The question I'm asked the most: What do you eat? My answer is always, "FOOD". I still enjoy it, heck, I'm human. It's normal to love and enjoy food. It's also normal to embark on a new lifestyle change and over think it. We worry too much about what we can't have, forgetting about all that we can. We tend to narrow our minds and ignore the horizon, never giving new foods a chance. There was a time when I thought I would never like broccoli or salmon. I experimented in the kitchen, cooking them many different ways until I learned to love them.
Now, I realize this may not sound real to you, but trust me friends, it is. I was a professional "bad food" eater. If it was sure to clog my arteries, I loved it. Heck--I lived on it for a long time! It's what put me well over six hundred pounds. And I must be honest here, from time to time, I still enjoy these "bad" foods. However, the difference is, I control them now. For instance, I had some really good peanut oil fries at a local festival recently. They were darn good too, but that was a treat, a reward. Remember, this is a journey about making new choices and practicing moderation not about torturing yourself.
If I could offer any advice, to help you get started, it would be to widen your food horizons right now. Spend some time researching and learning about all the healthy foods we have available to us and keep an open mind.
It's something even I continue to work at. I remember, in the beginning, I was shocked to learn that all the things I thought were good for me, like low fat this and that or fat free, no sugar etc, were actually not. And that the foods I thought were bad, like eggs, peanut butters , bacon, dark chocolate and coffee, had many healthy benefits.
My second piece of advice: Do not expect your love of food to completely go away. Your relationship with food will live on and that's OK. But what you need to understand now is how to build yourself new boundaries within that relationship. I still love pizza. I still have a burger once in a while, but man oh man, that fresh salmon I had for dinner yesterday was DA bomb!!!!!!
I love chocolate milk. In fact, if you ask me, it's hands down my biggest food addiction. I crave it. I think about it more than I should. Sometimes, when I walk into a store, and I see a new brand I've never had before, my mouth begins to water. My mind tells me, "Dan, you have to have it. You have to try it because it may not be here next time you come in." I know it sounds crazy, but it truly is an addiction. The difference is, now, I know it's my weak point. Sure, sometimes I indulge. Why? Because allowing myself to have that relationship, on my terms, is far healthier emotionally then trying to never have what I know I love! What I know I cannot say no to forever. So, once in a while, I reach way into the back of the freezer and get the coldest freshest one. And I can honestly say, there is no such thing as bad chocolate milk! There is only awesome chocolate milk and good chocolate milk but never bad chocolate milk. I haven't found one I didn't like, yet. (Reality check--can you hear my addiction in the words I'm writing? I can.)
So, now that I've confessed my guilty pleasure, what's yours? What is the one food item that you crave and love the most? Let's build some new boundaries--together!
Dan Hawthorne
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