or why it’s not a great idea to drink that glass of wine (or bottle)

New theme for the month. It’s also No-Fiction February, but I’ll discuss the ‘good choices’ theme today, and talk about the book thing later.

It came to me the other day after having a talk with a client who was wondering if his bottle of wine (and other intoxicating substances) were affecting his workout the following day.

This was a slam dunk by the way. Short answer is YES! Was this a good choice that he made? Probably at the time it was, but it wasn’t a well thought out one either because he literally couldn’t believe how one day he felt great and on top of the world, and the next day he was on the struggle bus while working out.

Making good choices is always hard to do because you have that little penguin whispering in your year that ‘you know you WANT it’ or that ‘you know you NEED it’ at weak moments of the day.

For me it’s when I finish coaching for three hours in the afternoon, I have to go home and cook dinner at 7:15 PM, and I’m HUNGRY. First thing I do before starting dinner is the following, and not always in this order:

1. I open some wine, and pour a glass (this normally only happens on Wine Wednesdays or Wine Friday/Saturday (you pick), and only if I don’t have a hard workout the next day (or no workout).
2. I snack on something I really need to avoid. Since I’ve done pretty good job of eliminating grains from my diet (about 95% compliant) my daughter has turned me onto Plantain chips. Just what I needed.

Why are these not good choices? Because most wines give me either a headache or diarrhea the next day, and also if I drink two days in a row I get depressed (or as depressed as you’ll ever see me). And the chips? Well, seriously who needs that extra roll over their pants? Not me.

So for the last few weeks that phrase “Make Good Choices” keeps bouncing in my head, and for the most part I listen to that little voice and avoid the things I don’t need in my body, or better yet I think about what I say (or whom I say it to I should rephrase). I’m not perfect though.

Because tonight I’m going to go with the penguin on my left shoulder (my evil side) and have some wine with my steak tonight. Because I don’t have to workout tomorrow, and I get to sleep in a bit longer.

I’ll avoid the chips because i”ll bring something to healthy to eat at the gym.

See…Making good choices!