My journey with FOOD

What does food really mean to you? This isn’t an easy question and for most will change a trillion different times throughout life. Here is a comparison of what food means/meant to me in different periods in my life, and as you can see education is key. Knowledge is power!

My view of food 1993

Fear

Overweight

Obese

Disgusting

My view of food 2007

Frustration

Outrage

Overpowering

Dominance

My view of food 2015

Fun

Outstanding

Organic

Delicious

I feel I have come a long way from my days of anorexia. No longer do I desire to starve myself of the very nutrients that keep my body functioning. I would by lying if I said there weren’t days that are more of a struggle than others. Or when I struggle with the idea, "is being healthy really enough?" Of course the answer should be yes, but how can a person reward themself for just living a happy healthy life? Exercising daily and making healthy food choices makes a body feel good, but the mind still wonders down the wrong path. At the end of each day I try and remind myself I have made it another day, stronger then the last.

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People don't know my story and quite honestly I don't know theirs either. When I started Weight Watchers back in 2007, I never knew how much the program would change my life…even save my life. Each week, I would walk in to the meetings ready to shed another pound or even another fear. I tried to show up prepared to have a little part of my life changed. Words of advice and wisdom from my peers, the very peers that knew EXACTLY what kind of work it took to be healthy.

I will never forget the fear I felt the first day, wearing my baggy jeans and sweatshirt, woah, not exactly where I thought I would be. The fear began to melt away. After 8 months, hitting my goal weight in my own created Weight Watcher approved outfit, which was a really light dress. For those not familiar with the program, each week before the meeting began you would have to weigh-in and track your progress, be accountable for the choices you made throughout the previous week.  Clearly anyone within the program would totally weigh in naked if it were allowed, I mean, peeing right before weigh-in or taking off that rubber band on your wrist could even help. Its funny the tricks of the trade you learn along the way.

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Remove the emotion from the number on the scale. This is what I would remind myself each day and each time I would step on the scale. ITS ONLY A NUMBER!

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Eat to feel full, content and happy. Workout to look good in your favorite pair of jeans. All the things in life that makes a person feel good about themself. To look at yourself in the mirror, the most vulnerable moment one can have, and say "I'm proud of you!"

You have to cherish yourself. I cherish myself, and each accomplishment big or small.  Quiet the mind chatter. I choose NOT to say hurtful things to myself as I would NOT say hurtful things to the ones I love.

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Life is short; it could be over in a blink of an eye. Enjoy each and every moment and love yourself! Besides, what's better than saying, "I feel comfortable in my own skin?” Just think about it like this, the body we are born with is the body we will have FOREVER. It will change a thousand different times, not always in the way we want, but it is the same body, the same temple, we have to take care of it, in order to get the things we want from it.

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Who ever would have known a program like Weight Watchers would impact my life in so many different ways, but it did. I will forever be thankful for that, because in 2007 is when my true journey with health and wellness began. When I began to own who I was and accept who I was.

Thank you again for reading my blog and I will continue to grow and write each Thursday & Sunday.  To light, love and happiness! <3