I love to celebrate as much as the next person, likely more. Anyone else throw three cat birthday parties every year?

But our bodies don’t know the difference between stress coming from too much food and booze or the stress of our boss yelling at us. I want to teach you how to party with the best of them without overdoing it. Because, let’s be honest: it goes from sugar to shit pretty quickly. It’s fun one minute, but then regret sets in.

Overindulgence means your body has to work extra hard to digest all that food. Your blood supply is diverted to help your digestive system move the extra food, leaving less blood for things like your brain. Your brain! And your pancreas has to produce loads of insulin to deal with all that extra sugar flooding in, but it’s doing it under stress, which means the pancreas does a fast and dirty job leaving you with low blood sugar and feeling like shit before happy hour is even over.

And let’s not forget about your poor liver. She’s completely overwhelmed because on top of all the other things she needs to do, now she’s got to deal with the bottomless mimosas so you aren’t poisoned! Cheers, bitches!

It’s not a good look. Low blood sugar can leave you confused, tired, and even depressed. Your body directs you to fix these problems by eating more sugar and carbs, putting you on a blood sugar rollercoaster where you continue to feel crappy and store fat.

This might speak to you outside of celebration indulgences: this is the cycle many of us struggle with on a daily basis.

Our bodies are always trying to find homeostasis, or balance and stability, but we must give it the right fuel to do it:

1. Set Intentions: Before you even get to the table, set the intention to enjoy your food, to make the best choices you can, and to eat only until you are full (or just before).
2. Breathe: The first few minutes of a meal can be chaos. We are rushing to catch up with friends, get our share of the chips and guac, put in our drink order... once that’s all done, we just jump in and start grabbing and eating food in that same hurried state. So before you sit down to your own meal, calm yourself by taking some good, deep breaths to bring yourself into the present.
3. Slow down: Chewing is something we don’t do enough, which means we aren’t actually tasting much of all the food we are pushing down our throats. Chew slowly. Consider swallowing your bite before taking another -- manners, right!?
4. Listen to your body: The truth is that we will hear our body at some point after the meal when we realize our pants are uncomfortable or we are so tired we can’t keep our eyes open. Why not try listening to your body before you get to that point? The first three steps will help you to do this, but the goal is to work towards getting good at hearing what your body needs before it screams at you.

Go forth and enjoy Patio Season without the stress of overindulging!

Cheers!

#roseallday #butfirstbrunch #cheersbitches