FOOD
3 Tips to Help You Eat Healthy in Social Situations
A
By: Sheree Clark
lmost every social activity has food of some kind. These tips
will help you maintain your goals without raising a fuss.
One of the biggest challenges in transitioning to any
new way of eating is societal and peer pressure. Our culture is
undeniably food-driven, and we use meals as a means to establish
community, a way to celebrate or reward, and as a demonstration
of love. Conversely, consumption of food can also be used as a
stress release, a way to commiserate with others, or even as a
peace offering. Food is laden with meaning and, if we let it, cuisine
taken in the company of others takes on significance far beyond its
mere calorie content. Imagine inviting someone to your home for
an evening and not offering them something to eat or drink: you’d
feel inhospitable and they might even be insulted!
Once you gain a level of confidence, you’ll find it’s not necessary to
avoid family gatherings, poolside barbeques, and parties in order
to stay true to a healthy food lifestyle. The first step in being able to
handle the pressures of “eating out” is to reconcile what the event
is really about. Unless you’re attending a gourmet-food writers’
conference, the reality is that the occasion is about something
other than the food. However, many times food and drink can take
center stage, and our focus shifts away from the real reason for
the gathering—usually, spending time with friends and family or
celebrating a milestone. The reasons for the change in focus are
many times emotional, and often based on tradition. The challenge
becomes how to replace patterns or at least substitute behaviors in
a way that serves you better in the long term.
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Natural Muscle Magazine
Here are some tried and true tips to get you
through your next social occasion:
1. Eat before you go
It’s a lot harder to resist a slice of cheesecake when you’re
famished than when you’re genuinely satisfied from the green
smoothie you just had an hour before. If you can honestly say, “Oh,
it looks wonderful, but I’m full right now,” you’ll be that much closer
to being able to stay the course. Try and keep your focus and
attention on the occasion and the camaraderie of other people.
2. Practice the art of dodging
From cocktail parties to sit-down dinners, I have learned how to
identify the most opportune time for me to visit the ladies room,
go greet a colleague across the room, or simply “take a powder,”
and usually it is when there is something being served that I do
not choose to eat. Although most of the time now I am comfortable
enough to simply say “no thanks” without a grand explanation,
in the early days of transitioning to the raw food lifestyle that I
currently practice, I needed to feel like I didn’t stand out too much.
I learned that sometimes the easiest way of handling a potentially
awkward situation is to simply avoid it. Just knowing when to make
an exit can be a valuable skill.
3. Have an alibi
Sometimes having a ready-made reason why you’re only eating
a salad or not having dessert makes it easier to avoid the embarrassment of having attention directed at your plate. While I am
certainly not an advocate of lying, I will confess that some stretch-
May 2015
ing of the truth got me through the uncomfortable early days. A few
examples of things that helped me over the hump were:
“My stomach has been acting up: I’d better not.” (This one is
actually true: my stomach was revolting from years of crappy food
and I wasn’t going to give it any more!)
“My doctor has me on a special diet.” (People back