The most regretted calories

Hello!

First of all, Happy Wedding to our devoted Counselor, Catherine! She and her wonderful fiance, Rob, and their unconventional wedding menu, inspire this week’s tip.

Our clients have taught us that the biggest source of
UN-enjoyed,
UN-needed,
UN-nutritous
calories is dessert in social situations, because declining it might feel rude or socially awkward.

If this happens regularly, the price can be higher than most people think. Research suggests that night-time sugar intake can be associated with:

• inflammation
• weight gain (especially when eaten at night)
• bad mood or even depression (after the brief sugar high)
• addiction
• blitzing of taste buds, which makes “clean” foods taste less interesting for days
• taste bud ping pong, or craving opposite tastes, like salty or bitter

If these things happen to you, they are a high price to pay for brief moments of politeness.

One solution is to craft a few key phrases for elegantly declining unwanted food. It’s not crazy to think of them ahead of time, to practice them, and have them ready to pull out as needed. This one social skill can make a huge difference to your weight and health over time.

Catherine and Rob have saved their wedding guests from this predicament. Catherine knows that her friends and family would likely eat her wedding cake to be polite, but might later regret the nasty sugar-related effects. She opted NOT to serve cake at all, and instead invested in nicer entrees and other wedding fun. I think that’s an incredibly thoughtful gift to her loved ones. After all, if any guests are dying for dessert, they can choose to seek out their most-favorite, most-worth-it treat and savor it for pleasure–not politeness.

Happy Wedding, Catherine and Rob! We love you and thank you for reminding us that we don’t all need to eat junk to celebrate your day.

Jill