Staying on Track With your Nutrition Even When Your Social Calendar is Full

It never fails; the minute I announce I will be stating a nutrition challenge, all of my friends want to get together for drinks or a meal. What’s the deal? It’s like I have a target on me that tells the world to please make this challenge more difficult than what it already is! The good news is that all of my friends understand how important I take my health, especially when it comes to food. They are always accommodating and supportive. The bad news is that I’m a total foodie and cannot resist the invite to a delicious meal. Luckily,I know how to handle these last minute invites to keep them aligned with my nutrition goals.

Last week I started a Paleo challenge and per the usual, my social calendar lit up! Lunch with my bestie on Wednesday, dinner on Thursday with a long time friend, and of course date night on Saturday. For lunch I had a grilled spinach salad with walnuts and went sans blue cheese and dried cranberries (no doubt they were made with sugar). Although not as exciting as my usual lunches, it was still satisfying and great to visit with my best friend. Luckily the two dinners were homemade and I had a say in what ingredients went into the meal. Dinner on Thursday night was grilled chicken thighs, sweet potatoes and sauteed broccoli. No big deal right? For date night I made dinner and it most certainly qualified as my one cheat meal. We had of course cheese, crackers and wine (a weekend staple in my household) as an appetizer. For dinner I made beef bulgogi with rice and snow peas, all of which contained some ingredient that was not on the list of approved foods. I enjoyed my dinner and felt no remorse whatsoever. Sunday morning I was right back on track with my challenge and felt great from the extra carbs!

In my opinion, people tend to abandon their nutritional needs after one so called “cheat” meal. One indulgence makes them feel like they wrecked the entire week so they just throw in the towel and go on a binge of poor food choices. This is where most people go wrong. Instead of enjoying the meal and taking it for face value, they enter into a downward spiral. Learning how to make better food choices is the point of the whole challenge. Being able to get right back in step with nutritional goals will help with long term weight management. It’s also important to keep your friends informed and not let them try to sway you from your goals! Harsh right? Not really. Remember, misery loves company. In my case, I do my best to be a good influence on my friends by actions, not words and I would say 95% of the time they don’t give me grief about it!.

The best part of a nutrition challenge is that it can be as short term as you want it to be! If it’s your first time out, start small with maybe one week and stick to a one food group elimination. The benefit to this is you’ll have the opportunity to try out new challenges more frequently and see what does and does not work for you. It also gives you the opportunity to go to your social engagements without having to be confined to a long nutrition program. Life is about balance, and that is so true when it comes to your food choices.