My Relationship With Food

When I was young my family did not have a lot of money.  My mom was and still is a master at stretching a dollar.  She can turn $20 into meals for a month.  Her ability never ceases to amaze me.  And the things that she makes are often very healthy. 

You would think that this would have rubbed off on me, nope.  Not even kinda.  I go to the grocery store and my bill is at least $100 and I go home with nothing to eat, and no clue how to make anything out of what I have.  I must say, since starting with Beachbody my eating habits are getting better and my grocery bill is getting lower. 

Prior to Beachbody I was a processed food junkie.  If it had artificial colors and flavors I was eating it.  Some meals when I was in high school were color coded.  I would have nacho cheese Doritos, orange hostess cupcakes, and an orange soda.  Yep, I was a health nut!  In my 20’s I was no better.  I would buy whatever was cheap, easy, and quick.  By the time I thought to eat, I was HUNGRY!  I had to have food NOW!  There was no time to prep or cook.  And heaven forbid I actual plan ahead. 

Now I am able to plan my meals a little bit better, not great but I am making progress.  I am able to at least prep veggies and meat at the beginning of the week and it is ready to do something with when I get hungry.  Having those healthy food options available in the fridge helps me to stay focused on my goal of getting healthy. 

Luckily I wasn’t around my dad long enough to be too affected by his rule of CLEAN YOUR PLATE.  And my mom always taught me that you don’t have to eat everything on your plate.  It is ok to have leftovers.  Unfortunately when I started buying my own food I felt that I needed to eat it all.  I hate having leftovers because I won’t eat them.  I don’t know why but I worry that the food will go bad even if it is in the fridge.  I may forget how long it has been in there and I may get sick.  Crazy, I know. 

But it created in me the need to eat everything that I prepared.  This is not a great thing when you prep a pound of pasta at a time.  I could eat it, and I would eat it.  And then I weighed 227 pounds.  

Now I am using Beachbody’s 21 Day Fix Program that is teaching me about portion control and proper portion size.  The first time I made pasta I was “surprised” to learn that a pound of pasta was not the proper portion.  My little yellow portion control container held much much less.  But guess what? When I paired that with veggies it was enough!  Go figure. 

The moral to the story, no matter what your childhood was like you can change your relationship with food.  I am making changes all the time, mostly for the better.  I fall into old habits sometimes and I have to snap myself back before I go too far down the rabbit hole.  The support that Beachbody and my coach have given me has helped me to learn new habits and gain better control over my eating. 

Take a minute and think about your relationship with food.  What is good about it?  What could use some improvement?  What would you like help changing?  What feels hopeless?  Trust me, I have felt hopeless, but there is always hope.  There is always another chance to make a better choice.  :o)