Today has been a good food day! Porridge and honey in the morning. A home made oaty, seed filled bar for a snack and that delicious salad I prepared yesterday but didn't get to eat.
For dinner tonight we had Mango, Avocado and Chicken Salad from Joe Wick's book The Fat-Loss plan. Now I can be a little lazy with my cooking, I didn't bash the chicken, I bought pre-chopped mango and I just used a basic salad bag instead of chopping a baby gem lettuce. However, it was still delicious, and the lime and chilli gave it a bit of a kick. It was a really fresh, zesty, tangy and most of all healthy.
Sometimes I think we see diets as a punishment, we
have to eat certain foods, we
can't eat foods we consider a treat. However, I try to remind myself that this food is
good for my body, in fact this is actually a treat for my body. I am providing it with the goodness and nutrients it needs. That fresh, zingy dinner has made me feel good and I feel like I am on track with my goals.
I have tried in the past few months to think about how I felt after I ate food I considered a treat but was bad for me. One consistent feeling is the feeling of guilt - guilt that I have let myself down. I often a bit greasy after eating unhealthy food, I may get a bit of a breakout on my skin and I usually feel incredibly thirsty and retain a lot of water. So that 10-20 mins of enjoyment usually leads to a few hours worth of negative feelings. Kate Moss was once quoted as saying nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. I'm not sure I 100% agree with that, but I do ask myself is this worth being fat for? The majority of the time the answer is no, actually the cake / biscuit / takeaway / crisps /sugary drink doesn't actually taste that good. Sometimes I think I eat them because I tell myself that I think it should taste nice and I some how block out that they are not that great. There are other times that the answer is yes, yes this tastes damn good! Like my gin and tonic cake - that is worth it! Then I ask myself how can I earn this? Now I have started using MyFitnessPal, I can earn my treats with exercise, so I can remove some of the guilt. It is interesting and an eye opener to see just how much exercise you have to do to earn the calories.
It is my husbands birthday tomorrow and we were going to get takeaway. However, I have suggested I make him homemade chicken kebabs to given him a tasty birthday meal we can enjoy, but we are not eating processed unhealthy food that after we have overeaten we would talk about how we feel guilty about our over indulgence. Instead, we will talk about how we enjoyed the food, it was fresher and healthier and how we feel good about not eating rubbish.
Do you see healthy food as reward?
