I’ve talked before about how my diet isn’t perfect, but having read so many posts about whole foods and gluten free and all natural, I thought I’d put in my thoughts.
I believe in everything in moderation. Okay, maybe not everything, since I have no desire to eat Rocky Mountain Oysters or tongue or any sort of organ meat. Or head cheese. But it’s not because I have some sort of moral or ethical objection to these foods. I just think they sound kind of gross. But hey, if you want to eat them, that’s cool.
The only things I really try to avoid are things like 100 calorie snack packs. If I want a cookie, I should eat a cookie, not 100 calories of chemicals that won’t satisfy my cookie craving. Same with the super low-cal yogurts with artificial sweeteners. If I want yogurt, I should have all the good ingredients as well as the calories that go along with them. In general, I avoid certain artificially sweetened foods, but that’s less about health and more about the fact that they give me a stomach ache.
Butter? Bacon? French fries? Oreos? Bring ’em on! Maybe just not for every meal because I need to continue to fit into my clothes. But they are definitely an occasional food.
Heck, I even think lard has a place in my diet – it makes the best flaky pie crusts. Of course, I have good pie maybe once a year, so that doesn’t count for much.
I try to make smart choices, but sometimes a girl just wants canned tomato soup and an American Cheese sandwich on white bread or some delicious Kraft Mac and Cheese. It’s comfort food. Do I think these aren’t smart choices? Not at all – I think it’s smart to make them occasional choices. I don’t know about you, but if I tell myself I can’t have a certain food, that’s all I want to eat for every meal.
I really wonder about this whole gluten-free phase that’s going around. So many people say “Man, I stopped eating gluten, and now I feel better.” 9 times out of 10, I ask more probing questions and it turns out that people have eliminated a lot of the crap from their diets, and that’s why they feel better. Do I think some people have seen a positive effect? Sure. And I think it’s awesome for people who truly do have Celiac Disease – now they can get gluten free products at just about any store and people in restaurants don’t stare at them when they say they have to eat gluten free. But I have to wonder if it’s just a fad. And I wonder what will be the next big bad in our diets.
But for now, everything in moderation. I try to eat fewer chemicals, more vegetables and fruits, and make sure to take my vitamins every day. But you better believe that after a good half marathon, I’m going to be tucking into some pancakes and bacon. Yum.
photo credit: neil conway via photopin cc
I feel a lot of pressure/anxiety because I don’t eat like everyone else who blogs/IGs or as clean as I should (and would kick myself for not eating like your “before” plate). I like whole eggs (they aren’t bad). I like my greek yogurt and the current trend I tried to follow. I like lentils and quinoa cottage cheese (sorry paleo, it has protein I need). Paleo is and peanut butter. Almond butter is delicious but you’re right, sometimes I want a PB and J on white bread. Real processed, bad for you, white bread. Life is crazy enough. I don’t need to be crying about what I ate!
Thank you for being real and honest! I usually do feel bad about my choices when reading health food blogs, so it’s nice to know that I’m not the only person that can’t eat like that all the time.
There was a short time that I tried really hard to eat whole, clean, non processed foods, but I couldn’t keep it up. My nearest health food store is over an hour away, so it was too difficult to find time to go there every weekend to stock up on healthy items. It also became a really expensive habit since we also had to factor in the gas money on top of the groceries.
I still try to eat as clean as possible, but I am also more realistic about it. I only shop for weekly groceries at local stores. I can’t eat a whole loaf of wheat bread by myself, and my husband prefers white bread. I’d rather just eat white bread when I want a sandwich instead of wasting a loaf of wheat bread. If I don’t feel like cooking or assembling my own lunch, I’ll go ahead and grab a frozen meal.
Life is so much easier this way.