Good morning everyone! How’s it going? I had a really good day yesterday – super busy but good! Started it off right with a chocolate peanut butter GM:
I’m sad to say that I think I may be getting tired of these…I was spoiled last week with the oatmeal pancakes and haven’t really wanted to look back! Still super tasty though 🙂 Work was incredibly busy, but I found time to take a picture of my $0.78 mangos:
Lunch was awesome! Started off with some red grapes (I hate the green ones!)
Some sliced mango:
And a bbq sandwich with about 1/3 cup of chopped smoked brisket, a chopped carrot, and 3 chopped mini sweet peppers:
It was amazing…spicy, sweet, and savory. You gotta love a meal like that! When I started on my lunch break walk it started raining, so I turned around and headed to Whole Foods instead. I came out with a bottle of water and a chocolate bar…you know, the essentials:
After work we dropped the dogs off at home and then went to go watch our friends Rebecca & Rhett’s little boy, Fielder, play his first T-Ball game. Sadly it was canceled, so we did the pizza dinner thing instead!
Two different signs with two different logos…interesting…
We all split a meat-lover’s pizza:
And a pepperoni one:
I had one slice of each before calling it quits, but definitely could have had more if I’d let myself! The crust was just OK, but the toppings and sauce were awesome. And let’s be honest: I don’t recall a pizza I didn’t like! I know as soon as I’m done writing this I’ll be dragging my happy butt to bed so I can get up and workout in the AM 🙂
Joy in Food
If y’all have read my “About Me” section, you know that I’ve been battling food and my relationship with it for almost 15 years now. That’s a really long time! And it’s been a long time coming that I’ve really, TRULY been able to take joy in food for the first time. I always LIKED food, but I think it’s a completely different thing to learn how to take joy in it. I’m happy to say that even though I still struggle with disordered thinking from time to time, my passion for food has been ever-growing and ever-changing, increasing and becoming stronger than I ever thought possible.
When I say I have a passion for food, I don’t mean I’m obsessed with it. What I mean is that I’ve found peace with thinking that food is bad for me, and have found that I love cooking, baking, and giving food. It’s not only a source of nourishment: it’s a creative outlet, a way to express to my love for my body and for others. Here are a couple of ways that I began to finally take joy in food in my life:
- Think realistically. ONE unhealthy meal will not make me fat. A series of unhealthy meals? Probably. But one? My body doesn’t respond that way to food…and neither does yours. If you are going to enjoy a more indulgent meal, then actually enJOY it! Take in the flavors, the textures, the aromas, the experience. And then get over it! Realistically one meal won’t make a difference, so it makes no sense to feel anguished because of ONE meal.
- Experiment. When I was in college I took a 3-semester class that had a lab in a real working kitchen. Through that I learned how to make mayonaisse, hollandaise, bechamel; I learned how to fry, I learned how to quickly handle a knife, I learned how to cook meat, and I learned how to cultivate my palate to understand how things went together. It wasn’t culinary school, but it was pretty close, and I loved it! It excited me to have found this new world of flavor and understanding of food, and through that I began to experiment. Experimenting with food makes every meal new, interesting, and never lets you get bored. And it helped me understand that food could be fun and didn’t have to be my enemy!
- Share the love. I love to bake. A LOT. And I do bake. A LOT. But I bake because I love to and I share that love and that food with my friends and co-workers. You don’t have to partake of every single thing you make…and sharing that with others is a great way to give something that no one else can. PLUS it gives the opportunity to cook and not have to eat it all…something that I struggled with for a really long time. I love that every week I get to take food to my workplace and bless others with it!
- Develop your own style. This goes right along with the “Experiment” point, but we are all different…celebrate that! Think about your passions: are you a vegetarian? Do you prefer red meat? Do you want to focus on sustainable resources? OR what about your dietary needs: are you allergic to anything? Do you have an ethnicity that you like to stay with? Developing your own style of cooking can be so freeing and open a world of creativity you never thought possible.
These are just a few of the ways that I’ve found joy with food and cooking in my life, and I am so thankful every day that I’ve been blessed with that love. It’s something I’ll never get tired of and will never want to stop doing!
thank you so much for making it all the way out!! 🙂
Coming from a very unhealthy look at food, this post has made me realize how far I have traveled. I embrace food now!
