Chocolate Anyone?

As “human” as this make me sound, I cannot stop eating chocolate this week! I have a friend who loves when I tell her these things (I’m her trainer) because she thinks it humanizes me. I have come to a point where I don’t feel guilty or put out by eating things that may not be part of a balanced diet. Granted, I was eating organic chocolate, but it’s chocolate just the same.

I have two principles I follow when it comes to eating the wrong sort of food:

1. I only eat it if I love it, and if I truly want it. If I don’t want it,  I don’t eat it. It’s as simple as that. Thinking this way will keep you from eating everything under the sun that is unhealthy, and it will allow you to enjoy what you eat so you don’t feel deprived. I have a massive sweet tooth, so I can either deprive myself and binge eat something disgusting later or I can have small amounts of yummy, organic chocolate when I actually want it so it doesn’t impact my weight or health.

When I was training for a fitness competition a while back, I had to be SO strict with my “diet” that I felt terribly deprived all the time. I remember being allowed a “cheat” day, and I would go berserk and eat everything I could get my hands on. Careful not to undo all of my hard earned exercise and dieting efforts, I would often eat “sugar free” candies, like those sugar free Mentos. DISGUSTING. Needless to say, this went on for a few weeks until I decided my mental sanity was more important than being judged at a fitness event. I never actually went through with it, and I have never regretted it. I finally decided that I can have what I want, when I want it, and I won’t feel guilty when I have it.

2. When I don’t want anything sweet or “tempting,” I have something super healthy. On the days that I’m not pining for chocolate, I’m eating oatmeal, fruits and vegetables. Seriously. On days (which, honestly, is now most days) that I’m not really in the mood for anything, I eat protein and carbohydrates all day long. I eat eggs and oatmeal or Ezekiel toast in the morning, and sporatically eat chicken or tofu with sweet potatoes and nuts, seeds and dates. This is my diet everyday.

Life is a balance. You have to enjoy what you are doing and eating. However, if eating consumes you, get some help. Just because I’m eating a lot of chocolate lately (I definitely polished it off last night and will not be buying any more this week!), doesn’t mean I wake up thinking about it. I just sort of “feel” like having it, I’m not sweating/drooling/shaking when I think about the fact that it’s in my house like I used to!

I hope this provides some insight as to how I feel life should be lived. I think if everyone felt this balance with food, we wouldn’t have as much sickness, disease, and problems as we do, especially here in the U.S.

Have a fabulous week. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.