LET’S GET SOCIAL! It’s Independence Day here in the US, and that means there is likely SOME kind of summer party you’re attending today. If you’re new to the program, this might be a challenge for you because you are still in the process of letting go of old habits and navigating what to say around naysayers. (Nothing like a family member eating three kinds of dessert with low-fat whipped topping telling you that your bunless burger is going to kill you…). So I’ve come up with some top tips to help you get your groove on without having a scale freak-out tomorrow. The overall takeaway? BE PREPARED.
10 Tips to Prepare for Parties & Barbecues While Keto
- Exercise before you go! Getting a workout in not only physically reminds you of your goals, but also sets up your body with some sweet afterburn.
- Write down your goals and do a mental-model of the party before you leave the house. Writing your goals, like the last tip, reinforces them and makes you more likely to stick to them. You can’t hide from what you have written down on paper. Mental modelling is imagining what the day is going to look like – who you will see, where the picnic tables will be located, what kinds of foods will be on them, what kinds of food and drink you will eat. When you have an idea of what will happen, it is easier to course-correct when obstacles arise.
- If you are intermittent fasting, make this a shorter eating window day and have fun! Eat all the things and STOP when your eating window stops.
- Eat something big, awesome, and filling before you go. This may fly in the face of long-engrained party etiquette, but parties are really gatherings of people who haven’t seen each other in a while. You don’t HAVE to gorge on Great Aunt Millie’s marshmallow ambrosia that you don’t really like but eat once a year because “tradition”.
- Bring something big, awesome, and filling to SHARE! This is a tricky one, because chicken wings at a party DO NOT LAST. In fact, most Keto dishes are so dang delicious that they will be all gone within minutes, so make sure you stash an extra portion in your bag or the car and be prepared to share the recipe.
- If you do want to drink, keep it Keto with champagne, dry sparkling wines, dry white wines, and spirits mixed with non-caloric mixers. Drink a hydrating non-alcoholic drink between cocktails and TRY not to have more than a couple – it’s not that the alcohol slows your fat-burning (which it does), it’s that inhibitions go down the toilet and you don’t want to wake up face-down in a pan of brownies…
- BYOBag of pork rinds and keep it close. Eat all the dips while skipping the traditional chips and crackers!
- Look for cheese, nuts, olives, antipasto, sliced meats – and go to town! Don’t hold back!
- Get down with the EANABs – equally attractive non-alcoholic beverages. Bring the seltzer, the diet soda, the unsweetened or stevia sweetened iced tea that you know will get you through. Stay hydrated, too!
- Stick to leafy green salads and cut veggies with fatty dips if they’re available. NEWSFLASH – a carrot isn’t going to kill you or truly derail you. Neither is a slice if apple buried amidst the baby spinach. Stop thinking they’re BANNED, especially on days with extreme social situations.
- EXTRA EXTRA – This is a controversial tip, but it’s TRUE and scientifically proven. Cooked and cooled rice and potatoes have lower carbs than freshly cooked or fried ones. In the cooling process, some of the starch becomes “resistant starch” that makes your gut happy but doesn’t absorb like traditional carbs. If you’re craving a bite of that real potato salad – HAVE IT! Still limit to 1/4 cup.
Those are my tips for the day! I’m going to a rad barbecue that is going to be full of foodies and amazing dishes, too. To prepare, I have made my own keto burger and hot dog buns, am whipping up a spicy cole slaw to share, and have a couple of bottles of champagne chilling – and I’m STOKED! Have fun out there today!
Any great tips you have to share? Let me know in the comments, either here or on Instagram!
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