I don’t claim to be an expert in terms of healthy eating. I may know some healthy recipes, but I have a long way to go to develop a healthy relationship with food. The following are just my thoughts.

I never had a healthy relationship with food. For some people, food is just one of those things we need to survive. For me, it is something I look forward to every moment of the day. I anticipate each meal which doesn’t have to be an unhealthy trait. I think planning what you eat can help you indulge less and make each indulgence count. If I know I am going to have a really great slice of cake, I do not need to eat a bunch of Hershey Kisses. If I know I am going to a BBQ for a late lunch, that means I should have a lighter breakfast and a snack right before so I am not starving once I get to the BBQ, but I won’t be in the red in terms of calories if I eat a little extra.

What makes it a negative trait for me is that once a meal comes, I squander it quickly in a few large and quick bites. I don’t savor and appreciate food like I should. This causes me to overeat since I do not give myself a chance to feel satiated after eating. Overeating used to make me moderately overweight.

A couple years ago I fell in love with physical activity after spending my whole life indoors. It did help me lose weight, but I have plateaued in my weight loss goal. It is not because I am not exercising right, it is because of what I eat.  I am appreciative of where I got to, but I could reach my weight loss goal if I ate better and slightly less. The way I dress also plays a role since I still dress like I have the body I used to have.

The savory items I eat throughout the day tend to be very healthy. The non-dessert recipes I post on this blog and on http://rmjcarseatings.blogspot.com/ are the type of meals I eat everyday. I don’t eat a lot of fried foods, non-dessert starches, or drink a lot of alcohol or caloric drinks. I eat a lot of raw veggies and some fruit. It terms of what I eat, I think my main problem is that I eat way too much sugar. As you could probably tell from RMJcarseatings, I love to bake.

I am good about giving most of it away, but I love to try other people’s desserts too. Don’t get me started on pumpkin. I am pretty sure my sugar intake provides enough for a small island country. The US has the highest sugar intake in the world at 126 grams per day. Israel and India are the bottom two nations with 14.5 and 5.1 grams each day respectively. One of the fat free greek yogurt containers I ate today had 14 grams of sugar. I think it is pretty obvious I need to cut down on my sugar.

Another problem is binging after working out. I don’t eat 2 doughnuts after running 6.5 miles, but my appetite does seem to be out of wack on days I work out. I know I should consume more calories when I work out, but it needs to be the right type and amount of calories. I used to be great at putting everything in myfitnesspal, a website and free phone app that makes it easy to count calories. I think I was at my skinniest when I used it regularly. Nowadays is a different story. When I tell myself to start using it, I am good for a couple of days, but then fall off the band wagon. I have been committed for about four years to working out regularly, maintaining use of myfitnesspal shouldn’t be that hard!

I shouldn’t complain about eating unhealthy when I do not have proper data to back it up. Once I get my good smartphone running again (my temporary one is slower than a snail), I hope to post a week of myfitnesspal daily nutrition logs onto this blog. In the meantime, comment below on what works and doesn’t work for you and your relationship with food.