Eating Healthy When Others Aren’t

So you’re at a picnic, wedding, ladies night or restaurant and you really want to eat pretty healthy, or at least not totally overdo it, but everyone else is eating & drinking everything in sight.

Do you feel

• resentful and deprived if you don’t join them?

• nervous, worried or embarrassed about eating differently?

• so tempted that you can’t resist?

Here are some tips to stick to healthy-ish eating with ease and calm when other people are around.

1. Focus on how often you’re eating and drinking the things rather than thinking you’re supposed to skip them every single time.

You don’t have to skip every single fattening food and “try to be good.” But if you have a super full social calendar and maybe you travel for work, you’re faced with a lot of “recreational foods” and alcohol multiple times a week or month. You would need to be more intentional about what you’ll have at which events. It probably won’t help you reach your goals to eat dessert or lots of pre-meal bread or have several drinks at every occasion. Pick which ones and feel satisfied knowing that you’re not cutting it all out or missing out and you will in fact have some at various times.

But if these types of occasions don’t happen very often, you’re not going to ruin your diet from a piece of wedding cake or your sister’s famous pasta salad every once in awhile. Just think about what types of foods, how often, and at which events you’d like to eat certain things, and other times stay focused on enjoying filling up on nourishing options.

Getting out of all-or-nothing eating helps stop the feelings of deprivation and resentment about seeing other people who “get to” eat the mashed potatoes and cupcakes. You can too. Just be wise about it.

2. Focus on your well-being and common sense healthy habits.

There’s a build-up effect of processed food and sugar on our bodies. If you just had a week where you ate the donuts that someone brought to work or you were snacking on your kids’ chips every day, you’ll probably notice your digestion or joints or energy not feeling great if you also go to an event or two and eat a lot of processed food. If you’re like me, you also notice that your cravings get worse the more you eat this kind of thing.

So this is about having your own back! Be kind to yourself and know that you don’t have to eat wedding cake just because it’s a wedding, or potato chips plus potato salad plus macaroni salad just because it’s a picnic. This would be the same as someone thinking they have to have alcohol at every occasion just because it’s an occasion. Stay focused on your health.

3. Think ahead and have a plan or general idea of what you want or don’t want to do.

Choosing on the spot when you’re just starting out or insecure usually results in succumbing to peer pressure or falling into old habits. So maybe decide how much & what alcohol you want, and plan to drink water before and after. Think about how and what you’ve been eating lately and what serves you and your goals. If you’re really trying to cut back on sugar because it’s such a nagging, continuous problem for you, then have your own back and skip the sweets, but be sure to fill up on other foods! Don’t let yourself be so hungry that you can’t take it.

4. Practice out loud what you’re going to say ahead of time.

It’s so easy to give in or get tongue tied around food pushers or even just someone offering foods that you really don’t need on every occasion. So just practice saying, “no thanks!” and moving on.

5. Stay very focused on your WHY, not on willpower.

Have a very good reason for making your choices. There’s no reason to deprive yourself of everything, eat nothing but the veggie tray and even skip the dip, or starve yourself and sip water the whole time. But why does it matter to you to choose & eat healthy? How do you feel in your body when you do vs. when you' don’t?

6. Eat beforehand.

This is the total opposite of what we did in calorie-slash-and-burn diet days where we saved up to eat the junk at the event, but all this does is make you go into the situation extra hungry and less able to resist. It’s like when you go grocery shopping when you’re full vs. hungry.

So eat and drink water before the event and then you’re way more likely to choose from a place of calm.

7. Remember that what anyone else eats or drinks has nothing to do with what your unique body needs.

Someone might be passing up the cake because they’re Vegan and the cake has eggs in it. Someone else might be passing it up because they’re Celiac. You might want to pass it up because you’ve had a long history of not controlling yourself around sugar and you’ve decided to take your power back, so you’re going to skip the cake because you’re comfortably full on the other delicious food you ate.

Everyone’s body has different needs. You don’t need to feel bad for yours.

You don’t feel deprived when you’re doing something from a place of self-care and self-love vs. when some diet tells you that to be skinny you can’t eat carbs while you watch everyone else eat them.

Which tip seems most doable for you? Let me know in the comments.

To your freedom!

♥ Debbie