Well I wouldn’t dare name the blog post Fifty Shades of Grey now would I? People might talk, or get the wrong idea. Besides, that’s an entirely different conversation. 🙂
It’s New Year’s Eve. We think of fireworks and fancy parties and traditional black and white party hats and tuxedos and what not. Then there are those that think … Hurry up, eat all the junk food in the house. Drink all the wine. Get it out of your system. Party it up hard! Because of course; starting tomorrow, on the ever elusive January 1st, that magical day of transformation, you are going to eat perfect, and work out like a Greek Goddess. You will have perfect portion control and macro nutrient timing down to a Science and be the envy of all the gossiping gazelles from the sidelines waiting to start their diets after the New Year’s rush dies down. They’ll start on Monday, after the next Monday, or that next Monday, or on the first. OR – maybe they’ll start when they get paid, or when they’re not stressed, or when they feel better, or when they look better, or when they have more money or when the junk food is gone or when the in-laws aren’t visiting or when they find themselves at the next New Year’s Eve party swearing off resolutions because they never work but promise to get rid of the pounds that crept up over the last decade of failed starts.
I wonder what the buzz words will be THIS year? Will it be clean eating or Paleo or Whole Foods or Cross Fit or Gluten Free or Vegan or what? None of those things are bad in and of themselves unless you’re just using it as another band wagon to jump on ~ so that when it fades you can fall off and call it a fad, that was never meant to be.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting something new, with a new year or a new week, or even a new day … but with that, you must start it with a new mindset. Why are you doing this? Is it a lifestyle? Or is this some silly tradition or gimmick or cool kids’ table sorority initiation type thing? Well hey, all the OTHER mamas are doing Paleo, so I should too, right? Um, not really.
First of all; stop assigning emotional value to food. There are not good foods and bad foods. Food is food. It should be fuel for your body, period. Some food will fuel you better than others. Some food will make you feel like crap; well that’s a given. Try not to beat yourself up and turn that into this whole diatribe about how you’re a horrible person because you ate a bag of chips that gave you diarrhea and made you feel like poop – LITERALLY. So, um, okay – chips are not good fuel. Move on. Some people swear by broccoli. Well, that doesn’t work for me. I can’t eat that. If I eat broccoli, I get very ill. That is not good fuel for Deb. That is very BAD fuel for Deb – but not in the world of fitness and clean eating per se. Everyone hails broccoli like it’s a God or something. Not in my world. Thus is my point. Eat for YOUR body, not your neighbor’s. Eyes on your own plate people. Not everything is black and white.
The rules are sketchy and grey and ever-changing. Why? Because the only rules that matter are the rules that apply to you and your body and your health and lifestyle. Of course there are general ones that apply to most; and some general Science and Nutrition standards … but guess what … your body will change. Yup. It changes all the dang time. As I’ve become smaller; my rules have changed. I can’t do the same thing or eat the same way, I have to adapt. My body changes, the rules change. My workouts have to change. I’ve got to pay attention. That is why I can’t just jump on every silly band wagon hippy fad magazine hype that hits the airwaves as if they’re the magic ticket. People come to me for advice all of the time. That’s awesome. I’m happy to do it; but all I’m really going to do is ask you a boat load of questions to get to the heart of YOU. One of two things happen: The person gets excited and answers the questions and takes action – – or they disappear. That’s fine, that means they were either ready or they were not. No worries, I’m not going anywhere. For those who are ready … I’m here. In the meantime; Happy New Year.
Happy New Year
As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady
The Healthy Habit Lady 