As nutritionists, we dread the summer months.  Everyone seems to be taking vacations, dining out, and generally not caring about their health and nutrition goals.  Those who wanted to look their best for summer have already done the work or have decided to just wait until summer is over and the school year starts again.

That means the office is slow and those who do check in have often maintained or gained due to trips and holidays.

But focusing on your health is a lifelong battle and one you can pay attention to during the summer as well!

Even if you’re travelling and even if there’s a holiday, you can make better choices that will keep you moving forward instead of stepping back.  At the very least, you’ll do more maintaining than gaining!

Bonus, you’ll have more energy and less bloat as well!

Make Healthy-ish Choices this Summer

As a nutritionist, it would be easy to tell you to stick to salads on vacation and when eating out, but that isn’t real life.  Instead, I’d argue for you to make healthy-ish choices- choices that aren’t perfectly healthy but are less unhealthy than others.  Here’s an example:

• If you’re going to grab burgers and fries try to make one of the following choices:
• Instead of the double cheeseburger, choose the junior burger and swap a medium fry for a small fry.
• If you really want a larger burger, skip the fries and ask for grilled veggies on the side
• If you’ve got to have some fries, have the burger lettuce wrapped and try not to eat the ENTIRE basket of fries

All of these options make your meal much less likely to make you gain weight because they cut significant carbohydrates and calories from the plate.

This kind of process should be one you always do when eating out.  Get used to saying no to one of the things you want, and instead save it for next time you eat there.

Here’s a few more examples:

• At an italian restaurant, if you want pasta get a grilled or baked meat dish with it and skip the bread.
• If you’re dying for bread, skip the pasta and ask for veggies instead.
• If you want a heavy, breaded dish, have veggies on the side and limit your bread to one slice

These kinds of choices seem harsh at first but are easier than totally saying no and will compound to give you more success in the future.

Remember Balance

If you do have a day of intense drinking or eating, remember the concept of balance.  Give your body a mini detox the next day.

People all have different ways they like to detox but many different strategies are effective ways to balance the overindulgence of previous days.

For example, many people like to follow a juice fast for a day or two post-holiday.  This helps balance out extra calories and fill your body with anti-inflammatory anti-oxidant nutrients.

Juices should always be 80% vegetable and only 20% fruit to maintain proper blood sugar balance.  A fresh juice made with spinach, cucumber, parsley, kale, a couple of lemons, and one apple will last you a whole day.

If you’re not into juice fasts, a simple day of fresh veggies only is another great way to recover.  Try to stick to salads with olive oil and apple cider vinegar dressings and drink lots of water.

A good cleanse shake that I do with a lot of clients in addition to these other measure is called Biocleanse.  People love it for the way it makes their skin glow and it has components in it that help clean out the liver, our natural detox organ.  (Find Biocleanse here)

Limit Alcohol

In my experience, its more often the alcohol that causes weight gain during summer than food indulgences, especially for those who try to stick to a plan.

What may seem innocent enough, a few glasses of wine a couple times a week, can easily cause belly bloat and weight gain.

The worst offenders are mixed drinks and beer, it’s very easy to overdo them!  Ideally for weight loss you would eliminate or drastically limit alcohol to one drink, one night per week and no more.

But it’s summer time!

To make healthy-ish choices with alcohol try the following:

• Drink lighter beers like Michelob Ultra instead of heavier options
• Stick to one kind of drink and sip them very slowly, switch to Topo Chico or carbonated water once you’ve hit the limit you set for yourself before you went out
• Don’t drink at home, reserve it for parties, gatherings, and holidays
• Choose dry wines or prosecco instead of sweet wines
• Buy mixed drinks without sweet mixers- vodka tonic’s and whiskey water are better than margaritas and pina coladas
• Eat a healthy and nutritious diet on days you plan to drink- don’t mix fattening food with alcohol

Most importantly, remember that just because you’ve made a couple steps backward, doesn’t mean you’ve negated all the progress you’ve made!  Don’t use a few slip ups as a reason to fall off the wagon completely.

Enjoy your summer!