I was asked to write a blog post about the kind of food I select at a party like the one I just attended – Facebook Summer Party, where unlimited food and beverages were provided.

First, what comes to your mind in terms of food and drinks when you are invited to a party?

Maybe finger food, burgers, chips and alcohol? Well yeah, those will be mainly the options, but I am freaking out (in a good way) how there are more and more healthy options out there nowadays, for people with intolerances, allergies, vegetarians or vegans.

People are starting to take care of themselves and this is a reality that I am happy to see 🙂 although sometimes it looks difficult and overwhelming, we can make it easy!

I always think eating well should not be related to stopping yourself from enjoying, that is something that YOU can learn how to do.

On a daily basis, I see how people exhibit emotional eating behaviours due to stress and anxiety and use bad food or alcohol or overeating as a way to keep themselves calm during those moments.

The thing is they are not going to solve their problems by making bad choices, so what if we try to nourish ourselves the best way while still enjoying a party without feeling guilty?

Everything starts by recognizing which thoughts come to our mind.

The thoughts will always be unconscious, but what if we make them conscious but automatically unconscious? I will explain that later below 🙂

Here are a few thoughts that came to my mind at different stages or moments in my life. They were evolving while I was getting older, so they are written in order.  My last thought is the one which comes to my mind at any party now…

Try to detect your UNconscious thought and… keep reading!

1. 1. ” Party? It is only one day – cheat meal, so eat and drink as much as possible”
   2. ” Uff I will not enjoy unless I drink a lot, I NEED it! “
   3. ” I don’t usually drink alcohol but it is free! I would like to eat healthy but the smell of burgers is coming across… uff fuck it, I will take the burger “.
   4. ” I am going to eat whatever they provide me with and maybe drink one or two drinks if I feel like it”
   5. ” I will take a healthy option but I will drink alcohol later or I will have fast food and water later” or any thought which make you compensate.
   6. ” If I eat fried food or drink too much, I will not feel well the next day “
   7. “I don’t really feel like breaking my fitness journey and keep eating well as it is something normal to me”.
   8. “I don’t enjoy fast food anymore so I am just selecting the more similar food I would cook at home with healthy ingredients “
   9. “I am going to keep eating well and I do not drink anymore so… let’s get some non-alcoholic drinks and enjoy the party “.
   10. “I am going to enjoy as much as possible eating what makes me happy and whatever feels like drinking at that moment, without thinking about anything”.

Well, your indirect thoughts will be infinite… and most of the people don’t have a conscious thought about it, but do you know we think about food around 200 times a day? And we just go with the flow when we have to make choices about what we are going to put in our mouth – food and drinks? Do not get me wrong 😀

I went through all those steps in my life, starting from the first one until reaching number 15 at this stage…

Do not get me wrong, I am not trying to make you eat salads and drink water at a party. NO! That’s not the idea, but nutritional food that nourishes your body at any time, regardless of where you are – any special occasion. Without feeling guilty and that the emotional eating interacts in your behaviour with the food or drinks you choose.

I used to go to a party or a cocktail with small canapes provided around at all times, for example, while in my modeling years, after a show – the anxiety of trying to look the best in the room, made me feel anxious inside and it was hard for me to be in the conversation with designers and other people, just thinking about taking all the canapes available around. Why? The way I looked was so important, comparing with everyone, trying to be the best… because in that superficial work, your image is your job and when you are underage, it’s easy to think about it! Those thoughts were killing me inside and my mind used to go to hide my insecurity with the food and pay attention on something that I could control. That was THE PROBLEM!

This might have happened to you in other situations, meals with friends where you can’t stop eating the chips on the table for some reason, for example, a maybe stupid example, because the guy you like in the party is flirting with other girl and he is not paying attention to you. No matter what the situation is…

The idea is to STOP THINKING ABOUT FOOD AND MAKE GOOD DECISIONS BY NOT FOCUSING YOUR MIND ON THE FOOD AND ENJOYING INSTEAD – regardless of what your food decision was – a burger or a salad, an alcoholic drink or water.

My choices in the Facebook Summer Party?

There are burgers, chips and many alcoholic drinks but I already know what is good for my body and what kind of food I enjoy the most. So I selected Spanish Paella as the starter or first meal, followed by a salad mix where the main ingredient was quinoa with veggies, nuts and pomegranate! The mix of textures was an explosion for me 😀 I finally took the same dessert twice, fruits with a bit of cream. I removed the cream from the strawberries to stick to my QUIT SUGAR TRIP. In a few hours, I took my snack – a non-alcoholic cocktail but it was so suuuugary that I threw it away! I didn’t like it at all, it was like putting a pastry full of sugar in a blender haha, so I took 2 different flavoured 330ml juices instead, followed by water during the night. Could I have selected the fried food and alcohol drinks? Yes, but I enjoyed my selection so much… I do not eat to have a specific body or following any diet or counting calories… no, not at all!

These DECISIONS are already UNCONSCIOUS in my mind after years of trying to fight with the food for situations that I could not, cannot and will never be able to control, when the reality is that I was trying to hide my problems through it.

 

I want you to think what makes you decide to select a specific food, why you do it and stick to that, while enjoying any situation, in this case – the party 😉

I hope you had felt identified at some point of the post and helped you guys!

Any comment is more than welcome, I am sure it will help you to liberate any thought that kills you and might help someone else.