I had a comment from CJ the other day that sparked some thinking for me. She said:
“I love the variety of food you eat. It sounds good and healthy without any restriction whatsoever. Great way to eat healthy :)”
I try to have a lot of variety in my diet. I don’t like to get bored with what I am eating because that just makes me want to eat more. I want to feel satisfied with what I am eating. And I never want to feel like I am missing out on something because I believe those feelings lead to overeating later.
What really caught my attention was, “without any restriction whatsoever.” This really got me thinking (in a good way)!
What do you think when you see my food choices throughout the week? I’ve had comments from people saying that I snack too much or that they don’t eat certain foods that I’m eating for various reasons. All comments are constructive, don’t get me wrong, as that’s not where I’m going with this. But these comments make me wonder, should I be restricting the foods that I’m eating?
My favorite part about Weight Watchers is that I can eat any and all foods. Well, except for maybe the Baconator Triple from Wendy’s because it would leave me with a mere 1 point left for the day. But who wants to eat that anyway? The fact is, I can eat anything that I want to- in moderation. The key is moderation.
Yes, I eat ice cream just about every single day. I have dessert every single night. I eat things like pizza and tacos, on occasion. The important part is- on occasion. Once in a while. Not every night. Everything in moderation. A serving size of ice cream once a day is not what got me fat. It was 3 serving sizes piled up in a cereal bowl and topped with hot fudge and caramel that helped me get fat. It was not two slices of pizza made with lean meat that got me fat. It was 4 slices of meat lovers pizza, breadsticks and 2 glasses of regular soda topped off with a turtle sundae that got me fat. I can eat the foods that many ban from their diets and still lose weight because I do so in moderation.
I don’t want to attach emotions to foods. I don’t want to think of some foods as good and other foods as bad. I know that many foods are better for me than others, but I don’t want to think about foods as being evil or as my enemies. I want to learn to have a healthy relationship with food. And for me, that means allowing myself to eat whatever foods I want- in moderation.
After all, this is about building a sustainable and healthy lifestyle. When the weight loss part of this journey is over, I know that I will spend the rest of my life working on maintaining my weight. I can honestly say that I would be very happy eating this way for the rest of my life. This is sustainable. I truly feel that I am building a healthier lifestyle for myself.
What are your thoughts? Do you have certain foods that you restrict from your diet? Do you believe in restrictions?
