you leave the house. Vegetables save lives! The more vitamins and minerals you pack in the less cravings you will have. We, as people, typically only crave things when we are deficient in a vitamin or a mineral so making sure we’re stocked up before heading out means no wild cravings so you can taste test all the desserts instead of face planting into them) Which brings me to my next point… 3. Taste Testing As a foodie it’s your duty to try all the foods, not to inhale them. This will also be easier if you do #1 & #2 before heading out! Taste testing foods in smaller sample portions is beneficial so you can find which foods you ACTUALLY enjoy. You aren’t there to eat just to eat. You are trying to find THE ONE so take a bite or two of all the foods presented and then save the real chowing down for the one that’s the best! Who else hates when you eat a bunch of okay-foods, get super full and then find the greatest thing you’ve ever put in your mouth and you’re so stuffed you can barely enjoy it?! No, thank you!  4. Conscious Cocktails Drinks, preferably the alcoholic kind ;), are a large part of eating out and rightfully so! Great cocktails can pair magnificently with a tasty meal. However, cocktails can also sabotage any effort of maintaining your health, boo… I love a fancy cocktail as much as the next guy but sometimes you have to make choices! Many cocktails are L O A D E D with sugar and we often conveniently forget to include drinks when watching our health. First, becoming more aware of how much you are actually consuming will make a huge difference and once you’ve done that switching to a more conscious cocktail will change the game. “Conscious” meaning – less sugar, more alcohol - haha just kidding. Conscious meaning, less sugar, some nutrients or at least something that’s harder to over drink like red wine. I switched from being an avid beer drinker to red wine and holy cannoli I never realized how bloated beer made me – I looked like I had dropped 20 lbs. A good quality gin & some soda water with a lot of lemon is also tasty – most restaurants will have a fantastic gin and tonic and you can just ask them to swap out the tonic for soda water/club soda. (Note: watch out for syrups in drinks! They are sugar city and usually overly sweeten the drink anyway…gross) 5. Water, Water, Water Never underestimate the power of water! Your digestive system depends on water to function & since you will be consuming tons of food & drinks you’re definitely going to want your digestive tract working optimally. It also flushes waste, so while you’re chillin’ on your 3rd, 4th, or *cough cough* 5th cocktail your body needs time to process and expel the waste otherwise your liver gets all backed up and you feel… well… pretty crappy. This is why drinking water in between helps the hangover and the drunkenness. Contrary to what people believe drinking lots of water actually decreases bloating because it’s making you go to the bathroom so all the waste that’s making you bloated goes away. Another fun fact that many people are unaware of, is that it also allows for the nutrients from your foods to be more accessible. Vitamins and minerals dissolve in water so you need your body to be extra hydrated so it can absorb the nutrients from the foods you are eating. Woohoo, now you’re prepared with a set of tools for any foodie evening that gets thrown your way, and you’ll get to enjoy it to the max! No guilt, no weight gain, no worries! #FoodieHeaven Your health is important to me! Let me know how your next evening goes when implementing these tips! Just write your response in the comments :)  If you want to learn more about how your food affects you check out this blog post! HERE.
Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p1117-preventable-deaths.html |
AuthorHey! My names Ashleen. Archives
February 2021
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