Surviving Summer Cookouts!

By Sonia Salfity,
Desperate Dieter

By that I mean not just coping with end of the season cookouts, but also thriving enough to have the upper hand.

There is absolutely no reason we cannot position ourselves to face food gatherings from a powerful stance. Sometimes it helps me to visualise myself before I even go to the event.

My stronger self

I picture how my weaker self would behave and replace that with a picture of how my stronger self would behave. Then I would ask myself this question: “How can I help myself ahead of time to empower myself to behave through my stronger self?”

I will venture to say that this kind of visualisation is extremely empowering as you face any kind of challenges and not just ones that relate to food!

Take, for example, that difficult conversation you’ve been dreading to have with someone you care about.

It will help you tremendously to visualise yourself respectfully communicating what you wish to say.

Speaking the truth in love

Speaking the truth is an art and we can all get better at it the more we practice.

We all know that it’s easier to receive criticism from a friend whose body language and tone of voice is full of kindness.

Often times it’s not necessarily what you say, but how you say it that can make or break even the most challenging situations.

You may wonder what this has to do with us desperate dieters. I can tell you from my own personal experience that it’s absolutely essential for our physical, mental and emotional health to learn how to manage criticism — but that’s another topic for another day.

Visualisation

Back to the subject of cookouts, according to the World Health Organisation every year one out of every 10 people get sick as a result of contaminated food.

At least 200 different diseases are linked to consuming unsafe foods. With this in mind remind yourself of this statistic next time you are tempted to eat something that has been left out for too long.

This increases the chance of contaminated food especially if it’s served outdoors in the hot sun.

I don’t know about you, but food poisoning is not worth it no matter how delicious the food appears! All you have to do is visualise yourself vomiting all night and this will surely prevent you from reaching for extra servings!

Here are a few basic tips to help you navigate endof-summer temptations. These tools are not rocket science. You’ve read them before, but they deserve repeating until they become cemented as a daily habit.

If we practice them regularly, they will become second nature to us.

1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. From the moment you wake up be intentional about drinking your water whether you feel thirsty or not. Skip the sugary juices and the dehydrating alcohol and stick to your good old H2O!

This will ensure that your hunger signals are accurate when you feel hungry as we all confuse thirst with hunger

2. Don’t starve yourself before the event. Eat enough protein and fiber that will give you enough holding power. A handful of walnuts or almonds with a large glass of water can do wonders to curtail your hunger pangs

3. Focus on enjoying the conversations more than that chocolate cake that seems to have your name written all over it!

4. Take a deep breath. Especially if you’ve been running around all day to finish everything on your “To Do List”.

We tend to take shallow breaths instead of deep ones. Practice breathing by inhaling deeply through your nose counting to four then holding your breath for another count of four.

Finally slowly exhale from your mouth to a count of four. As you do this visualise all the stress slowing leaving your body as you exhale. Repeat this for five mins and do as many times as necessary to bring your mind to a calm place.

A calmer you is a healthier you which will empower you to make better choices in every area of your life.

5. Listen to your body. If you’re not getting enough sleep then make it a priority to put that cell phone in another room and get to bed earlier than you normally do.

How could we possibly expect our bodies to recover when we don’t give them enough rest.

Here’s to the full restoration of our bodies and minds as we bid summer goodbye,’till next year!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine