As I continue on my health and wellness journey, I’m learning a very valuable lesson when it comes to food and counting calories: It’s more important WHAT you put in your body than HOW MUCH you put in your body (calorie counting). Meaning, if I wake up and want to eat three mangos, then the calories here are less important than if I decide to have two eggs, hash browns and bacon.
As I get older (and wiser I like to think) I’m caring more and more about what I put in my body. I want my body to function at its best. I want it to be around for a long time. But I want it to be around healthy. That said, since I started my journey my diet has changed. As I learn, I make adjustments. For example, these days I’m mostly concerned with eating as much whole foods as possible. So my grocery lists consists of mostly of organic and non-gmo items. I want my food to be raw, as close to its natural state as possible.
That said, I'm not perfect, and I sometimes indulge in things I shouldn't--though not nearly as often--I'm getting better at making better choices. The cool thing about going on this journey is that I’m learning about things I had previously been oblivious to. For example, for a large portion of my life I was a habitual McDonald-fry-eating crazy person. Truth be told, it was during one my McDonalds dinners that my transformation began. I was eating a McChicken, fries and coke—the usual—when I suddenly found it difficult to swallow. I would take a bite, then a sip of coke and there was a battle taking place in my throat. As I desperately tried pushing the food down, the carbonation from the coke kept it from happening, instead it kept rising back up with every bite. That night, was the last night I ever drank soda again—it has since been 4 ½ years. Still though, I continued eating McDonalds—and feeling sick all the while. I’m glad for it because it was the McDonalds experience that brought me to the health journey I am on today. This drove me to learn about food, and how far away I was from eating food in its natural state--food that was without being genetically modified.
Well, in the last few years we’ve learned there is a lot more than potato in their French fries, haven’t we. Any one of those genetically modified ingredients could’ve contributed to my feeling so sick after and while eating their fries.
The reason for this post is to simply offer another perspective when it comes to food and counting calories. Though I don’t personally struggle with overeating, I have struggled with eating foods that nourish my body. Caring about my body and the foods I put in it has opened up a world of health and fitness for me. Simply by caring about what goes into my body helps me make better choices. So much so, that I now prefer eating at home to eating out. I like to know what’s in my food, and the best way to do that, I’ve learned, is to prepare our meals ourselves.
So the next time you find yourself a bit frustrated with your diet—or lack thereof—come at it from a new perspective. Instead of wanting to lose weight, or cutting this and that out, think about nourishing your body. What does it need to function at its highest peak, for years to come? You know the answer, now you just have to follow through.
As always, I would love to hear from you, so leave a comment below letting me know your heath journey. And for more helpful health and wellness moments, like my Facebook page, follow me on twitter and Instagram.
Till next time.