Sugar, Salt and Fat

As I sit here in downtown Toronto thinking about the land of excess sugar, salt and fat we live in, I realize how easy it is for us to pack on the artery clogging fat and head towards heart disease, hormone disruption and depression. It starts with a bad choice, is followed by cravings, addictions to sugar, salt and fat and voila, we are busting out a spare tire over our jeans. I went to a Corporate event with a bunch of really important people. Everything was free from drinks, appetizers, a massive amount of food and a dessert cart that never ended and then more dessert after the dessert.

I love food, it’s definitely hard to resist but I eat clean 80% of the time and the rest I don’t worry about. The truth is when you start eating healthy you don’t want to eat like crap because it makes you feel horrible and leads to a “food hangover”. Train yourself to sift out the unhealthy choices in a sea of Alfredo sauce, caesar salad, danishes, fancy drinks and the calories and unhealthy sugars.

The spread was fantastic and the food choices were a mix of both healthy and not so ideal. In the middle of business conversations they call “dessert cart is here”. Never have I seen so many people rush towards a candy filled cart. 20 people stopped dead in their conversations and power walked to the dessert cart. I can’t get my clients to hustle like that when I am howling at them in Boot Camp! I might need to start yelling “Dessert cart hustle!”. I was the only person that chose to opt out despite all of the peer pressure to eat it.

Peer Pressure

Imagine a sea of everyone eating fancy and colourful desserts except me. I stood out like a sore thumb, in fact almost every person made their way over to me and said “go to the cart and get something, why aren’t you eating dessert?”. Suddenly I’m explaining my dessert choices to everyone. “I’m not a dessert person”. The peer pressure to eat the dessert tray actually forced me to go to the cart because I could no longer stand listening to it. As I walked to the cart I realized how ridiculous this land of excess is. So many choices, so much excess and not only one giant dessert but people went for seconds and thirds! I enjoyed the beautiful art in this cart, colours, the visual and the beauty that someone went into making all of these desserts. I smiled and left empty handed. I was full, simple as that.

Decide and Practice Discipline

It all comes down to making a decision about what you want to spend your calories on. People feel badly about themselves when other people make healthy choices because it forces them to think about their choices. Having a small piece of dessert is not the end of the world but having seconds and then more is not “moderation” and it adds up the sugar, salt and fat. Here are some quick tips to beat calories and never sacrifice taste.

Trina’s Top 10 Sugar, Salt and Fat Buster Tips

Have a home made juice, soup or salad before a big event, this way you can fuel up with healthy calories and never go hungry
Drink 1 glass of water for every alcoholic beverage you drink
Choose oil and vinegar dressed salad as opposed to caesar or creamy dressings
Choose fish over the hamburgers or heavy red meats
Get away from the snacks (I physically moved the bowl of Pringles and popcorn because I knew I would eat it)
Fill up on fibre whenever possible, you can never eat enough veggies
Don’t be afraid to tell people that you just don’t want it. It’s ok to stand out because chances are your choice will make someone else think twice
Splurge on something but not everything
Get a workout in before hand so you feel fantastic
Don’t eat until your pants are too small, pay attention

I woke up this morning to more free corporate food. There is always a good, bad and better choice and you have to decide which it’s going to be. Even when it’s free, think about your choices.