Hi friends! Do any of you belong to a community, subdivision, or private pool? We do because we don’t have a pool at our house. The upside is that it has a outdoor cafe where food can be ordered, but that’s the downside too. It is very difficult to make healthy food choices when confronted with chicken strips (ours are the best ever, unfortunately), French fries, huge cheeseburgers, and all other manner of deliciously, dangerously high caloric food options. 

Luckily our pool also offers healthy items and whether you have a pool, have joined a pool, or don’t care about pools, I’ll still try to offer some advice to assist you in making good food choices this summer. 

First and most important is to avoid the fried food. No matter how good it looks, believe me it’s not good for you. The oil used to fry food is artery clogging, and the food, once fried has virtually no resemblance to the healthy chicken or potato it started out as. This may seem obvious but once you start smelling the fries it’s so tempting to give in and order them, but not only are they bad for you, they’re very high in calories too. Not good for the bathing suit look!

  
Second, choose the healthiest protein you can. A large double cheeseburger, while full of protein, is not a healthy option due to the amount of calories contained within. Some large cheeseburgers have over 1,000 calories. Definitely not the way to go. Instead, I choose a Cobb salad (no blue cheese because I don’t like it), with tons of protein (turkey, bacon, feta cheese, hard boiled egg) and vegetables (cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce) to fill me up and keep me satisfied. A super choice! Also, don’t top your healthy salad off with an unhealthy dressing (no ranch or blue cheese), I love vinaigrettes of all kinds- and if they make them fresh there it’s an even better option!

  
Third, avoid the processed carbs. Those bags of Doritos and Fritos are full of empty calories and zero nutrition. If you want something crunchy and salty go for air popped popcorn. A new brand I’m digging is Sexy Pop- many flavors and under 100 calories per bag- it’s incredible! The Brazilian coconut flavor is to die for- and all natural too!  Or pop your own and bring it with you. I always think popcorn is better the next day so you can pop it ahead and bag it up for later. 

Fourth, don’t eat the ice cream sandwiches, or Chaco tacos (it’s really a thing and it looks sooo good), or huge ice cream cones- avoid the sugar!  Sugar is the source of many illnesses and should be avoided at all costs. A small fruit salad would be a healthy substitute. And I’ve seen people make all fruit Popsicles at home- better than processed ones, but still should only be an occasional treat.

  
These are my poolside tips for healthy eating in the summertime. Make sure to enjoy yourself no matter what and let me know what you do to stay on your healthy food path in the summer. Making healthy food choices will help you live a life of vitality- with Valerie!