Powercookie Girl Em's advice
I’m sure quite a few of you know of ‘The Power Cookie Girl’ Emily Miazga. For those who don’t, she’s the three-time winner of the Speight’s Coast to Coast and she’s also the owner of Em’s Power Cookies, the best cookies in the world! What many might not realize is that she is a top-notch sports nutritionist. She’s one of those people who has all those extra letters after her name because she stayed at school way longer than I did. This woman knows her stuff when it comes to nutrition!
A few weeks ago Em came around to my house to do an interview about nutrition for IMTalk, the triathlon podcast I do with John Newsom. Em’s energy is infectious and the girl can talk (I know, that’s the pot calling the kettle black).
When I pushed ‘record’ for the interview, with neither John nor myself prompting her, Em stated: ‘Do you want to lose weight? Stop drinking!’ Our interview wasn’t based around weight loss, we triathletes need to eat more, not less. I therefore thought her comment showed an insight into where she felt a lot of people were losing the battle with weight loss.
A 317.5g bottle of Stella contains 154 calories and a glass of wine can contain up to 190 Calories. Once you consider that a Mars bar contains 234 calories, it’s not hard to do the math: if you were to drink three wines with dinner, it’s the equivalent to eating two and a half Mars bars with that meal. No wonder Em said to stop drinking!
If you are struggling with your weight and your diet includes regular consumption of alcohol, then this is an area that you may want to address. A good question you may ask yourself is: ‘why am I consuming alcohol right now?’ Answering that question can help you identify what the purpose of your drinking. Then ask yourself: ‘is there a healthier way for me to achieve that purpose?’ For example, if you like to have a couple wines every night as a way to unwind and relax, you could instead go for an easy relaxing walk when you get home. This will achieve the same outcome but won’t come at a cost to your health.
I gave up drinking when I was twenty because I was an idiot when drank. When you don’t drink, others sometimes assume that you’re critical of their drinking habits. I’m really not, I feel there’s nothing wrong with a healthy level of drinking. But if you are struggling with your weight and you drink regularly, cutting back (or better yet, replacing the habit with a healthier one) will likely help you lose weight. So, take a serious look at your drinking habits and see if it isn’t an area in which you can make some positive changes. Hey, if Em the Powergirl says it, it’s probably worth listening to.