Preparation Preparation Preparation

For example:

• Don’t skip breakfast and then play catch up by eating convenience foods that are high in sugar and carbohydrates for the rest of the day. These set up a cycle sending your energy levels up – briefly – and then bringing them crashing down. Your mood will most likely swing in a similar pattern.
• Plan to eat as early as possible to set your day up the right way. If you want to be cool as a cucumber all day, you’ll have to eat right so you stay that way.
• If you are going for a social activity - concert, opening or party – where dinner is not on the evening’s agenda, factor in your own pit stop – you can eat before you go out. Do give yourself plenty of time to eat without rushing though. Better yet: invite everyone around to your place and cook an early dinner there first, before you go out.
• Carry nuts, seeds, raisins and fruit in a zip-lock bag in your handbag or backpack so you will always have something on hand for that moment when hunger strikes or your energy drops.
• If your going out for a day of shopping, it is probably not a good idea to pore over the latest fashion magazine and then immediately go to the shopping mall to buy the swimsuit or any clothing you saw in it. Go for walk, have a light meal, drink plenty of water and then go shopping.
• Shop with a purpose, a sense of individual spirit – this can be hard in a mall, I know, but try anyway! And with a clear awareness of how you actually look in the clothes you buy – not some fantasy fed to you by the media. And remember, your wardrobe (particularly how you stomach looks in a bikini) is not the most important thing in the world. Going to the beach and enjoying the ocean and nature, on the other hand is important!
• Above all, think ahead and be prepared as much as you can.