Tag: unhealthy

Food cheat? Only in moderation!

Food cheat? Only in moderation!

Sorry for the short hiatus!  I have no excuse…I wasn’t on vacation, I really wasn’t any busier than normal, and I actually have a lot of health inspiration so there is no reason for why I haven’t posted lately. 🙁  I hear people say all the time this is my cheat day, so I can eat whatever I want today, but for today only.  Other times I hear people say it’s the weekend so I can eat what I want because I workout five days a week.  I also frequently hear people say they have cheat meals where they can eat whatever they want.  I think one important thing to remember is that while allowing yourself to enjoy all food groups and pleasures in life is great, it is still equally as important to exercise the idea of moderation AND considering the calories you are putting in your mouth.  With that being said, rather than having a cheat weekend, cheat day, or cheat meal, consider having a partial cheat meal whereby you eat a dessert after dinner or you eat fish for dinner, but still have fries as a side or you have scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach and a few slices of bacon as a side.

It is important to recognize that moderation needs to be considered when it comes to health, wellness, nutrition, and exercising.  My advice to people who want to enjoy some of the food luxuries in life, but still stay on a well-balanced diet is to consider eating cheat snacks or partial cheat meals.  I recently had a salad for dinner with no meat and then decided after dinner I still wanted something else and preferably something sweet.  I had a small cupcake after my salad and really found that it made more sense to have a salad and a small cupcake rather than a large unhealthy dinner followed by a large dessert.  My salad was filled with lots of veggies and greens that were great for me and then the cupcake was just a hint of cheating that satisfied my sweet tooth.  The best bet?  Choose not to have a large piece of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cornbread followed by a large piece of chocolate cake or have an all you can eat buffet followed by dessert.  This is an overabundance of calories that ruin an entire day (or even week) for a person because of the large amount of calories that are being consumed in just one meal.  Instead choose to pair the healthy with a small indulgence or treat that can accent the meal or be a small token of what you are craving rather than eating a large unhealthy meal and dessert.

That’s a wrap!  Go enjoy a great salad and a cupcake or your dessert of choice (just don’t go overboard with a large dessert such as a carrot cake, or a brownie sundae with chocolate and caramel sauce and whipped cream.  Enjoy your small cheats in moderation because I promise that you will feel better when you’re done, enjoy less calories, and won’t feel sick from over consumption!

~jj

Weight is a number…healthy bodies = all shapes & sizes!

Weight is a number…healthy bodies = all shapes & sizes!

I missed posting last week.  Not intentionally, but because I didn’t have any inspiration for a post and didn’t want to post just to post.  I like to find a passionate topic to talk about each week and last week for some reason nothing came to me.  So to my routine readers, I apologize for the missed entry.  Maybe if you’re lucky I will post twice this week! 🙂

I have been thinking about weight, body image, and how much we judge ourselves (and others) by weight.  We even tend to judge people more by their weight than their personality, pretty typical, but we often say, “Don’t judge a book by the cover and don’t judge a book by its movie” so why don’t we follow this same rule when it comes to people?  More than judging others, we even judge ourselves by the number we see on the scale.  We use that number to decide whether we want to lose weight, how much weight we want to lose, and how perfect (or not) our body is because of our “ideal weight” goal.  So how do we get past this idea of judging ourselves by the number on the scale?  I will share a little secret with you.  I got rid of my scale about 13 years ago.  It’s one thing that I changed  and I haven’t looked back since.  I do not own a scale, I do not know how much I weigh other than a guess and I always ask my doctor to refrain from telling me my body weight.  Why?  Because I don’t want to be able to judge myself by the number staring back at me on a scale.  Instead, I can easily tell how my body weight is doing by how my clothes fit, what foods I am putting in my mouth, and how much physical exercise I am getting in comparison to my daily caloric intake.

So I talked about judging ourselves and judging others, but I didn’t really connect the two.  We know that we judge ourselves and others, but now we must realize that we judge without knowing the health choices a person makes and the lifestyle they lead.  My point is to convey the differences in people and to realize that “healthy” for one person isn’t going to be “healthy” for another person.  Think of it like this: “our” healthy is our own unique “setting” similar to how we look, our personality, our characteristics and traits, goals, aspirations, etc.  While we are all unique in that aspect, we are also all unique in what “our healthy” is and means.  For example, my “healthy” as a 26 year old female might be exercising 5 days a week on my own, high metabolism, few genetic health concerns, but another 26 year old female’s “healthy” might be to exercise in a group class 3 days a week because of her lifestyle, steady, but not fast metabolism, and several genetic health concerns.  My point is that each person’s individual “healthy” is different hence different body shapes and sizes.

Try to remember that healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes.  Often we think or believe that if you are thin, slender, or skinny that the person must be healthy and if a person is large, curvy, or plus-sized that they are fat and unhealthy.  This is so stereotypical and false.  A large person can be healthier than a thin person and a thin person can be healthier than a large person.  Healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes, I cannot say and reiterate this enough.  Physical exercise, eating and nutrition habits, family history/genetics all contribute to a person’s overall health and well being.  It’s something that the world must realize to move forward.  Not only will it make you feel better about yourself, it will make the world a more accepting and less judgmental place.

So, next time you see someone thin, large, slender, plus-sized, etc remember that healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes because all bodies are unique and different.  I will also suggest that next time you consider stepping on the scale that you reconsider and instead use your clothes to judge how well you are meeting your health goals.

~jj

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