Ten Health Tips to Ten Days of the Calgary Stampede!
Stampede is almost here! Ten days of kicking up your boots! Unfortunately it can also be the time of year that healthy eating and fitness goes out the window. We have compiled some great tips to help you get through this season without hurting your health or losing sight of your goals along the way.
- Bring your own food or snacks to the grounds! Having your own prepped meals is helpful year round but the grounds can be temptation to go way off your plan. Snacks such as fresh vegetables and fruits can help you stay satisfied and adding in your protein and carbohydrates will keep your hunger abated.
- Research healthy places to eat on the grounds. Lately they have brought in some great healthy vendors to the Stampede so you do have options. It’s not all deep fried foods there anymore! There are gluten free options as well as fresh foods such as sushi, wraps and chicken that you can choose from. Do your research and go prepared and know ahead of time what you will purchase.
- Plan what you will eat and when! All those deep fried foods can really derail your whole day so if you do plan to indulge make it a planned indulgence. Plan how much you will have and plan the times so that you won’t get to a point where you grab anything in sight and end up with a stomach ache.
- Walk around! Go explore all the exhibits and wonderful things to see instead of staying in one place. You can burn off a lot of calories by just walking around for a full day so make the best of it.
- With that in mind go try line dancing! Dancing can be one of the best fat burners out there and yeehaw what fun! If line dancing is not your thing there are hip hop and pop options. Whatever you love, they have.
- Bring a bottle of water with you! Water in itself can help with food cravings because we don’t often realize we are dehydrated. Dehydration can come across as hunger pains. Also this helps when it’s an especially hot day and you start to find your energy depleting.
- Workout in the morning before you go to the grounds! To avoid getting your workout plans way off track get it done in the mornings. Your muscles will be prepped and ready to burn off fat all day!
- Prepare the week before! If you do plan to indulge be prepared beforehand by upping your cardio and weight-training the week before. Burn off calories and go into it leaner so you don’t find you put on excess weight by the end of the Stampede. This is also a great thing to keep doing throughout the ten days to keep you on track.
- Everything in moderation! Drinking especially! The worst offender of over-indulgence is alcoholic beverages. They can have hidden calories and needless to say alcohol is not the healthiest choice to our systems. Try to avoid high calorie beers or sugar bombed juices mixed in. Moderation means knowing when enough is enough.
- Remember that one day at Stampede is not likely to completely derail your healthy lifestyle! When it becomes more than one day it can be detrimental. Keep in mind that you can enjoy the day however you choose just make sure you choose to come back to those healthy habits as soon as you possibly can!
Happy Stampeding Cowgirls and Cowboys!
Written by: Lara Schamotta