• Breakfast: Omelette with smoked salmon and tomatoes, coffee with milk
• Snack: Fruit tasting at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market
• Lunch: Chinese Chicken Salad at Gott’s Roadside in the Ferry Building
• Snack: Iced Coffee
• Dinner: Left-over salmon with roast potatoes and fennel
• Pre-gaming: Prosecco, mini cup-cake, tortilla chips and guacamole
• Gaming: Vodka Soda
• Post-Gaming: Pizza…

Day 10 of my 100 Healthy Days in SF brought the greatest challenge to date – the pre-gaming night out. (Or, if you’re in Ireland, the pre-drinking before going on the tear). And I am ashamed to say, I failed spectacularly. 

From the start, I’ve known that social drinking would my Achilles heel. It’s probably the whole reason why I feel the need to embark on this challenge. I’m relatively healthy during the week and feel empowered and motivated to make healthy choices. However, as soon as Friday comes and the suggestion is made to go for cocktails/beers/dinner/margaritas my resolve crumbles faster than low-fat feta cheese. It’s not just the drinking, it’s the whole package – the unwinding after a long week, the catching up with friends, the debating over what cocktail to try…it’s just all so social and fun. 

So, today’s event was a night out with some of the Irish people living in SF. Our friend Kev was over visiting from Dublin, so of course we wanted to ‘catch up’ (aka go on the lash). We started out pre-gaming at another friend Katie’s house in The Mission, followed by drinks at my fave bar The Latin American Club (beware the Margaritas – they are lethal!).

In fairness to me, I couldn’t have been faced with more difficult foes. Kev is the Emperor of ‘getting on it’ and it’s practically impossible not to be affected by his good buzz and Katie is always on hand to pour the bubbles. I just couldn’t say no. Actually I didn’t even try. 😦

So, I ended up drinking a lot, and then going for pizza afterwards. The shame!

I’ve been beating myself up about this ever since, but I’ve decided to stop doing that. This is the first time I’ve met with this challenge during the 100 healthy days, and while I failed it’s not the end. I just need to come up with some strategies to ‘healthify’ the nights out. Some ideas:

• Drink a TON of water the day before going out so you’re not dehydrated and reaching for the neared liquid to hand
• Eat a big, protein and veggie filled meal before-hand so your blood sugars are balanced and you feel in control
• Drink a glass of water as your first drink
• Bring your own ‘healthy’ beverage to the pre-game
• Have a healthy snack prepared for when you come home, so you don’t feel the need to go to the pizza place

The next time I go out, I will be prepared!!!

In other news, I spent a lovely day with the folks wandering around the famer’s market at the Ferry Building (a must for those visiting SF) and then doing the city bus tour, joined by the bold Kev.

Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Buidling. Check out dem peppers!

Irish reunion!