{"id":931,"date":"2021-04-27T12:33:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T12:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/?p=931"},"modified":"2021-04-27T12:44:26","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T12:44:26","slug":"its-yummy-friend-or-foe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/its-yummy-friend-or-foe\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Yummy: Friend or Foe?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Friendship can have a major impact on your health and well-being.&nbsp;Friends can help you celebrate good times and provide support during bad times.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friends can also:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>boost your&nbsp;happiness and reduce your stress.<\/li><li>improve your self-confidence.&nbsp;<\/li><li>encourage you to change or avoid unhealthy lifestyle habits.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>When we form relationships with people who have healthful habits and lifestyles\u2014those who can inspire, encourage, and motivate\u2014it can help us immensely during our healthy-lifestyle journey.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes&nbsp;our friends may not be as supportive as we\u2019d like them to be:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Does your friend drop by with a freshly baked batch of chocolate chip cookies, because she knows it\u2019s your&nbsp;favourite?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Does your friend bring you chocolate to cheer you up?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Do you mention&nbsp;that&nbsp;you\u2019re joining a gym, and your friend says,&nbsp;\u201cI heard that exercise can actually make you gain weight\u201d?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Or are you at a restaurant and your friend orders&nbsp;fettuccine&nbsp;Alfredo, saying&nbsp;\u201cI don\u2019t know how you can eat that salad\u201d?&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Whichever scenario applies, the results are pretty much the same.&nbsp;While their intentions may be all good, the result can be&nbsp;disastrous&nbsp;for those trying to stick to a healthy-eating plan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem may start because you\u2019re in&nbsp;\u2018change mode\u2019&nbsp;but your&nbsp;friend isn\u2019t.&nbsp;A real friend wouldn\u2019t intentionally undermine your healthy eating. A few reasons why they may do this are:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>They don\u2019t understand. Friends who\u2019ve never had a weight problem can\u2019t understand why you&nbsp;don\u2019t go back to eating&nbsp;\u2018normally\u2019&nbsp;now that you\u2019ve lost that weight.&nbsp;<\/li><li>They miss the old you\u2014the food experiences that you once shared. Food is often how we express love and happiness and good times.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>They may also feel guilty that they need to adopt&nbsp;healthier eating.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some strategies to adopt&nbsp;that will&nbsp;help friends be more supportive:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Have a heart-to-heart conversation. Your friend may not know what she\u2019s doing. Tell&nbsp;her&nbsp;that&nbsp;getting leaner and healthier means a lot to you. People&nbsp;who&nbsp;don\u2019t have issues with food,&nbsp;don\u2019t&nbsp;usually&nbsp;realise&nbsp;the level of temptation experienced by people who do. Telling her that you need her help may make her more supportive.&nbsp;It may be best to directly ask your friend not to give you food as gifts.&nbsp;<\/li><li>If it\u2019s very difficult for you to stay on track, let your friend know. If you need support when the late-night munchies hit, ask your friend if it\u2019s okay to call.&nbsp;<\/li><li>If you\u2019re at a restaurant\u2014and&nbsp;you had no input as to the selection of that restaurant\u2014and&nbsp;there are&nbsp;only high-calorie foods on the menu, ask your friend to split an entree with you, so at least you\u2019re eating less. And next time,&nbsp;you get to pick the restaurant\u2014one where you know you can order something healthy.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Reassure your friend that you are driven by health, not vanity; that you are scared of the serious health risks associated with an unhealthy lifestyle, and that exercise and sticking to your diet and losing weight is one way to ensure that you\u2019ll be around longer. In this way,&nbsp;you can share a long-lasting&nbsp;friendship.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people have at least&nbsp;one&nbsp;friend who is trying to eat healthier. When your friend is adopting healthier eating habits, here are some ways you can help her when you hang out:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Pick a place or activity that is friendly to her goals. In the&nbsp;spring and&nbsp;autumn,&nbsp;see if&nbsp;there are&nbsp;restaurants that serve healthy food and that have a variety of salads.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Know&nbsp;her&nbsp;goals.&nbsp;Is she&nbsp;trying to lose weight?&nbsp;Is she&nbsp;trying to eat healthier?&nbsp;Is she&nbsp;trying to cut down on sugar? These questions can help you relate&nbsp;to&nbsp;and support your friend better.&nbsp;<\/li><li>If your friend is comfortable with it, you can offer to be&nbsp;her&nbsp;\u2018accountability buddy\u2019. Some people may find this helpful.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Celebrate&nbsp;her&nbsp;success with&nbsp;her. Achieving a goal that you\u2019ve worked hard&nbsp;at is always a big deal. Acknowledge that achieving a lifestyle change and adopting healthy habits&nbsp;is&nbsp;important to&nbsp;her, and celebrate&nbsp;her&nbsp;success with&nbsp;her.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Help your friend see that&nbsp;she&nbsp;can both stick to&nbsp;her&nbsp;lifestyle and hang out with people they care about. Celebrate&nbsp;her&nbsp;success, console&nbsp;her&nbsp;when&nbsp;she&nbsp;makes&nbsp;a mistake, and always cheer&nbsp;her&nbsp;on.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Friends can play a significant role in promoting your overall health. Encouraging them to support you in your&nbsp;healthy-lifestyle journey can foster&nbsp;long-term,&nbsp;cherished bonds!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\"><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we form relationships with people who have healthful habits and lifestyles\u2014those who can inspire, encourage, and motivate\u2014it can help us immensely during our healthy-lifestyle journey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":972,"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions\/972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theupliftmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}