How to Take Back Your Day After a Bad Start: Recovering from Food Mistakes (Even If It’s 9 AM)

How to Take Back Your Day After a Bad Start: Recovering from Food Mistakes (Even If It’s 9 AM)




How to Take Back Your Day After a Bad Start: Recovering from Food Mistakes (Even If It’s 9 AM)

What You Need to Know to Recover from Food Mistakes and Reset Your Day

  • A single food mistake doesn’t define your day. One indulgent meal is just a moment in time—it doesn’t derail your progress unless you let it.
  • Hydration, movement, and mindfulness are your go-to tools. Drink water to reduce bloating, take a short walk to improve digestion and boost your mood, and try mindful breathing to reset your mind.
  • Shift your self-talk. Practice compassion and remind yourself: “I make balanced choices more often than not.” This mindset reset helps you stop food guilt spirals in their tracks.
  • Plan balanced meals moving forward. Focus on protein and fiber to stabilize blood sugar, keep hunger in check, and prevent the urge to binge later.
  • Every choice is a chance to start fresh. Your next meal isn’t a punishment—it’s an opportunity to nourish yourself and feel good again. You don’t need perfection to have a great day, just small pivots toward better choices.

What You Need to Know to Recover from Food Mistakes and Reset Your Day

  • A single food mistake doesn’t define your day. One indulgent meal is just a moment in time—it doesn’t derail your progress unless you let it.
  • Hydration, movement, and mindfulness are your go-to tools. Drink water to reduce bloating, take a short walk to improve digestion and boost your mood, and try mindful breathing to reset your mind.
  • Shift your self-talk. Practice compassion and remind yourself: “I make balanced choices more often than not.” This mindset reset helps you stop food guilt spirals in their tracks.
  • Plan balanced meals moving forward. Focus on protein and fiber to stabilize blood sugar, keep hunger in check, and prevent the urge to binge later.
  • Every choice is a chance to start fresh. Your next meal isn’t a punishment—it’s an opportunity to nourish yourself and feel good again. You don’t need perfection to have a great day, just small pivots toward better choices.

This morning, I had plans—big ones. Start the day off right, feel like a wellness goddess. But then I had what felt like a genius idea: hack a kimchi pancake recipe using a complete pancake mix. Spoiler: it was a genius plan… until it wasn’t. Delicious? Absolutely. But the aftermath? Let’s just say my stomach wasn’t the only part of me that wasn’t impressed.

With gastric bypass,my stomach is egg-sized—large egg, to be exact. But after that pancake?It felt like I swallowed an ostrich egg whole. Not ideal for a fresh start to a beautiful day. And it’s not just my stomach—it’s my brain, too. Cue the mental spiral: Why did I do this? What’s wrong with me? Guess I’ll just burn the whole day to the ground. Classic.

But here’s where I stop myself: One bad food choice doesn’t own my day unless I let it. It’s a blip, not a label. Recovering from food mistakes is about realizing that every moment is a chance to reset.

This is where self-compassion kicks in. Instead of spiralling, I try really hard to shift my inner dialogue: What’s the next best thing I can do? Tiny pivots add up. Whether it’s drinking some water, moving my body or planning a balanced meal, these small choices make all the difference. Resetting isn’t about perfection—it’s about moving forward with kindness.

Sure, I’m not thrilled with how I started this morning, but the day isn’t over. I still get to decide how the rest of it plays out. So, let’s dive into how I’m turning this around—no sad salads in sight.

Step 1: Water, Please.

So, the first thing I’m doing is filling up my favorite water bottle and hitting the aqua like a dehydrated houseplant in August. Water is like the Ctrl+Z of food choices —a glass or two gets digestion moving and helps with that too-full feeling. I like mine ice-cold, but there’s no right or wrong here. If room temp is your thing, go for it. Science says both work—what matters is just getting it in.

The general advice? Aim forabout 2.7 liters (91 ounces) a day for women. But really, listen to your body: they do say if you’re thirsty, you are already dehydrated, so I try and sip, sip, sip all day. If your pee’s light yellow, you’re doing great. Oh, and to avoid stumbling out of bed for bathroom trips at 2 AM,cut off the water 2-3 hours before bed. A little won’t hurt, but guzzling? Not the best move for uninterrupted sleep.

And hey, if you’re feeling fancy, throw in a slice of lemon or cucumber—it’s refreshing and helps with bloating. Hydration, but make it bougie.

