Reflections: On Food

My jumping off point came in 2016 {look at that! I didn't really consider that I started this exactly 10 years ago}, so apparently I really did kick off my 30s with this mindset shift. My cousin told me about a group called Balance 365 (it had a different name then) about making habit changes, working on your body positivity, and taking good care of your body. It clicked for me. THE thing that shifted everything for me was their advice to make a habit so small that you can achieve it 90-100% of the time as soon as you begin it. Whoa! Is it really worth starting that small? What's the point if I can't prove myself? What if there is nothing to show for my efforts? But I jumped in. My first habit? Eat protein at breakfast every day. I was a cereal-for-breakfast kind of girl. And often, would eat cereal before bed at night too! When I was working on campus at SWBTS (in my 20s), around 10 am, everyday I would find myself hungry and often going to the on-campus coffee shop for a sugary, iced coffee drink. This was normal. When I made the change to protein at breakfast I found *gasp* I didn't really notice hunger until lunch time. This was especially helpful because I was nursing babies, raising and chasing three littles ones, pregnant, and needed energy during these years and was tired of feeling hungry all the time!  

After I got the protein habit down, I decided to try another habit from their list: eat 3-4 meals a day. This is challenging when you have kids and you've been taught that snacking is good/ok/even healthy! {As an aside, if you have a different kind of body that requires snacking for some reason or other, I am not saying you should do what I did. I'm just sharing what I found that made me feel best.} As I eliminated snacking from my days, I realized that I was nice and hungry at mealtimes. I noticed that my body actually felt better, instead of sluggish, because it wasn't always processing food. It had time to perform other functions. I lost some weight when I began this process and I was happy about that. But I got pregnant again after that, and ultimately this habit didn't end up being about weight loss for me, it was a matter of listening to my body's cues and realizing that I functioned better throughout my day, when I avoided snacking most of the time {aka 90-100%}. 

With just these two main habits, maintaining my weight became a non-issue for me as my 30s continued. Which was a big deal, because prior to this point in my life, I was always afraid of "going back" so I felt like I had to exert a lot of control over every food choice OR just fall off the wagon completely and gain weight back and feel out of control completely. These two habits gave me so much freedom and added joy back into my life when it came to food. I also needed it to be a non-issue because with four young kids, homeschooling, teaching piano lessons, and just the life of a young mother, I DID NOT have the capacity to add to my mental load: constant food choices. I needed to free up my mind to focus on my daily tasks and these two foundational habits did that for me. 

A few months ago I finally felt ready to add in something new -- less sugar. I knew it would be my hardest work yet. My whole life, I've loved sweets. My whole life, I've never gone without sugar. I've seen research, I've read articles, I've heard people talk about the detriments of sugar. I've justified myself "it can't be that bad"; "other people are eating it", "what about enjoying my life?!?", etc. I needed to assess the best way of attack. I knew I didn't have it in me to quit completely, and I knew that was not a long-lasting solution for me. To be honest, I'm still figuring this one out. But I knew there were 2 main issues I needed to address: my daily coffee + creamer and my dinner after dessert. This is a work in progress, but it may be one of the most important ones I get a handle on. And as I look back over what I accomplished in the past 10 years, I know I can make progress in this area too! 

These are my big rocks. It is extremely hard for me to leave the post like this because there are many other little things that I have practiced, tried, experimented with along the way and they've all taught me and assisted me in moving forward to better health. But if I get bogged down in the minutiae of each detail, this post will get way too long! But if any of this sparks your interest, I'd definitely be down to chat because I believe the way we eat greatly impacts our lives. 

To food... it's delicious! :D