On the night of Match Day (Fri 2/24/12—forever imprinted into my memory), I knew I had to be careful with staying Paleo! That night, I had a dinner party with friends and colleagues at an American restaurant. I ordered as simply as possible: Cheeseburger! But I had them remove the buns and replace them with additional veggies like bell peppers. I also asked to have no cheese whatsoever, and I substituted sweet potato fries for regular potato shoestring fries. I had to do lots of explaining to those sitting next to me, but for the most part, it was quite successful and less awkward than I expected!
After dinner, however, when we changed locations to this club/bar that our friend owns, the peer pressure came one at full-force. There were waaay too many opportunities to drink, and SOSOSO many uncomfortable moments when I declined. I haven’t experienced peer pressure like this ever!
Friends would come up to me and shake their heads because I had no cup in hand. Because it was my celebratory night, everyone expected me to drink until I passed out. Every friend wanted to buy me a drink—and even my students— those I’m currently teaching, purchased shots to peer-pressure me into drinking!
Friends would come up to me and shake their heads because I had no cup in hand. Because it was my celebratory night, everyone expected me to drink until I passed out. Every friend wanted to buy me a drink—and even my students— those I’m currently teaching, purchased shots to peer-pressure me into drinking!
Haha! I got this image from a site called: "Top ten 21st Birthday Survival Tips"
(Although I am far from being 21 by now...)
One particularly difficult conversation was with two dear Latino friends who would not take no for an answer. They refused to get water for me, and they said it would ruin their reputation to order something other than hard alcohol. They reasoned that if I wanted a clear drink, I could have vodka or whiskey, but absolutely no water. Later, they invented other excuses, like the bartender refused to serve water, and would only serve alcohol. You would not believe the lies they came up with trying to get me to drink. But I persisted. I really did, and it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do! My one moment of pride was when another student asked to buy me a drink. I told him about my Paleo attempt and he understood. He is an athlete himself so instead of pushing me on the subject, he backed up, said that he really respected what I was doing, and then offered to get me whatever I wanted – even if I just wanted water. That was cool.
Did you know that alcohol gets in the way of nourishing, deep sleep? While alcohol can make you sleepy, it stops you at the shallow level of sleep that can be easily interrupted and definitely less restful.
As you can guess, then, after we partied and partied and partied, I was happy to get home, change into PJs and fall into super deep and restful sleep. It was exactly what I needed and had been craving all week.
In the morning, I woke up and treated myself to making Paleo pancakes. I mixed together an egg, almond flour, a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg, mashed up an entire banana to the mix, and threw in some chopped-up frozen peaches and strawberries. The result? A sweet sweet pancake!
It was sooo nice to be sober, non-hung-over, and to be eating healthy the day-after-a-celebration!
Almond flour Paleo pancakes with bananas, peaches, and strawberries
At night, I drove an hour to meet friends to celebrate and to have Spanish tapas! We all ordered our own dishes and I tried to eat paleo by having ceviche and a lamb dish. The ceviche was salty, sour, and perfectly mixed with lamb, shrimp and some fish. The lamb was moist and tender and absolutely delectable! It was seated on a bed of skillet potatoes, so I did cheat a little. I also had a few bites of paella-- but come on, that has to be understandable. It's paella!
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