Step 2: Move, But Make It Fun

Okay, so here’s what I did: I grabbed my Meta Oculusand fired up the Supernatural Go Far app for a 20-minute workout. If you haven’t heard me rave about it yet, you can check out more about my Oculus and Supernatural journey here. I love this thing because it totally gamifies movement. One minute I’m boxing to the beat on a cliffside in New Zealand, the next I’m flowing under a cathedral sky in Iceland. The coaching? Shout-out to Leanne Pedante—she has a way of making it feel like she’s speaking right to me with every cue. It’s a full-body reset wrapped up in fun.

Now, if you don’t have a VR setup (mine was a COVID splurge that I definitely don’t regret), don’t sweat it. A quick 10-minute walk around the block works wonders, too. You don’t need bells and whistles to shake off that heavy feeling—just a little movement to clear your head and get the blood flowing. Bonus points if you can catch some sunshine along the way.

Step 3: Tap It Out

Despite moving my body, that uncomfortable, heavy feeling stuck with me—and right on cue, the negative self-talk started creeping  in. You know the kind: Why did I eat that? What’s wrong with me? I always mess up like this. Now the whole day is ruined. It’s like once the spiral starts, it picks up speed, dragging me deeper into thoughts I know aren’t helpful but somehow feel impossible to stop.

But that’s exactly why I turn to tapping when this happens. I’ve realized that trying to “think my way out” of these thoughts only makes them louder. Tapping interrupts the loop without forcing me to argue with myself. I tap gently on points like the side of my hand, beside my eyes, under my collarbone, breathing slowly with each tap—inhale, tap, exhale, tap. I don’t think about anything else while I do it; I just let the rhythm of tapping and breathing settle my nervous system.

When I do this, it feels like the noise in my brain finally turns down to a manageable volume. That wave of guilt and shame that used to knock me over? It passes. I can see it for what it is: just a moment, not a defining event. And suddenly, I’m no longer stuck in that all-or-nothing thinking where one bad choice ruins everything.

After tapping, my self-talk isn’t all rainbows, but it shifts from, ‘Why the hell did I do that? Again? Guess today’s toast,’ to, ‘Wait—maybe not. I’ve handled worse than one rogue pancake. Moving on.'”

An incredible teacher of this practice is Gene Monterastelli, who breaks down tapping so anyone can use it. I first met Gene through the charity I work for, and he led our team through several sessions, showing us how tapping could help us stay grounded. One of my favorite moments was watching Gene guide over 200 Grade 12 students in rural Kenya through a tapping session over Zoom. They projected him on a giant screen at a student conference, and within minutes, you could see the shift in their energy—they looked more calm and present. That’s the beauty of tapping: it’s simple, fast, and it works.

If you want to try it for yourself, I highly recommend checking out Gene’s “Learn to Tap” video. It’s one of those tools that feels so easy, but once you try it, you’ll wonder how you managed without it. I’ll also be writing more about tapping in future posts, so stay tuned! Whether it’s food guilt or just a tough day, tapping helps me reset without judgment—and it might just do the same for you.

And The Final Step…

Here’s where I used to mess up: I’d think, Better skip the next meal to make up for it. Spoiler: that never works. It just leaves you hangry and nose-diving into a snack drawer by 4 PM.  So, resist the urge to over-restrict. Skipping meals may sound like a quick fix, but trust me—it backfires every time. You’ll end uphangry and more likely to binge by the time dinner rolls around. The goal here isbalance, not punishment. A great way to stay on track is to plan the rest of your day with snacks and meals that feel satisfying but not heavy.

Protein and fiber?They’re the real MVPs. They keep blood sugar steady and help you avoid those snacky cravings later.Need ideas? I share a lot of great recipes on this site. 🙂 Keep it simple: agrilled chicken wrap with some hummus and veggies,Greek yogurt topped with fresh fruit, or aveggie-packed omelet that gives you protein without dragging you down. These meals strike the perfect middle ground—they fuel you without feeling restrictive. And here’s a secret: when you eat food that feels goodand tastes good, it’s way easier to keep moving in the right direction.

What I’m Going to Do Now

Okay… after writing this out I realize that I’ve got the right plan in place where  I can get over this pancake debacle. It’s easy to get caught up in guilt, but here’s the truth: every single moment is a chance to pivot. Hydration, movement, and self-compassion are the keys to a quick reset. And the next meal? That’s not a punishment—it’s just the next step.

So, what I’m going to do now is simple: let go of the guilt and take back control. I’ll start with water, get moving, tap it out and plan a balanced meal, and most importantly, give myself permission to move forward. There’s no need for a do-over tomorrow—every meal is a fresh start. The best part? O know that the more I (and you) practice this reset strategy, the easier it becomes. And hey, even if I trip again later today, I know exactly what to do next.