My Contentious Relationship With Food

My love affair with food is a contentious one. Some days I wake up craving something sinful—like a bleu cheese burger with bacon and grilled mushrooms—while others I find that I am quite happy shying away from all things high fat, high cholesterol, and high trouble in favor of no meat at all.

The thing about feeding the body is it's always sending you messages about what you want, not necessarily what you need, and how you respond to those cues is paramount to how well your lifestyle of healthy living will be tolerated by it and you.

On a daily basis I'm trying to make choices as to how I can not only continue to stay on track, but how I can find more foods that will stimulate my palate and excite me when I'm at the dinner table. It's something that I've found to be a struggle at times—particularly as a mommy-on-a-budget.

Every two weeks I sit down and plan all of my meals individually, deciding my menu based on what's both cost efficient and convenient and, despite my desire to be creative, I still end up with the same basic items from the grocery store—tofo, soy, and beans. And while I've been able to be creative with those ingredients, it's still a grind because I've gone from offering myself a world of options (options that included as much meat, dairy, and sugar as I liked) to a much more limited one.

That said, I don't regret the decision to make those changes one bit. I feel and look better than I ever have and the increases in energy, stamina, and confidence are a definite plus. But, even with all of those positives, I have to continually find ways to be well-disciplined so that bad habits don't overwhelm my good senses.

For instance, there are days where I don't have time to prepare breakfast or lunch prior to the start of the day. That often leads to incessant snacking, at least in my case, because I am, literally, hungry all the time. That hunger, I know, is as a result of the calories I'm burning even while sitting completely still. So, to appease that hunger, I might take a bite of a muffin here, a piece of chocolate there, or pile on the carbs in hopes that I will find satiation in a hurry—and I often don't.

Sugar and carbs simply doesn't cut it for me and eventually, at least in my case, I cave to doing what I should have done at the start—prepare a wholesome meal to eat.

Being healthy has a lot to do with being disciplined and the one isn't truly possible without the other.

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Do You Know What You're Eating?

Many people haven't the slightest idea how to read a nutritional label—ya know, that thing on the side of the box that lists 'servings', 'serving size', 'fat', etc? Well, that little box is your best supermarket friend because it gives you the facts about the item you're purchasing.

When making a decision to buy any item you haven't grown or raised yourself, it's important to take note of what exactly has gone into producing it and how said production makes that particular item good or bad for your overall health.

I typically examine three basic elements when reading a nutritional label:

1. Dietary Fiber (per serving): Fiber is your friend. I won't go into the medical benefits (find a great article about that here) of what it can do for you but, I can tell you this much, it certainly helps keep my body feeling toxin free. I tend to look for foods that offer 3 or more grams of fiber per serving, but the more the better. 
2. Fat content (per serving): Where fiber is your friend, bad fats (foods high in saturated and/or trans fats) are your enemy. Stay away from chips and other packaged snack items that are fried in peanut or vegetable oil. Even more, if you choose to indulge in said items, note the serving size—most potato chips are meant to be eaten 10-12 at a time. If you're eating half a bag of Lay's a day, you could be hurting yourself. 
3. Sodium (per serving): The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for sodium, per day, is 24-2500mg. If that sounds like a lot, it's not, that's about a teaspoon per day. If frozen dinners are a staple in your daily diet, there's a good chance you are well over that allowance after eating just one meal. Pay attention to this element the most as it's the easiest to go overboard on and the hardest to track. 

Other things worth taking a close look at on a label are sugar content, carbohydrates, and calories.

Too much sugar can put you on a fast track towards diabetes, bad carbohydrates (particularly the ones you glean through consumption of white rice, soda, and white bread) can lead to heart disease and weight gain, and too many calories will topple any healthy living plan. Try to keep your caloric intake reasonable and make sure that the majority of that intake comes from fresh, not processed, foods.

My general rule of thumb when carting it up at the grocery store is to buy fresh (organic if possible) foods made from lots of whole grains. I stay as far away from prepackaged dinners and meals as possible and focus on maximizing fiber intake with every purchase.

It's my way of telling my body 'thank you' for not breaking down on me in a pinch.

Good fuel typically results in good mileage where the body is concerned. Fill yours up with as much good stuff as possible and you'll be surprised at the difference it makes.

Related articles

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