Confessions and Lessons Learned

Oh my, I am embarrassed to admit that I totally disregarded my own advice on drinking responsibly this weekend! I feel I should be honest about it because sometimes life just happens and your best intentions seem to wander away. (Just so you know, I typically do follow the happy hour scenario suggestions, and feel much better than I did this weekend!)

On Friday I had plans to meet for drinks around 10, so I was just planning on having a glass of wine or two. But then another friend asked if I wanted to get drinks after work. I wanted to catch up so we went to one of our favorite wine/tapas bars, KashKaval. I stuck to one glass of wine and we shared a small tapas plate or hummus, roasted beets, roasted cauliflower, and eggplant caponata with pita bread. I love eating tapas style and this greek/italian mix is my favorite. We also split a salad. I requested dressing on the side, but it came already dressed. The waitress said it was lightly dressed, but there was definitely a huge pool of dressing in the bottom of the bowl. Oh well, at least it was olive oil based!

Round two: We started out a lounge, I had water since I didn't want beer and didn't trust the wine. Then we went to Pure Food and Wine for drinks. Here is where I get into trouble, everything seems so healthy! So my friend G and I love the rioja and we each got a glass--this glass was twice as big as the one from the wine bar! Then we decided to order some desserts, we split those--although we left most of the sundae because it was so rich! I also had a few sips of the cocktails my friends ordered.

Our final stop was Bar Jamon. I managed to refrain from another drink because I knew I didn't need it! But when I got home I definitely had a large handful of crackers to settle my stomach.

So two drinks turned into closer to 4!

Pubcrawl: This one I knew would be a big night. The run down 3 1/2 beers and one shot. Lots of fun.

What I realized from this weekend is that while drinking too much is definitely not great, it's how I feel the day after that really sucks!

Saturday and Sunday I really had no energy to workout, save one great yoga class at Om (more later). I was not too productive with my school work either. I like going through my days full force and alive with energy, buzzing busily from task to task, not dragging around. Of course it can be fun to loosen up with a drink or two, but for me two is the definite time to cap it, after that the price I pay in the days after out weighs the fun. It's kind of like dessert, the first few bites are the best, but after a huge slice of cheesecake, the bloated, sluggish feeling is almost not worth it.

Staying out until 4 in the morning two days in a row was part of the reason I really didn't get much done this weekend was because I have had trouble sleeping. I haven't been able to sleep for more than 4-5 hours in over a week, so that definitely played a part too. All week I felt fine with only a few hours a night, but everything caught up with me yesterday.

But damn is it hard! Looking at my schedule for the week, I could potentially relive this weekend on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but I am going to do my body a favor and pick one night to have a couple drinks. The other days, I will just enjoy my seltzer and lime! In a final revelation, I decided to give up beer for good, why drink something I don't even like. Although, I am not sure what I will do at the Astoria Beer Garden this summer!

xo!

Real Life Scenario: Happy Hour!

Going out with friends for wine, cocktails, beers, etc. is fun, it's social, and let's face it, it's part of most adults lives. Whether it's to network or just recreational, opportunities to drink abound.

In fact, I am going on my first ever pub crawl this weekend. It is from 10pm to 4 am! It gave me the idea for this post.

I think there is a line in Skinny Bitch that goes something like "Beer is for frat boys, not skinny bitches." Ummm....yeah, still working on the skinny bitch thing--though not literally aiming for either--Haha.

All joking aside, while I am not a heavy drinker, I do love me a glass...err...bottle of wine or a great martini now and again--and I am not one to stay inside every weekend just because I know that drinking isn't exactly the best thing for your waistline.

So after a few years of trying to find the balance between going over board and feeling like I am missing out, I think I have figured out how to get my drink on responsibly and realistically!

My first tip is to only really go crazy 2 nights a month. More than that and it's hard to justify as healthy.

Obviously, you are probably going to drink more than 2 times a month. I have a drink or two about twice a week, some weeks more, some weeks less. So do interval drinking to maximize your happy hour. One drink, one seltzer with lime (aka virgin vodka tonic). Second drink. Happy hour over!

I am sure you have all seen the magazine articles of the 600 calorie long island ice teas and the 300 calorie frozen margaritas, so still to the basics: wine, vodka/club soda, sake, light beer--the only beer I like is Corona and they usually don't have light--so sometimes I don't follow my own advice! Your body will thank you for not hitting with tons of sugar AND alcohol!

This is straight from the nutritionist's mouth: your first drink is free, the second you have to count as a healthy starch. This means for every drink after the first, you should cut one starch out of your day. So if you have 6 servings of starch (bread, pasta, beans, corn, potatoes, etc.) and you want to have two drinks, just skip the bread with your salad at lunch. Eat a half cup of cereal less. Order mussels marinara, sauteed spinach and salad for dinner instead of mussels over angel hair. You get the idea. Obviously alcohol is not a "healthy starch," but as you can more than safely have two non-healthy starches a week, using them here, plus cutting out a healthy starch a day will do no to minimal damage to waistline and workout efforts.

This brings me to my next point. Do a preemptive workout. Definitely get in your workout the day of a big drinking night, you probably won't feel like working out the next day, so don't miss your chance. Make it a strong one. Also aim for morning or midday, if you workout right before going out, you might hit the floor on the first drink. :)

If your are planning on having beer, watch the fruit. I know this may sound crazy. Because fruit is amazing; I eat a TON of it! But yeast and fruit are not a great combination, so keeping it around two servings is a good idea in my opinion. Focus on the veggies!

My last tip is to make sure to drink some fresh vegetable juice, like carrot, cucumber, celery--perhaps with ginger or parsley--before and after drinking, it will rehydrate you, help flush out the toxins in your cells, eliminate bloating, and knock out your hang over.