"Banish Binges"

i.ehow.com

It happens to the best of us. There you are behaving like a perfect angel, living a balanced life in which where are being careful about what you eat, getting the right (healthy) portions of all those carbs, proteins, fruits, veggies, and more on your plate at the right time of the day, and of course supplementing all this good behavior with regular visits to your gym, ensuring that you are getting a good 45 minutes on the treadmill or maybe even an hour at the new aerobics class. When suddenly it happens. Seemingly out of nowhere, the attack is a surprise. It’s unexpected, and catches you off guard.


And oh no, you didn’t see it coming. The big fat binge.

Before you know it, you are sitting at your desk surrounded by empty packets of chips, candy wrappers, and (god forbid!) multiple, now empty, boxes of pizza….And here comes the guilt.

Now you feel like kicking yourself. How did you let that happen? All those weeks of working out and healthy salads gone down the drain. You may as well give up right? Wrong.

Its time to take control people. I am here to tell you that not only can you have total power over those crazy cravings that have a habit of attacking when least expected, but you can avoid the moments of wanting to drown your sorrows in even more ice-cream entirely. I am talking about living a binge-free existence baby.

First things first, the worst thing you can do is to cut out everything sinful out of your life completely. We all have certain weakness, mine personally is chocolate. So what do I do? Allow myself to have those couple of pieces every couple of days…and you what? I ain’t obese. On the other hand, I can handle it when I come face to face with a ginormous Cookie Monster size cake. Plain and simple, if you love something, leave a little room for it in your life. That way you won’t go nuts every time your will power to fight it fades!

Second rule, avoid emotional eating. You just had a fight with your boyfriend. Your boss just yelled at you. Someone just called you “plump”. Do not, I repeat, do not take it out on all the junk food you can find. Stuffing your face full of high-fat, high-calorie food that’s poor in nutritive quality is not the answer girls and boys. Instead, give yourself a time out. Step outside for a couple of minutes if you can, trust me the fresh air can work wonders on a pissy mood. Drink a couple of glasses of water to quell the automatic need to eat something “bad”. In short, find a way to cool down. You’ll find the food choices you make to be dramatically different once you do so.

Finally, don’t fight it. No, I don’t mean load up on fried samosa the next time you feel the urge. I mean, stock up you desk drawer with a few healthy goodies (granola bars, unsalted nuts, baked snacks, digestive biscuits). The next time you get a need to binge, break out the baked stuff baby.

Eat and enjoy :)

"Post Party Syndrome"

blueshoeart.com

It happens to the best of us. So there you are coasting through the party season feeling pretty darn good about things. Birtday party here, Christmas party there. Housewarming get together this week, rooftop barbeque next week. Until it happens. When your “switch”, as I like to call it, malfunctions. Plainly put, the “switch” is what usually works to keep you rocking but not swaying, singing but not slurring, and nibbling but not stuffing yourself silly.


And sometimes, the “switch” just fails to operate properly. You know this has happened when you wake up in the morning feeling like you have a dozen oompa loopmas drilling jackhammers into your brain. This is usually accompanied by a dull, but real sense of nausea, the inability to focus the eyes, and poor hand eye coordination. The icing on the cake is that your digestive system seems to have turned violently against you and all is not well with your tummy.

Here’s how to save the day….or at least what’s left of it, and feel like a human being again.

Drink up: it’s a simple, but golden rule which NEVER fails me boys and girls. Begin the morning with a liter of water. And just keep it going. Try and see if you can get at least 6 bottles of water into your system. The science is simple; all that peeing which is bound to ensue the guzzling, brings out all those extra toxins in the system and help to cleanse the digestive tract.

Vitamin C: here’s a trick which a friend taught me. When you wake up with an extra heavy head, usually caused by one glass of vodka too many, drink a glass of orange juice. Am not sure how or why, but the vitamin c in the stuff, just helps clear that fuzzy brain feeling right up!

Sleep: you need to rest your body after a crazy few nights of partying. The more quality sleep you get, the easier it is to recover. So even if you wake up early, have a bottle of water, and go get another house to snooze time (assuming it’s a Saturday/Sunday, if not, then good luck at the office!)

Carb fest: you need to absorb the excess in your body, and the best way to do that is you have a slice of toast or maybe a portion of rice/roti with your meal. Guaranteed to make you feel a little bit more like yourself and less like someone who has been hit by a truck.

So this season be sure to party hard, but party smart!