This past weekend much of the east coast was snowed in. Luckily the weather channel was correct and they give us a heads up to get prepared.

I personally was looking forward to a snow day. I was fighting a bad cold that was preventing me from seeing my nephew. I thought a day of doing nothing would be just what the doctor ordered.

When we woke up Saturday morning we were definitely snowed in. 12 inches on the ground and another 12-18 to fall.

Now, we all know there is a really popular stereotype of people running to the store to buy milk and bread the second a snowflake is mentioned. Here’s my thing about that, 99% of people have stopped eating milk and bread on normal days due to various health claims and allergies. If that’s the case why are we eating these things during a snowstorm. I also have a good friend that thinks the weathermen/women and the grocery stores have a conspiracy where the weathermen/women predict a storm so the grocery stores make a lot of money as people clear their shelves. I love a good conspiracy theory.

Anywho, you may not have stopped for milk and bread but you may have stopped for wine, sweets and/or comfort foods Friday afternoon to prepare. Your mind went to anything that says “cuddled up and snowed in” and/or “this will make a great Instagram picture.”

So many of us equate events like a snowstorm with food. And what I mean by that is we are always looking for an excuse to eat whatever we want. A reason to throw our diet plans out the window. An excuse to take a break from needing or wanting to lose weight. A way to justify our basic desire for food.

There are two reasons that happens. 1. We put too much damn pressure on ourselves to lose weight that any excuse to take a breather is welcomed. 2. We, social media humans, have romanticized what “snowed in” means. And part of that romantic scene is food. Comfort food.

Social Media says a snowstorm is this: A fire, hot cocoa, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, a good book, perfect lighting, a significant other you snuggle up with for the entire duration of the storm. Your toes tucked neatly under a white throw blanket from Pottery Barn. 

In actuality “snowed in” means, not brushing your teeth, staying in mismatched sweats that usually involve some paraphernalia from college. Refusing to even redo the same messy bun you slept in. Fighting with your significant other on whether you should start a new Netflix serious or just binge watch whatever marathon is on E. Eating carb after carb in between episode after episode. Checking social media to see if you’re friends are doing anything cooler than you are and napping on and off for 18 hours straight. And every time you do wake up from a nap you say, I don’t know why I’m so tired.

Less than glamourous.

Since I was sick this weekend I actually felt at an advantage. I literally needed a snow day more than anything. Because of that I didn’t romanticize it. Sure I loved a full day home with my hubby but I didn’t need the embellishments. The food, the alcohol, the desserts.

I actually took snowstorm Jonas as an excuse to detox. I had let myself go in the past couple weeks. Let the scale creep up about 3-4 pounds which on an under 5 foot frame is a lot. (short girls know the deal)

I woke up, took some DayQuil and proceeded to clear all the junk food out of our pantry. We actually still had Halloween candy! (Super hypocritical as I wrote a post about what to do with Halloween candy!) I put it all in one box, walked it up to my husbands office space and said hide this. Thanks bye.

Then I made a smoothie. Something I’m not that into. I like eating, not drinking meals but it was actually what I needed. I needed a reminder to stop and make myself meals. Not just run out the door with 50 million things in my hand, already answering emails and a protein bar for breakfast. I felt good after breakfast, already detoxing my body and my home.

But it stopped at the smoothie. A couple hours later I mindlessly ate blue corn Tostitos with Hummus, walked to Dunkin Donuts up the street with my husband at 11 pm for a Medium Dunkachino and ended the snow day watching Blacklist & eating granola. Not bad/not good either.

The point is we glamorize everything. Especially any events that have to do with food. And even though we had all the time in the world on Saturday to cook & savor our meals, I’m sure many of our food choices were high in sugar and/or fat, eaten on the couch with little concern as to what was actually being ingested. That my friends, we need to change.

Let’s actually try to romanticize our meals. Actually romanticize our snow days. Twizzlers & Oreos seems like the route to go but it’s actually what makes our snow days a bad date. One we can’t wait to be over.

That’s my simple snowstorm observation & something I can definitely work on! And for that reason, I can’t wait to be snowed in again. A chance for a do-over snow day. And this time…maybe the snowstorm will come on a work day 😉

Thanks for the insight, Jonas:)

Here’s Nico…during his first snowstorm:) I mean, why not use this picture in my post 😉