PS – Don’t be a green grape hater! 😉 It’s funny because I always thought I like the purple grapes better, but I recently purchased some green grapes and I love them!
wow almonds and sea salt with chocolate- that just blows my mind! and with pizza too- WOW!!!
all the fresh fruit looks lovely girl!
Awww I love this! I’ve learned to find joy in food and cooking too. There’s nothing like putting your heart and soul into something and seeing other’s love it, nothing in the world like it. And coming from a past of disordered eating, it’s even MORE amazing when you learn how amazing food is and the happiness that it can bring!
Awww I love this! I’ve learned to find joy in food and cooking too. There’s nothing like putting your heart and soul into something and seeing other’s love it, nothing in the world like it. And coming from a past of disordered eating, it’s even MORE amazing when you learn how amazing food is and the happiness that it can bring!
What a lovely post! I feel like as a society, we have truly lost the joy in cooking and eating. We’re always eating on-the-go, we’re always on some sort of diet, etc. But I believe that eating is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and it *should* be a joyful experience!
That BBQ sandwich + pizza(s) look amazing!! I love your list of enjoying food, I totally agree with it and try to abide by the same set of beliefs. Food is not just fuel, it’s also art to many people. 🙂
Jenn
Love the chocolate bar, it looks so good!
Great tips! I think baking and giving some away is so much more fun than just eating it all up!
I like how you brought up how people should find an individual style in their cooking. I make vegetarian Indian curries, and last summer taught one of my friends how to as well, and she made one herself later. It was fun to share a different cooking style.
This is so inspiring, I am certain everyone can take something away from your personal experience.
I really enjoy baking for others, great excuse to make fun treats and knowing your own style is perfect to understanding how to get your body through a day.
Thanks for sharing!
great post! and ditto about being realistic! its definitely about consistency overall!
oh and i hate red grapes! i only buy green 🙂
As someone who has also struggled in this area, I love your point about being realistic. In the past I would absolutely freak out over a single meal, or even a single item in a meal. I have since learned that our bodies are amazingly resilient, and as long as we are treating them properly the majority of the time, they can handle a little extra fat, sugar, or whatever from time to time.
Love the joy in food section. I couldn’t emphasize the first point more. So true and such a healthy way to think of things. 🙂
And, um, YUM on that pizza! I have been craving pizza and pasta and such like nobody’s business. LOL
I love thispost!!!! Thinking realistically is the MOST important in my opinion! We should always take joy in everything we are doing, even if it is eating.!
Love the post! I definitely need to work on sharing the love. One reason why I love to cook dinner is to share my love of food with my husband but I think sharing treats and food with colleagues and friends more regularly would great increase my happiness and others as well.
The pizza looks wonderful! I have a slight pizza addiction that I’m in the process of trying to break. I used to eat it multiple times a week but I’m trying to cut down to just once a week. It’s really hard:)
As someone who’s struggled with disordered eating in the past, I know exactly what you mean here– it’s still hard for me at times to take joy in food. I find myself slipping back into the old mindset of guilt attached to food, despite liking what I’m eating. Today, I enjoyed a huge ice cream bar, and immediately started feeling guilty. It can be harder to banish the guilt than it seems, especially all the time, even if you’re generally a healthy, happy eater.
I too am a red grapes girl 🙂 No green!
Hi Sweetz!
Great post. Love the bravery and the insight to put those ideas and thoughts out there. We’ve known of course from the “About Me” tab – but still I respect you for it and love the tips. On the topic of “experiment” and “developing your own style” … I was just thinking to myself that I need to work around my fears of foods I’ve never worked with before and/or those I may view as “too high” in x or “too low” in x. Next time I’m at the store I’m getting those giant mushroom caps and I’m gonna turn them into something great!! Rock it, girl — thanks for the post!!
I need to work on my ability to bake and share. I mean I do share, but not until I’ve eaten half of the dough before it makes it to the oven and then only after I’ve eaten half of what made it out of the oven unburnt ;).
Share the love is a good tip. I LOVE to bake too.. but I don’t as often because I eat it all. I need to take it to work and spread the love 🙂
GREAT post!!! I always tell clients that there are no bad foods, just bad choices. So pizza is not a bad food choosing to eat it everyday is a bad choice.
I love the ‘think realistically’ one. I always used to tell me clients – just as one meal won’t make you thin or won’t make you lose weight, one meal is not going to make you fat or gain weight.
And sharing…well I have to do that all the time or else I’d eat it all!