Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 41

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 41

by | Dec 8, 2017 | Trust Your Gut

 

Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues.  It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on.  Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real.  The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale.  If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Homepage for this blog.  I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.

 

The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name.  If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story.  The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors.  I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.

This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.

Here is  Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 41

I have so much going on in the next 48 hours I was almost not sure what to write about. I figured it out, just now. I am both attending a potluck and hosting a 2 hour long party tomorrow. So I thought about it, and this week I am going to write about how to handle those situations.

I love a good potluck. I love food. Especially food that is not good for me, because that is what makes it so good, right? As a person that loves to eat, a potluck can be really dangerous.

How do I handle it? 

First of all, I am going to only fill my plate once, unless there is so much that I need to visits to try all of the things. Inevitably I will get full. The goal is to be sensible, and comfortably full.

How am I going to manage that?

One trick is to not be ravenous when you show up at a potluck (or at a party.) You can prep for this at home, if you are home before going to the event. It will be a little harder at work because I can not whip up something healthy and filling like a smoothie an hour before I go.

The second tip is to make something that you know is a healthy choice for you. I am bringing BigMac Salad. I know I love it so there will be something for me to eat. People at work are always looking to see what I am eating for lunch if it is not an ordinary looking meal. The salad is a meal that has had a lot of curious people asking about it, so I am bringing it for them to try tomorrow.

The third thing is to use common sense. You don’t have to eat ABSOLUTELY everything that is there. Be picky about what you put on your plate. If you have to try the brownie (I hope there are brownies) then just have a small one. If there are other salads, start there, and fill your plate with the healthy food first. My rule of try one of every colour of candy in the bag and walk away is not exactly the best rule for the potluck, but it does help me in other situations, to have a sample, not the whole bag.

I chose 7-9 pm with my Municipal Liason for NaNoWriMo for several reasons. I will need down time after work. I will need scramble time for final party preparations. I will need time to eat something for supper (I made that tonight, I will have leftovers tomorrow for supper, right after work). I also picked that time and made a plan as to what we will have for the party refreshments.

I took control of the party so that it is not a free for all with junk food and meals. Timing means snacks. I will provide some of them, and those will be decently healthy choices. I bought a box of clementines, and some cheese and crackers. Nothing extravagant, but a little better than ordinary. I got fancy cheese. It was on sale, and I will cut the cheese (LOL!) tomorrow when I get home from work.

With these few tips, I may go a little off track tomorrow, but I take comfort in the fact that I am planning ahead to make sensible choices. I will not need weeks to recover from going way off course, it will be nothing but a minor detour that I can easily find my way back from.

How do you handle the temptation to indulge too much when you are at a party or a potluck? Do you have any other tips or tricks that can be shared? If so, please feel free to comment below.

#TrustYourGut