Food!!!

I promised I would write a blog about my journey with food and it is hard one to write because I do not believe that there is one solid food path that suits everyone. I firmly believe that we need to adapt how we to our personalities and lifestyle. Every person experiences life differently an as such have different likes and dislikes. Foods worth the sacrifice of extra calories to me would be ridiculous to some and vice versa.

  I grew up on meat and potatoes and the typical processed fare of the 1980's such fruit loops Kraft Dinner and a nostalgic favourite of mine cheese whiz. I was however fortunate to have spent a lot of time with my grandmother who knew the old ways of preparing everything from scratch. In the fall we would make pies, can everything from her crazy huge garden, make jam you name it we did it bread, pizza dough the list could go on all day. So while I was corrupted by chicken tonight
commercials and that silly rabbit pimping out trix to kids I still had an understanding of real food.

  At 15 I became a Vegetarian it probably took me 15 years to really design a proper eating regiment because I was so far corrupted by crap food. I have been on weight watchers felt restricted and angry counting their stupid fucking points excuse my language but I'll always be bitter over the day I wanted porridge and I had already consumed too many points! I was on south beach it was effective till I resumed my love affair with bread. I followed the Canada's Food and I've had a nutritionist. I have also read hundred of books and my weight has yo yo'd from pudgy, thin and obese.

  Two things happened when I had Violet and realized that in my opinion I was a fat cow 1. I realized I needed to break the chain because I loved this little person so much I would die if she ever felt this bad about herself. 2. I needed to be fit and healthy to be the parent I wanted to be to her. I never wanted to be the parent that was to tired and out of shape to keep up or the parent so obsessed about food that it was inherited by the child.

  I needed to completely change my eating habits as well as my ideas about dieting. I did two I read naturally thin by Bethenny Frankel and 2 read everything I could about properly nourishing my body.
Bethenny's first rule is your diet is bank account that like your fiscal budget food needs to be viewed in terms of its worth to you. If you overspend eventually you need to make up for it. An example from my life is I want dessert every night well almost. I know a dessert ranges from 100-500 calories which could blow a whole day of workouts. However I am not a snacker so for me it evens out. If I know I am eating out instead of restricting myself to something on the menu that is dissatisfying and restrictive I can choose to eat very carefully the day before and after to balance it out. It is a budget I find this way of viewing my eating very helpful, sometimes it is an extra workout or a day without dessert but I never feel guilty about indulging I think that is key.

   Guilt about enjoying the foods we love makes us fatter than the food. We feel that we blow our diet because of a piece of cake and voila Pandora's box is open and so our fridge become and all you can eat buffet. There are 10 rules in her book and I love them all. Another I love is taste everything eat nothing by this she means that a lot of the time we can be satisfied with bite or two instead of the whole thing. There is a point of diminishing returns in her own words she says that moment the stops tasting as good as the first bit you stop.

   In addition to following Bethenny's Rules I also cut out processed foods this way extremely difficult. I keep fine tuning my eating always in search of the healthiest way to prepare delicious foods that keep me satisfied. The reality is that no one is going to stick to an eating plan where they feel unsatisfied with everything they eat. I learned that I quite enjoy fermented foods and drinks like kraut, Kombucha, Kefir etc... I also really enjoy eating now I google different recipes all the time. I keep it exciting. For me a diet of the same 5 healthy dished does not work. I need variety food must be an experience for me. In future blogs I will focus on how I made classic dishes like pizza much  healthier, how to make yogurt, kombucha and ferment foods and many other topics. Please feel free to ask questions and suggest topics that you would like me to cover I am up for researching things because I am always eager to learn more.