Full Belly Disclosure, Or, Loving Food the Right Way

So, something I thought about for a good while and decided to share since I’m a firm believer in honesty. I don’t want to give the impression that I eat all this with no repercussions. That and I think of Paula Deen and other celebrity chefs who are under fire about promoting food that’s delicious, but maybe not the best for us. It’s a complicated issue, just as it is for restaurants, whose job is to make food delicious. No, one is holding us at gunpoint to eat Gooey Butter cakes, or Big Macs, or HUGE sodas, soft drinks, or sweetened teas.

On the other hand, you do have to do a bit of work to figure out what you should be eating. Read labels, ask questions. Yet many people don’t, they don’t hold themselves responsible, and they should. That’s why children can’t smoke, or drink alcohol, or gamble, but adults can. It’s called being able to determine what’s best for you. And granted sometimes it’s hard, and granted, having a family can be more difficult to make better choices. It may not be easy, but it’s necessary.

In my case, I’ve been heavy just about my whole life. I’m a sedentary person by nature; I love to read and paint. I’m a huge klutz so physical activity was never my forte. I really don’t drink soda, and now when I do it’s diet, I don’t really eat junk food, and eat a mostly vegetarian diet during the week. On the weekend I loosen up a little but mainly don’t consume anything ridiculous (regularly). I ate healthy foods, yet was heavy. It’s affecting my health in a small way, but it’s only a matter of time before other issues pop up.

I decided a couple of years ago to get the ball rolling on making better choices for myself because only I can do that for myself. I’ve gone to the doctor and am working on my health issues, which are mainly the result of being heavy. I need to lose some weight to see improvements. 

So, now I walk a lot, I take the stairs more often, and I recently joined a gym. I also decided to join Weight Watchers to help me figure out what I was eating, or not eating. So far I learned that that what I was eating was fine, but my portions were WAAY too large (see, this is called being educated!). I’m fairly savvy about healthy eating and what not, but thought eating lots to healthy food was the way to go. Not necessarily.

Since increasing my activity, and joining Weight Watchers in April, I’ve lost 15 lbs, and 10 more previously (5 on my own and 5 after the cruise, strangely enough. Seasickness will do that I guess).

What I’m trying to say is that as an adult I have to make my own choices. I will reap what I sow in terms of my choices. I have chosen to eat healthier overall, but I still love food, and will continue to do so. I just won’t eat A LOT of it. What I really like about Weight Watchers is I can choose to eat whatever I want, but I have to keep track of what I eat, and how much. To me it’s like my bank account; I don’t have infinite dollars (I wish!), why should I have infinite calories?

So, I’d like to write about the fun stuff I eat, as well as what I eat the other days. To show that, you can love food and not cause harm to your health. You can also be healthy and not eat rabbit food (but seriously, fruits and vegetables are really important!!)

The key is moderation, really, truly. Sometimes that isn’t easy. In America, we have a penchant for “more is better,” and that doesn’t always translate well. For some, none is better than some, and I understand that (which is why bread in my house is highly regulated J). But, I think many of us have to learn to love food, but not to an extreme.

I want to love food, but not have it kill me, or cause damage. I want to enjoy my life and be happy, but also be around long enough to enjoy the ride, to enjoy my friends and family for many, many years. Perhaps it’ll inspire you to really think about something like this, to think about your food, where it comes from, and how much you really need. How, like with physical activity, if you don’t use it you lose it.

If anything else, I’m not trying to convince you that what I post is not what I eat every day, and you probably shouldn’t either. This is me being honest, and hopefully it is appreciated.

I’ll sprinkle in some of the foods I make that I eat during the work week, but first, I really have to highlight the incredible concoction, the Colombian hot dog. Yes, even these can be included in a healthy diet as a "sometimes" food, not an "always" food.

Until then, mangia!