The other day a friend asked me... “What’s your life like now, after two years of this new way of thinking about food and body size. What do you eat and what about exercise?”
First of all, I always eat breakfast, selected from foods that I like in satisfying amounts... eggs, toast with butter and jam, muffins, fruit, yogurt, sometimes cereal with milk or a bagel with cream cheese. And guess what, they're not kidding when they say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Lunch and dinner are pretty much the same deal. Foods that I like, in satisfying amounts. No restrictions. I don't weigh my food, or count calories. I eat until I feel comfortably full and then I stop. With my history of starving and stuffing... it’s taken a while to acquire this skill. I try to pay attention to my food and really enjoy it. I eat a source of protein, fat, and carbohydrate at each meal and snack. Most days I get my whole grains and my 5 servings of fruits and veggies. If I get hungry mid-afternoon, I’ll have a little snack... maybe a cookie with milk.
Most days, mid-morning or afternoon, whenever I can get a free hour, I exercise... usually about 30 minutes of walking or biking followed by strength and flexibility moves... my own concoction of yoga, dance, light weights and isometrics. One thing is certain, what I do is not designed to burn calories. I just want to be reasonably strong, with enough stamina and flexibility to do things like lift my grandchild occasionally without throwing my back out. I treat exercise the same way I treat food. I do what feels good, in satisfying amounts, nearly every day.
When I eat out... maybe twice a week, and they bring me one of those gigantic cheeseburgers with a mountain of French fries, I usually put about half of it in a take-out box. Or I split it with Gary. I can pretty well visualize how much I need to eat to get full, and if I’m still hungry, I can always eat more. I have a small dessert almost every night, and sometimes if I’m hungry at bedtime, I’ll have a few crackers and cheese or peanut butter. It's all pretty normal...
Here’s a great page from my favorite eating guru Ellyn Satter, entitled: “Normal Eating.”
This post is one of a series entitled: "Let's Eat: Befriend you Body and Your Food", posts based on my life as a disordered eater and how I finally found order—got off compulsive dieting, got on normal eating, and reached a place of peace with my body and its natural weight—which is not exactly not thin, not exactly fat—but exactly right—for me.
-Enjoy your food, celebrate your body, and be healthy and happy no matter your size.
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