Don't rain on my parade

There's really no way to avoid the sugary dangers which may be lurking on the picnic table this afternoon. It's pointless to warn you of the hidden sodium, fat and calories in our favorite snacks and beverages. The burgers will be greasy, the hot dogs are unavoidable, and the potato salad is a must have. And no one wants to be the person who shows up with whole wheat burger buns or whole grain tortilla chips with hummus. I usually am that girl and I am made fun of. So I have a new approach for dealing with today's calorie fest: go crazy. After all it is only ONE day. And this type of 'eat all day' holiday only occurs three times a year, so do it up.
There are, however, five nuggets of advice if you want to save yourself a few calories.

1. Nibble on the veg plate first. Maybe it'll fill you up a little and you'll eat less potato salad than you would other wise.

2. Grab the 'light' beer option, especially if you're going to have a few.

3. When you grab the cheeseburger, load it up with some veggies like extra lettuce and tomato. It'll fill you up more and add some goodness, that way you don't feel sooo bad.

4. You're going to see a super yummy desert at the end of the table. It'll probably be a cake with white icing and strawberries for stripes and blueberries for stars. Only have one slice. I said let yourself go- not let yourself go glutenous.

5. If you know you're the kind of person to go up for seconds, make your portions a little smaller. Remember, the hormones in your stomach that signal 'I'm full!" to your brain are slow pokes! So give them time to get up there before you grab a another plate.

As for tomorrow:

In the world of weight loss studies there's something called the 'weekend effect.' While following the trends of caloric intake, researchers found that intakes typically spike for Saturday and Sunday. So it might be wise to have a little fun and let yourself go today, as long as you make up for it over the next couple of days. There are two ways to do this:

• If you estimate that you take in 500 calories more today than you usually do, try to cut 250 calories from Saturday and Sunday. Which is really just a slightly smaller lunch and dinner.
• Aim to burn the calories by going for a jog (or your choice of cardio activity). If you jog 11-12 min. miles for an hour, you'll burn around 530 calories. Break it up over two 3o minute jogs and you're golden!

Go enjoy some potato salad!