How can you possibly enjoy life?

The other night my sister and I were talking about food and what we are bringing to an upcoming family get together.  Since I am local, I am packing all sorts of my kind of goodies and seasonings to share with those who can't bring anything on a plane.  There is so much, I am asking if my sister can stop by my house the day before to get some of it and take it up to the resort with her since my car space will be taken up by people, luggage and dog.

My sister mentioned that she is going to get corn chips, "GMO free, organic and..."  I cut her off with the horrified question of WHY would a person want to eat something that is so evil and wreaks so much harm and death to those who eat it!?  Corn is right up there with wheat as the worst substance in the world that humans have exploited.  Corn is simply a 4-letter word in any of its hundreds of forms in tiny print on the labels of processed foods.

"Well, I DO eat corn chips and salsa if they are made with good healthy ingredients" she continued.  As I've said before, our human attitudes about food are so deeply held that trying to wrestle them out of our belief system is harder than taking a child's favorite teddy bear or blankie away when they are threadbare and falling apart.  Well people, time to grow up.  You're going off to college now and your old stuffed animal that comforted you as a 3 year old doesn't serve you well as an adult. Facts are facts whether they be about climate change,  GMO foods, or sugar addiction caused by grain consumption.

Still, my sister won't give up the notion that something that tastes so good can be so bad for her body and be a root cause of her physical maladies and future chronic disease.  She turns it on me: "How can you enjoy life when you deny yourself so many of the good foods out there? Why would you want to continue to deprive yourself forever of the pleasures of eating delicious things?"

My answer to her was to ask her, "How am I depriving myself when I am giving my body what it NEEDS and deserves?  I am feeding my body, mind and spirit with REAL FOOD!"  I thought about it later and wish I had added, "Besides-real enjoyment of life shouldn't revolve around eating corn chips."  Life is about what you can do with the proper food your body is asking for to do its job in the best way with the ease of how we were designed to be.  Contrary to what the corporate food criminals have told us, the STUFF they sell us which they call 'food' is NOT what God ever intended we put into our bodies as fuel.

I follow several blogs and get emails from nutrition/exercise/healthy living sources who write more eloquently and come across in a more positive way than I can.  Here is one that I find answers the question that many people(like my neighbors) ask me. "What diet are you on?"  They usually follow up with the next question, "Huh. So when will you quit following that weird way of eating?"


Full credit for this to Neghar Fonooni, of Eat, Lift and Be Happy-
This entry is called, Dieting is the Worst. 
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Seriously. The worst. Ever. Last night as I was walking on the beach with one of my besties, we got to talking about her recent nutrition and fitness endeavors. For the past month she's been working out and eating under my tutelage and was raving to me about how amazing she feels and how deprived she doesn't feel. "I feel like this is a lifestyle for me now," she said. She went on to tell me how people at work keep asking her if she's on a diet (because her body is noticeably changing) and she's like NO. I am NOT on a diet. I'm just eating to serve my body. Because being on a diet SUCKS. Being on a diet implies that there's a beginning an end, as opposed to a lifestyle of nourishing your body with movement and food. Being on a diet usually involves restriction and deprivation--and an almost inevitable rebound. Now, instead of dieting, I live my life by embodying a few of my truths: 1) I eat to serve my body, not to steal from it (mostly organic produce, sustainably raised animal protein, lots of healthy fats). 2) I eat food that pleases both my palate and my physique (I seriously CRUSH IT in the kitchen). 3) I move every single day. 4) If I really want to eat something naughty, I do--but I don't binge on it. 5) I never feel guilty about food. NEVER. Because everything is a choice and I feel confident in my choices.  Because of these simple truths, I'm able to live a life of abundance, enjoyment, and gratitude--and at the same time feel 100% comfortable in my own skin.  Eating for fat loss is not deprivation or restriction. It doesn’t have to mean eating food that bores you, or lacking culinary creativity (please NEVER eat anything you don't LOVE!). Physique and performance friendly nutrition is really as simple as blending your body's needs with that of your taste buds, and finding a happy medium that pleases both equally. Despite what you may have been told, it's entirely possible to simultaneously lose fat, build muscle and enjoy the food you eat, without going on a strict diet. In fact, I firmly refuse to eat anything that doesn’t rock my world. Because you know what? Life is too damn short for plain steamed broccoli and bland, dry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just now, I returned from the library with a new book by Chris Kresser, Your Personal Paleo Code.  I think this book is one I will go buy to keep.  Its about NOT following in lockstep an idea, a formula or a plan based on what the newest diet guru out on the corner is hawking.  Like Metabolic Effect, Kresser takes a good premise, in this case, the Paleo Diet, and expands it for YOU and ME and our individual bodies' needs.  Very refreshing and so very needed. Because after all, we are as individuals, in control of our own destiny every time we bring our hands to our mouths to put something in it.  Why not use some thought and care of what that something is?