“It’s really tough to eat healthy when my job requires me to go out to business lunches and drink wine.”
Sound familiar? As life time fitness coaches in one of the most successful food and wine meccas in the world, this is not an uncommon struggle that we come across with our personal training clients in Napa who want to achieve weight loss goals.
A common challenge is the requirement of going out to business lunches and dinners as part of their jobs. While out to eat and converse about business, there are some decadent options on the menu that can hinder weight loss efforts. Add in pairing food with Napa’s exquisite wine, we have a dual threat in absorbing calories from alcohol along with large portion sizes of a delicious variety of foods rich in carbohydrate and fat concentration. While going out to consult with peers about business at lunch, it’s easy to order some delicious pasta, a fine cut of meat with mashed potatoes on the side, a sandwich with bread from one of Napa’s amazing bakeries, or some pizza. These all go great with red wine as well. As a native of Napa, I have been brought up to appreciate the fine restaurants and wine that surrounds this valley. Bistro Jeanty, Morimoto, or the Oxbow Public Market to name a few. Who wouldn’t want to take an associate out to one of these amazing restaurants to talk business? While the food is amazing, the weight gaining effects of over indulgence can happen sooner than we think.
Many of our personal training clients work in the wine industry. While this is a fun and fulfilling job that creates a successful lifestyle for many people, frequent meetings out to lunch and sampling wine occur on a regular basis. Some jobs require meetings over lunch with different samplings of wine to pair with specific foods and have their wine on the menu of a restaurant. In order for this to be a successful experience, food must be consumed, and wine must be drank.
Something that we hear is, “I can’t say I won’t eat the red meat because or drink any wine, I’m watching my diet. That would be awkward if I’m promoting my wine to be part of this restaurant’s menu.” This is a true statement. However, instead of trying to avoid eating delicious rich food from a great restaurant, why not focus on some other manageable variables that hinder weight loss efforts.
A subject that helps clients mitigate the effects of having to eat at fine dining restaurants is to focus on what type of physical activity has been done before going out to eat.
Has it been a low physical activity day (LPA) of a high physical activity day (HPA)?
Days that we call LPAs, or low physical activity days, mean that an individual may have been sedentary and has not engaged in exercise that day. Perhaps it has been a day at the desk or there are deadlines that need to be met that has put exercise on the back burner. HPAs, or high physical activity days have had an exercise session at the beginning part of the day or some form increased movement, like walking or engaging in a game of tennis. We educate our clients on tactics focusing on awareness of their current physical activity status. This technique dilutes the threats frequent business lunch outings can cause on weight loss efforts.
Performing an exercise routine in the morning on the day of a business lunch will put the body into an accelerated metabolic state. Resistance training exercises that focus on compound upper and lower body movements, balance, mobility and cardiovascular exercise will put a person in an HPA status. A simple resistance training session at a local gym, Yoga class, or a brisk walk in the morning will put you in an HPA state. Muscles will be ready for repair and convert into lean muscle mass. Blood flow will coarse more efficiently through the body to deliver oxygen to the brain and heart. Positive stress hormones such as dopamine are produced via exercise to enhance your mood and interactions with others. The body will be in a primed state to absorb some of the extra calories from a business meal into the stressed muscles for repair. More importantly, exercising has been shown to put people in positive mental attitudes and enhancing social experiences. The dopamine response exercise offer boosts confidence, friendliness and mental acuity. Who wouldn’t want some of that before going out to promote your wine?
We can still take our clients, co-workers and peers out to some of the great restaurants surrounding us for business lunches. We just need to ensure that regular exercise is part of our lives, especially on days that we might be going out to dine at a phenomenal restaurant, such as the ones in Napa that offer some of best food. Great food and dining experiences in social and work setting will always be around us. Let’s use the gifts exercise gives to help us live strong, happy and healthy lives and enjoy some of the great food with our friends and colleagues.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
