Healthy Chicks

I don’t know about you, but I pigged out yesterday. Scratch that. I pigged out this entire weekend. Not to mention the fact that I didn’t work out…at all. When you’re a broke gal living in the city, going home is like heaven. It’s free food galore, and I simply can’t help but reap all the delicious benefits of it. Friday and Saturday I behaved mostly, and was healthy 75% of the time, which is good in my book. As you know, I am a firm believer that being healthy is a lifestyle with room to go a little off track from time to time. Having that “wiggle room” is what keeps us sane, after all.

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t go just a little overboard on Easter Sunday. It definitely doesn’t help when you come from a large Polish family with a grandmother who loves to cook, not to mention is an excellent cook. A family who serves what normal people eat as a main meal as “just the appetizer”, and that by the time dessert comes everyone is holding their stomachs as if they just ate Thanksgiving supper…twice. Yes, that is pretty much my family in a nut shell. It also doesn’t help that the kind of food we serve definitely isn’t the healthiest.

We had everything sitting there at our fingertips to devour. Two different kinds of homemade bread (and butter). Smoked striper spread. Hard boiled eggs. Kielbasa (way too much kielbasa). Pierogies. Baked ham (with gravy). Roasted asparagus. Sweet potato pie. Potato salad. Loads of wine. Pina Coloda Coconut Cake. Cream Puffs. And more.

I ate most of the spread, but didn’t eat ’til my stomach was going to explode or anything. It’s hard not to have a little bit of everything on holidays like Easter, when you know you aren’t going to see a lot of this food again for a while…sometimes an entire 365 days!

Do I feel guilty? No. Do I feel “blah”? Yea, a little bit. I ate differently (and much more) than my body is used to, and I’m paying some of those consequences, including lack of energy, belly bloat and just that feeling of “blah.” I’m sure many of you can relate, if not today at least some time in the past.

So now that’s it’s Monday, I challenge you all to get back on track, to not let the past hold you back and to keep on movin’ forward! Chug the H2O and wash away all that sodium (or alcohol) you consumed over the last 24 hours! Throw on your sneakers and go for that 5 mile run you’ve been saving  for “later.” Try that new yoga class you’ve been dying to attend, or that killer broccoli casserole recipe your best friend gave you. It’s a new week, hence a new chance to start fresh. And you are the only person with the power to do so!