Labor Day is right around the corner. It is a largely symbolic holiday for many, marking the end of one season and the unofficial start of the next. Conversely, Labor Day brings with it the return to school and the start of football season. As a national holiday, Labor Day is all about two things – rest and celebration (it’s pretty funny that they are completely opposite notions but oddly don’t contradict each other).
No matter where you are, or what you’re doing, Labor Day is sure to be a day to let loose a little and give yourself a break. So pull out your pair of white jeans and throw them on one last time for what is sure to be a wonderful and relaxing day filled with friends, food, and fun. In the interest of keeping things lax while still spoiling yourself, I have some easy tips to help keep you healthy and beautiful!
1. Stay away from the fruit bowl.
On a hot September day out at a party, it can be tempting to beeline for the fruit bowl as a wholesome and refreshing choice. On Labor Day, parties typically start mid afternoon and go on into evening, meaning that fruit is not the most ideal beauty food after you have already fired up your digestive system and already eaten heavier foods. Snack on veggie sticks instead. As I describe in more detail in the Beauty Detox Solution, fruits are made of simple sugars and water and break down really quickly in your digestive tract.
In order to avoid a digestive disaster, and to keep your system running smoothly I recommend abstaining from the fruit during Labor Day celebrations. If you must, have a few slices of fruit first thing, before you get into the heartier parts of your meal. It drives me nuts when people load up on BBQ Chicken, potato salad, and chips and then munch on watermelon or other fruits as a dessert. Talk about a total beauty traffic jam! The last thing you want to do is back your system and bloat out with rotting fruit by piling it in after lunch or a midday snack. Trust me on this one; there are better options that will leave you feeling better in the long term.
2. Choose your salad wisely.
Labor day can be quite the occasion for a variety of salads. A few varieties that come in mind are pasta salad, potato salad, and green salad. While many of these traditional barbeque dishes are delicious, many contain unfavorable ingredients that can irritate your stomach, and can lead to bloating and future breakouts and clogged skin. The green salad should always be your go-to starter salad. If you are feeling particularly hungry, pile your plate up with the house salad they are offering and munch down all the live green yummy minerals and enzymes. You are literally digesting energy.
Stay away from heavy cream based dressings like Ranch or Ceasar. Don’t be tricked by “low fat” stickers, skip it all together, and opt for lots of lemon or a little bit of vinaigrette on the side. Ideally, a dressing made out of garlic, lemon and apple cider vinegar is optimal such as the Oil-Free Basil Lover’s Dressing. Uncertain about the dressing or if there will be a salad? Feel free to pack a large salad for the party to eat with your meal. That way you can still get your nutrients without it seeming weird or unusual that you’re bringing food. At all costs, avoid the potato salad! Any meal packed with 2 cups of mayonnaise and a carton of curdled cottage cheese is something that will most certainly bring down your beauty. The veggies in the pasta salad are excellent, and an “italian” style dressing is not totally horrific, but the issue here is in the type of pasta. If it is a white, refined style of pasta, I would pass. I would also pass on a whole-wheat pasta, which is still high in gluten and low in minerals. Why don’t you start a new tradition and make a pasta salad for everyone with quinoa pasta, which is a much more nutritious and gluten-free grain?
3. One meat or veggie burger.
It is important for our health goals to limit meat consumption to once daily, if at all. The reason being because land animals such as chicken, cows etc. have tougher muscle than sea animals meaning that it is erodes our digestive energy as we work extra hard to break down complex amino acids. Under no circumstances should you mix types of meats. If you are going to eat meat, choose one type and stick with it. Traditional style hot dogs are basically a medley of low-quality meat trimmings and bi-products, toxins and preservatives. I really urge you to give those up once and for all.
If you don’t eat meat like me, opt for some delicious alternatives. I love veggie skewers, mushroom burgers or even Alkaline-Grain Veggie Burgers like those featured in The Beauty Detox Solution. Same idea goes here as with the salad, if you aren’t sure they will be there, bring a pack of patty’s for the party! Regardless of your protein choice, skip any and all buns. Buns are practically a tennis ball of sugar disguised as bread. It will be much easier on your stomach and better for your skin to forgo the traditional hamburger and instead pair your proteins with vegetables.
Also, avoid conventional ketchups and mustards. These are high in sugars like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), are highly processed and this type of condiment will demand a lot of extra beauty energy from your body, taking it away from other places in your body. Serve or bring some organic ketchup for the guests, which doesn’t have HFCS.
4. For beverages, Keep it Simple.
When it comes to drinks, there are tons of enticing but not beautiful options that can be found at a barbeque. Avoid sugary fruit punches, margueritas, light beers, and sodas at all costs. There are plenty of favorable options that can achieve that same “ahhh” refreshing feeling while not setting you back in your beauty detox.
In order of most to least preferable, try these drinks instead:
1. Plain Water dressed up with a slice of orange, lemon or cucumber for taste. This will be a zesty twist on a drink integral to your bodily function. The next day, consider going on a water cleanse if you’re feel sluggish from all that food.
2. Beauty detox friendly lemonade. I make this drink all the time in restaurants and on the go. Squeeze about a quarter to a half lemon’s worth of juice into a cup of water and add stevia or xyitol to taste. It is delicious, sweet, and it mobilizes of all the digestive enzymes in the lemon juice for use in your body.
3. Vodka, soda water and lime. That’s it, no more no less. If you must, Vodka is probably the least worst alcohol for the body. The lemon or other citrus you have avail (grapefruit, orange etc.) should take the bitter edge off of the vodka.
5. Portioning & BBQ Strategy-
Try not to eat all day, but instead have one healthy-sized meal albeit lunch or dinner and spend the rest of the time socializing instead of eating. Grazing accelerates aging! It ensures that we are perpetually packing food on top of undigested foods which increases the chance of putrefaction and gas. You will also end up eating more. Ultimately this means increases toxicity and quicker aging! Remember to eat lightest to heaviest both during meals and throughout the day.
