I don’t ignore my sweet-tooth, I embrace it…..on a regular basis. I each chocolate probably every day. I’m not kidding. I tell people this, and they look at me like I’m crazy. How can I eat chocolate every day and still be “lean” or “fit” and not “fat”. Body composition is math. If you eat the amount of calories your body needs, then you won’t gain weight. If you eat less, you’ll lose weight, if you eat more, you’ll gain. Simple. Because chocolate is deemed as “unhealthy” people automatically assume that you cannot eat it without getting “fat” or feeling guilty. I understand where this mindset comes from. I honestly used to deprive myself of sweets and I went crazy. I would refrain from any kind of craving and then once I gave in, I would get a large DQ Blizzard and then feel bad. I thought I ruined my progress and would regret the choice all together.
Since then, I have learned to embrace my sweet-tooth everyday. By doing this I no longer EVER crave that DQ Blizzard, or feel like I need to binge on 75 cookies (okay I’m exaggerating, but you get the point). I’m not saying that eating chocolate is the healthiest choice every day, but I am saying that one portion of chocolate is not going to kill you. I would rather eat my “treats” everyday than deprive myself and feel the need to indulge like crazy. With that being said, I’m NOT saying that having a DQ Blizzard (or any kind of treat), is bad in moderation. And I’m also not saying that I personally don’t ever go get ice cream (or whatever), because I do. But my point is, that if you eat balanced and in moderation, you should be able to go to a buffet and be able to resist the temptation to eat every single thing on display (then feel like crap after). It’s called eating intuitively.
I know myself, I know what I crave. I let myself have these “treats” because I know that I fuel my body with mostly nutrient-dense foods throughout the day. I also make sure not to let myself go super hunger, because that increases the chance of devouring that bag of not-so good cookies, or that container of ice cream that my mom hides in the back of the fridge 😉
Health, fitness and happiness takes work, takes practice, takes research and experimentation. Everyone is different. We all find various approaches to what works for us, for our personal goals and for what makes us happy. Sometimes you need to take a step back and evaluate what you’re doing, decide to make a change and then test it out. What you put into your body directly affects how you feel from the inside out.
PeanutButterAndSteph 