Sometimes you have to just suck it up and eat it

While visiting my family for the holidays, my dad offered to bring in lunch. We decided on Chinese. I hadn’t gotten in a lot of vegetables when traveling the day before and thought I could make up for it at least with Asian cuisine- one of my favorites.  I ordered Hunan Chicken, what I thought was a fairly straightforward Chinese dish (chicken and mixed vegetables in a spicy brown sauce).

Apparently I was wrong.

What I got was something more like a soggy General Tso’s–breaded, fried and not a vegetable in sight (unless you count the unedible chiles). Bleh.

And to make it even unhealthier, it came with a big fat eggroll and fried rice-one giant monochromatic plate of grease. Double bleh.

In a situation like this do you:

a) Turn up your nose in disdain and go hungry.

b) Say what the hell and eat it, along with the eggroll and fried rice.

c) Suck it up and do the best you can with what you have.

I chose “c”-to suck it up and eat it. The chicken part, that is. I did however skip the fried rice and eggroll that came with it (does one really need 3 fried foods in one meal? I don’t think so.) Instead I had some soup and called it a meal.

Life is full of these situations. How many times have you gone over to someones house and had to eat the X (fill in the blank) in order not to be rude? Or been on the road with only one lousy fast food option? Or been in a foreign country where broccoli and kale don’t exist?

In situations like these, I try to do the best with what I’ve got. Sometimes I find myself eating things I wouldn’t exactly choose.

During times like these, all is not lost. I ask myself these questions:

• How can I do the best I can with what I have?  (at a Mexican restaurant, go for soup over cheesy quesadillas)
• What can I give up from this meal that I don’t really need to eat? (skip the fries)
• How can I add more of what is healthy and available to my meal (double up on salad and sub a sweet potato for mashed)
• How can I eat better at the next meal? (plan ahead!)

The holidays can be a good time to test out some of these ideas. After all, we are surrounded by festive party food we wouldn’t normally eat on a day to day basis (and how many holiday parties have you been to already? How many left to go?).

Ps-if you missed the call with me, Tara and Tanya last week, you can listen to it here. We have more healthy holiday tips for you as well as info on our upcoming 21 Day Detox!