5 Step Party Survival Guide

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It’s that time of year when people shower me with pressies, feed me cake and generally make a fuss. Yup, IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! But whether you have a party, wedding, christening, Hanukkah, Passover, Ramadan, or just a good ‘ol Aussie barbie to attend, we will always find a reason to stress over food.

Tables are groaning under the weight of celebratory treats and you can’t bat a false eyelash without being assaulted by the scent of tempting (and oh, so delicious) party food.

Your determination is standing on very shaky ground and the cold hard panic of “I’ve been so good with my diet, how will I resist this food-fest?” kicks into full swing.

The simple fact is, when you learn the secrets I used to release the guilt, shame and the ARRGGHH!! you feel around food, all of a sudden those 5, 10 or 50 kilos you have struggled with for so long begin to melt off your booty like hot butter off a Christmas turkey. The lifelong patterns of self destructive behaviour with food… POOF! Gone. Just. Like. That.

Sounds good, right? It is! But for now, you have a full party calendar to contend with.

So to help you brave the invasion of Festivus treats as they dance their way from supermarket shelves and into your social calendar, I’m sharing with you my Free 5 Step Party Survival Guide (download below)

Game on, evil voice in your head that tells you to binge on choc chip buffalo wings!

5 Step Party Survival Guide

1. More Isn’t Better

So often we think that more is better. And maybe it is, if you’re talking about holidays, shoes or episodes of Sex and the City; but when it comes to party food stress, less is DEFINITELY more.

Listen to your body. Do you really want to eat eighteen slices of cheesy pizza? A party does NOT mean you’ve messed it up, so you might as well binge. And it especially doesn’t mean that you should skip your Breakfast Chia Pudding because you have now decided to binge. Party should not equal panic. If you’re really not sure what kind of food will be on offer, stash some Raw Bounty Bites or maybe even a Sexy Superfood Snackbar in your handbag.

You can always explain to the hostess that you have some special dietary requirements and gluten, sugar, greasy, salty food is not in your zone right now. People really don’t care. If you’re happy, they’re happy!

2. “Waste Not, Want Not” Was Invented By An Emotional Eater

So, you’re all hyped up on chocolate and cake. Paper plates and empty cups are strewn from one end of the house to the other and now comes decision time… what to do with all those delicious left overs?

Sure, you could keep them. But let’s face it; you and I both know that a weekend of wild-eyed, hyperactive, choc-crazed eating is not going to feel good next Monday. It’s time to binge-proof the house.

You could try the method I used for years, which was to remove said junk food from plain view and tell myself I would portion it out in moderation later, which of course always ended with me single handily demolishing enough sweet treats to sink a small Lindt factory, but hey, it was better than letting them go to waste, right?

My new method is to give the leftover’s away. Yes, I can hear your shrieks of horror, so I will repeat myself… GIVE.IT.AWAY.

If you have children, take the opportunity to teach them about giving and sharing the chocolate-coated love. If you have store wrapped chocolate bars, donate them to a homeless shelter or your local children’s hospital. If you feel you need some time and space to recalibrate your food choices, take it.

3. You Haven’t “Ruined It”

It doesn’t matter if you eat four slices of birthday cake or forty; you haven’t “ruined” your diet. Why? Because your life should not be one long diet!

Ditching the Diet means letting go of the “I’ve ruined it now so I might as well stuff my face” mentality. It means understanding that life happens. Parties, events and festive chocolate bunny occasions will come and go. It’s fine to enjoy them. This is your life and you’re here to suck every ounce of pleasure from it, not to spend every waking moment living on the edge between, “I’m such a dietary superstar, look how I rocked my fancy-pants eating plan today” and “I ate some cake, I’m such a loser, I might as well eat my way through Baskin Robbins, one flavour at a time”

4. Stay Regular

And no, I’m not referring to your meal times, TV choices or bowel movements. What I AM saying is, Don’t Ditch Your Regular Routine.

Sticking with the food choices that make you happy, the workouts and meditation practices you enjoy, will signal to your body that everything is A-Okay which in turn, will help you stay in your regular daily rhythm.

The minute we ditch the habits that make us feel good about ourselves, guess what? We don’t feel good about ourselves (I know, shocking, right?) and more importantly, we LOSE TRUST IN OURSELVES. The only purpose this serves is to make it soooo much easier to go on an all-out chocolate eating binge-fest because (insert the mantra of all dieters world-wide)… “you can start again tomorrow”.

If you normally walk the dog every morning, keep doing it. If you normally do yoga, pray, make a healthy breakfast… keep doing it. Let that sexy body of yours know that everything is in order and there is no need to skip off into Chocolate Boogie Wonderland for a week, just because you have a Bar Mitzvah to attend.

5. Reset and Recalibrate

Sometimes, despite our best intentions, the temptation to over indulge sinks its ice cream covered claws into us and we end up eating waaaaay more than we had intended.

So, before you throw your hands in the air like a dramatic diva at an awards show and decide to polish off the half eaten pizza in the back of the fridge, here’s some tips to help you Reset and Recalibrate:

Learn the lesson. The only reason we want all that food is because we THINK we can’t have it. Give up tha drama gurl. You are free to eat whatever you choose. Your only job here is to decide if it’s still going to taste good five minutes after the eating is done .

Don’t beat yourself up. It’s done. And until someone invents a way to turn back the hands of time, there is ZERO point in you hating yourself or your body. What caused you to make the decision and what can you do differently next time? Staying stuck in a cycle of self hate serves no purpose. Kick guilt and shame in the groin, take the lesson and move on.

And speaking of moving on… Don’t binge and don’t starve yourself (seriously, has this EVER helped in the past?!) Decide (and yes, it is your personal decision to do this) that you are worth more than another round of “I hate myself, no wait, I can do this! Oh no, I ate one square of chocolate, I’m a loser… No, no… I’ll start a new diet because THIS time will be different!”

It’s time to stop letting food boss you around. You know what to do to reset your mind for success and if you don’t, you can get the tools here.

And remember, you don’t need to change your situation. You need to change the way you SEE your situation.

Now, I’d love to hear from YOU!

Have you ever fallen into the trap of the diet / binge cycle? Have you ever lost faith in yourself? Join the discussion below! You never know… your words might be the exact thing that someone needs to hear.