I usually start my day with some motivational reading and a power walk with my favorite girl, my yellow lab, Hannah. This is how I get my “Me time” in. I use this time alone to get my day started, think about what I need to get done and how to balance my life, but more importantly on what I will eat because I need to make sure that 90 percent of my daily intake is good nutritious foods and this only happens for me when it is planned out and prepared.
As I started out on my hour power walk today I began to think about what the term NORMAL EATING means to me. Growing up as a fat kid, obese teen and then as an adult, normal eating for me was eating the junkie, fattening high calorie foods, as that was a steady diet on a daily basis. My weight was never normal and neither was my eating. Healthy foods were limited and my taste buds craved sugar and fats every meal.
Eating was what I lived for and as I escalated from eating so poorly it was only natural that Dieting/Diets were part of my life at an early age. Diets taught me how to restrict my food, not to eat certain foods. Diets taught me that certain foods were taboo and that if I every ate them again I was a sinner. Dieting then became a normal way of eating. So, I really had a good grasp on healthy eating and I really never learned how to eat NORMAL.
As I got fatter and my weight escalated to over 300 pounds I was so far removed from eating normal that I never knew such a lifestyle existed and that some people actually ate balanced foods on a daily basis. I went from eating thousands of calories a day as a binge eater to a serial dieter starving most of the time. So, I pose the question to all of you....what is NORMAL EATING? For me, today, normal eating is understanding and realizing that first and foremost FOOD is FUEL for my body. There are no foods off limit, only the amounts I eat. I have a rule that 90 percent of my daily calorie intake is GOOD/HEALTHTY/NUTRITIOUS FOOD.
I have come to terms with my body, size and shape and I actually like the way I look. I realize that I am not perfect and for me that works, I no longer let food and un-normal eating control me, I have the power to control what I eat, when I eat it and how much I eat.
Unfortunately, a "normal" American idea of eating is not healthy. It is laden with binging on our favorite foods, eating at restaurants serving portions 3 times what we should be eating, and then feeling very guilty about it all. I am trying to redefine my idea of normal eating. For today, normal eating for me means eating just until satisfied and not a bite more. It means eating nutritiously dense healthy foods most of the time (I like your 90% rule). It means not stuffing my face with food when I am angry or lonely...that's not "normal" eating. Eating food for survival, that is normal eating. I won't always be able to stick to it, but I know I can stick to this today.
ReplyDeleteI like Chris' statement, "eating food for survival, that is normal eating." Well said, Chris! Check out my blog at Daily FitTip4U!
ReplyDelete