The
other day my friend Julio said something to me that just stuck in my mind. He
said ever so casually and slightly to peer pressure me into having tacos “food
is best eaten without guilt.” This made me think about my relationship with
food through the years.
Like most people, I have been a victim of the yo-yo diet throughout the years and practiced the not so pretty art of calorie restriction and food deprivation. Obviously, my mindset was not healthy and food was the enemy. With food as the enemy, I would have fat free this and sugar free that; I would sustain myself off of as little calories as humanly possible. If I ate something “bad”, I would shame myself and starve and burn it off with a workout. I would work myself into a calorie deficit. As you all can imagine, I was a treat and by treat, I mean grade A bitch. But what I failed to understand was that in treating food as the enemy, I was depriving my body of the nutrition and calories I need to just live. Did the weight come off? Sure, it did for awhile but that weight loss was not sustainable. As soon as I reached my goal, I would start eating again and my body latched onto those calories and fat onto my tiny frame. But this is what happens after your body goes into survival mode.
Like most people, I have been a victim of the yo-yo diet throughout the years and practiced the not so pretty art of calorie restriction and food deprivation. Obviously, my mindset was not healthy and food was the enemy. With food as the enemy, I would have fat free this and sugar free that; I would sustain myself off of as little calories as humanly possible. If I ate something “bad”, I would shame myself and starve and burn it off with a workout. I would work myself into a calorie deficit. As you all can imagine, I was a treat and by treat, I mean grade A bitch. But what I failed to understand was that in treating food as the enemy, I was depriving my body of the nutrition and calories I need to just live. Did the weight come off? Sure, it did for awhile but that weight loss was not sustainable. As soon as I reached my goal, I would start eating again and my body latched onto those calories and fat onto my tiny frame. But this is what happens after your body goes into survival mode.
It
took me forever to realize that food isn’t the enemy. Once I started to become educated on proper
training and working out regularly, I started to understand that in order to
see progress and get the kind of toning I want then I have to feed my body. Not
only did that mean I would have to eat, it meant I had to eat the right amount of calories with the right
nutrition. Food isn’t the enemy; food is the determinant of what kind of body
you are going to have. Don’t eat enough food, your body withers to nothing. Eat
too much food and/ or the wrong kind of foods you blow up and become sick with
diabetes and other chronic diseases associated with obesity; eat crap, you feel
like crap. Eat healthy, feel healthy.
Once I reconciled this in my brain, it became easier to make the right decisions with food. I started giving my body nutrient dense foods and products (I cannot preach the gospel of Shakeology loud enough) and the greasy, sweet, junky foods just generally became less appealing. And I’m not saying that I never want those things because I totally scarfed down 5 tacos (best tacos in Phoenix too), a giant pretzel, and some whiskey last night but the difference is that because I eat so clean in my everyday life that occasional splurges don’t make me feel so guilty. I think that in itself is a tiny miracle.
Once I reconciled this in my brain, it became easier to make the right decisions with food. I started giving my body nutrient dense foods and products (I cannot preach the gospel of Shakeology loud enough) and the greasy, sweet, junky foods just generally became less appealing. And I’m not saying that I never want those things because I totally scarfed down 5 tacos (best tacos in Phoenix too), a giant pretzel, and some whiskey last night but the difference is that because I eat so clean in my everyday life that occasional splurges don’t make me feel so guilty. I think that in itself is a tiny miracle.
Food is not the enemy; it’s the determinant of what
kind of body you are going to have and you are going to feel. So what kind of
relationship with food do you have?
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