7 Tips to Limiting Your Alcohol in Social Situations

As part of my goal to be healthy and "clean" on my diet, I try to limit myself to usually only one drink (preferably red wine), if I am drinking that day. However, in some social situations, my strict diet tends to be difficult. Drinking alcohol can be a big detriment if you are trying to live a healthy lifestyle. Research has shown that while one drink may be beneficial to heart health, any more than one or two drinks can have tons of bad effects on your health such as causing inflammation, and can lead to liver and heart problems. Alcohol by nature is a toxin to the body. So I find that if I am always filling my body with organic foods, and antioxidant foods, why should I load my body with toxins that are bad for my health, heart, and liver?

I know drinking is very much a part of everyday social life. When you are out bar hopping with your friends, it's difficult not to give into the peer pressure to drink. Or if you are at a wedding or a party, it can be difficult to pass on the booze. Here are some tips I have found that help me to limit my alcohol intake when going out:

1. Offer to be designated driver - As a designated driver, your friends won't (or at least shouldn't!) pressure you to drink. This is a sort of free pass for the night to get out of drinking more than your one drink.
2. Nurse your drink & you don't have to finish the whole thing - This past weekend, my friends were bar hopping and this is the most difficult drinking dilemma for me. The social expectation is to get at least one drink at each bar that we "hop". What I did at the first bar was that I nursed my drink and I didn't even finish it. Nobody noticed that I didn't finish my drink. Just as with food, portions can be out of control at bars and restaurants so don't feel guilty about not finishing your drink, especially if it's more than the normal serving size.
3. Pawn off your drink on a friend - Sometimes, I give my unfinished drink to my husband who usually gladly takes the extra beer. I'm watching what I drink, but he isn't and appreciates getting some extra beer his way.
4. Order non-alcoholic - I have found that as long as you have some drink in hand (alcoholic or not), people will just assume that you are drinking alcohol. You can choose to get just plain cranberry juice, club soda, etc. A lot of juices aren't even the healthiest since they are loaded with unnecessary sugar, so if you are on a diet you still need to be careful with the non-alcoholic drinks that you consume. However, juices are still a better option than excess alcohol.
5. Choose healthier option - If I drink, I try to do mimosas since sparkling wine has less calories than other forms of alcohol. Also, orange juice contains at least some nutrients such as Vitamin C and sometimes is enriched with Vitamin D and/or calcium. Gin and tonic would be another go to for a low-calorie drink. Try to avoid any mixed cocktails or sweet/sugary drinks. 
6. Show up late and/or leave early - I find that when I show up late to a party, most people have already started drinking and loosened up. Thereby, there is less pressure on me to drink. I also like to leave earlier, because first of all, as part of my healthy lifestyle, I choose to get up early and go to bed early. Second of all, I have learned that the old saying holds true: "nothing good happens after 2am". That's when the drunks get drunker and the debauchery really starts. And there is nothing fun about being the sober person in a middle of a bunch of drunks.
7. Plan more active/healthy social gatherings - I'm not a big drinker, so when I am the one making plans for the weekend, I tend to suggest more active/healthy activities such as hiking, going to workout together with girlfriends, or even inviting my friends over for home-cooked dinners while watching a game on TV.

Now I am not perfect, and sometimes I do have more than one drink. It's just about finding the right balance for you. If you have tips about drinking and your diet, please share as I'd love to hear more.

Best,

Nina

Two Reasons that Herbalife is NOT the Miracle Diet

Recently, one of my best friends started the Herbalife diet plan. She is on Formula 1 of the plan, and replaces a meal once, sometimes twice, a day with a shake instead of a meal. It's been about a month and a half and she has already lost 9 lbs! That sounds great, right?

Well, not so fast. From what I know about nutrition*, I would not recommend Herbalife and here is why:

1. Processed and Unhealthy Ingredients: I took a look at the different shakes' nutrition and ingredients; these can easily find online. For reference, in this review I am looking at the ingredients in the Cafe Latte flavored shake and what shocked me first is that there are 50+ something ingredients in this thing! This automatically sends me red flags that this is a "processed" food/shake. The first ingredient on the nutrition label is soy protein isolate, which is basically protein and good for after a workout to help build and repair muscles. However, my one criticism of this ingredient is that with most soy in the United States, this is most likely GMO soy. If you are okay with that, let's move onto the next ingredient. The second ingredient is "fructose" which is SUGAR. I find it shady that it doesn't specify what kind of sugar it actually is - "fructose" is so vague and doesn't provide me enough information. Is it table sugar? High fructose corn syrup? Why is there sugar in this thing anyway and as the SECOND ingredient? The third ingredient is cellulose powder and I have no idea what that is to be honest, but it certainly does not sound natural. The next ingredient is corn bran which screams GMO again to me. This is followed by cocao powder (which is actually a recognizeable ingredient) and then guar gum. What the heck is guar gum? What I'm getting at with this ingredients list is that as a motto - if you do not know what that ingredient is or if a product has too many ingredients, it is not a natural food and is PROCESSED. You are better off getting your nutrients from vegetables and real food!

2. Weightloss is Not Sustainable on Herbalife alone: Since my friend has been on Herbalife, of course she has lost weight. She started replacing meals with low-calorie shakes. If she started replacing her usual meals with lower calorie food, she would also lose weight and it wouldn't have anything to do with Herbalife. They key to weightloss is to reduce the amount of calories you consume. However, how can anyone drink a shake as a meal for the rest of their life? Eventually you are going to get hungry and you will know nothing about actually EATING the right foods for your body. Herbalife is a temporary solution. Yes, you will lose weight but what about when you go off it? How are you going to maintain that weight when you never learned to eat properly in the first place?

Being slim requires a lifestyle change; there is no quick-fix gimmicky "diet" that is going to provide you with long-term health, other than learning to eat right and get exercise. 

* Please know that I am not a certified nutritionist or physician, but that my knowledge of nutrition is based on my own extensive research.

Choosing a Healthy Cereal

Simple and Delicious!

I don't normally eat cereal because almost all the cereal sold at my local grocery store is packed with high fructose corn syrup and other processed ingredients. My usual oatmeal breakfast is healthier, but every once in a while I feel that it is okay to have a bowl of cereal with milk to curb my sugar craving and get a nice boost of calcium.

Typically I try to find my calcium outside of milk because I am lactose intolerant, but that is why I choose a reduced fat, lactose-free milk when I do choose to have a bowl of cereal.
 

After researching cereals, I am pretty happy with Nature's Path Organic Flax Plus cereal. This cereal does not have a long list of chemical-sounding ingredients like other cereals on the market. They also use real sugar (not high fructose corn syrup). What's even better is that it is non-GMO and organic!

Now I don't eat this everyday because it still does contain added (real) sugar that I feel I do not need on a daily basis, but I find it okay to eat occasionally. I top it off with strawberries and blueberries to add more delicious, sweet fruit flavor!

Enjoy!