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Have you ever been away on a conference, trip or vacation and feeling like sugary or fast food was your only choice? In a case where you come back from a vacation and gain weight instead of feeling rested and having glowing skin, is it just me or does that also make you feel a little off balance and awkward?
In instances where you come back from your trip, why do you think you do not always feel rested or refreshed? Even a business trip does not need to feel more exhausting than it already is. You can mitigate any effects of stress and sleep deprivation by eating well and exercising.
Have you ever had such a busy week in your life at work or school and thought that sugary or fast food was your only choice so that you could save time? In my personal experience, when I used to work full time, run my business part time and go to school full time, I had a tendency to eat less than healthy foods. I felt even worse, as though the foods I ate added to the stress that I felt. One of my naturopaths had saved my life in this regard, and educated me that ingredients matter more than calorie counts alone. There are programs out there that tell you ‘no matter how many pastries or fried food you eat, it is okay because it is only X amount of calories’, unfortunately, caloric counts are an easy measure and most of us won’t even read about the nutrition itself. The truth is, if what you are eating is ‘clean’ you can have a little more fun and not feel like a prisoner to calories (a measure than can be faulty). A 100 calorie snack may fulfill 100 calories of your day and not exceed your limit (and you think you are being healthy for keeping within your calorie count), but what in the world makes you think it has any nutritional value and purpose if you have not even read the label? This is why I strongly encourage each and every one of you to love and care for yourself, and please read your labels.
Many of us truly feel like we have no other choice and that convenience means less than healthy food. If you work it right, it does not have to be that way. Convenience is great, but planning ahead and just being conscious and mindful of your choices can save you more time and money in the long run, after a while, mindful eating becomes second nature, and not even the Holidays will provide a good enough excuse to over eat. Planning ahead and being mindful is like working a budget for your health, it does not have to feel like a chore if you look at it positively! Eating frivolously may not work really well nor can it build health-wealth or health-prosperity.
The below tips only cover nutrition, but I recommend working out in your hotel room or home for at least 20 minutes every morning on top of these tips which are part of a nutritionally mindful lifestyle for the long term, and not just a short term diet:
Tea and Coffee:
Order your coffee or iced coffee made with skim milk (non-fat milk) and un-sweetened (I am saying skim and not soy because soy has too many GMO and regular milk has too much fat). If you wish to have it sweetened, even if you’re getting a latte and not just regular coffee, you can sweeten it yourself with cane sugar or brown sugar at the counter, because if the baristas sweeten your drink themselves, often times they use classic sweetener which consists of liquid refined sugar.
Order your tea un-sweetened, with skim milk, if you must sweeten your tea, use honey, cane sugar or brown sugar (these are the last modified versions of sugar but this does not mean limiting yourself).
Smoothies or specialty drinks:
If you are getting a smoothie, lemonade, mocha, caramel macchiato, or anything of that nature at a coffee shop or at a restaurant: at least get it half-sweet or ask the server or barista to skip the added sugar all together. I am saying this because the mocha and caramel mixes, for example, already come with sugar, so does the fruit juice in smoothies. Removing the additional classic sugar syrup may affect the creaminess of your drink, but it still may be the best option. The server or barista might offer you their ‘diet or sugar free or light version’, but opt for the real thing as half sweet instead, since aspartame (light or diet) is probably more dangerous than real sugar. The word artificial sweetener should be alarming enough –they make fake versions of refined sugar, a somewhat cute and nice initiative but really funny at the same time.
Eating at pubs:
Breakfast on the go:
Alcohol:
Examples: vodka & water, vodka & cranberry or orange juice, rum & coke, rum & orange juice, gin & tonic. Also, do not mix pre-mixed drinks with even more mixers, keep it simple.
General tips:
To give you a bit of a personal story, very recently I have been on a little adventure to cut out all sugar and fast food from my diet (no treat meals) for two week straight. Now when I try and eat refined sugar and fast food, I immediately feel sick. The point of this was to develop an allergy to ensure I never go back to that, and it worked. I had cut it all out for two weeks, that is less than 21 days to form a habit thank-you-very-much, this means, you can do this in less time. Now I have natural sugar if I want sugar as a treat, and I save have fast food’s healthiest options for treat meals.
It is important to note that it is your responsibility to monitor your food intake, not someone else’s, people may still offer you treats even after knowing about your lifestyle (not diet that word feels negative) change, and temptation will still exist. But nothing worth having is easy.