I have always LOVED learning about health stuff. I even got my bachelors degree in a health education major, because I LOVED my health, exercise, and nutrition classes! I would have to say that for the most part I am a healthy person. However, I have struggled with one major problem, FOOD ADDICTION (FA). I love food. I love good food. I love eating good food, in an “eat it until it’s gone and then lick the plate” sort of way . I crave certain foods, I look forward to eating at my favorite places, I love the foods that go with holidays and celebrations almost more than the event itself. I love to watch food and cooking shows, in fact I even watch them while I am working out. I love to cook and enjoy creating my own “restaurant-good” recipes. I work a few times a month as a chef and I love creating and serving beautiful, fabulous food. Don’t get me wrong, I am very nutrition conscious, especially when it comes to my children, however when foods I love are around, I pretty much attack them.
I admit to having a FA because I eat food to:
1. Help me feel better
2. Reduce my stress
3. Change my mood
4. Celebrate
5. Give me something fun to do!
For the most part, I have always been able to keep my FA in check, that is until I was pregnant with my first child. Oh my, was I ever sick. I was sick all the time, everyday for the first 20 weeks. I am not talking about a little bit of nausea, I am
talkin’ all-the-time, get-me-off-of-this-
roller coaster kind of sick. I never felt good. I never had a break from the sickness, unless I was eating something yummy. I would be able to think of something that sounded good and I could keep down, and I would eat it, and while I was eating it, I would feel good, alive, happy. And so food became the saving grace that got me through that hard time.
During the second part of my pregnancy I had horrible pain do to
Sacro Iliac problems. So, I continued using food every time I felt like it was to much. When my beautiful baby was born, I had never been so happy, however, I was also very depressed. So, again, I ate to feel better. Eating seemed to make everything better, and the thought of eating healthy or dieting, was to much for me to even think about.
Then the time came when I started to feel better, and I realized how out of control my eating habits, and my weight had become. So I lost some weight and I promised myself I would never let that happen again.
Well, my next two pregnancies proved to be just as difficult and I continued the
roller coaster of loosing and gaining weight. I actually just had my third, and last, baby two months ago. And I am finally in the right mindset to develop a healthy lifestyle again. It’s not so much about being thin, as it is about feeling good about myself, and living the life I want to live. So here I go, embarking on my journey to total health. The hardest part will be changing my eating habits, but I am so determined! I have all the knowledge to be healthy, I just wish applying it wasn't the hard part.
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