"Can Have's"

I think most people that do indeed eat "healthy", including myself for sure, look forward to the food choices they make everyday. Eating good quality foods is a craving, not a chore. Processed foods and foods prepared with too much salt, sugar and fats become unappealing, unappetizing and sometimes even inedible. In fact, unless I was stuck with absolutely no choice, and I was about to pass out from hunger, could I eat something that doesn't taste good....unhealthy or "healthy". For instance, I will often will throw away fruit that isn't sweet, (I'll throw out an entire watermelon)or meat that's become dry. Personally I need to eat some kind of freshness in the form of a vegetable (s) with almost every meal. Fruit would be second, but my body craves foods that comes from nature.

Often when someone starts a diet the first thing they do is make a list of "restricted" foods. Carbs probably top the list, fat and sugar coming next. I think when you take into consideration the list of "can't have's" first it doesn't help to set a dieter up for long term success.

When I started my diet no foods were off limits, and it's still that way. Sure I restricted my calorie intake, but I made a game out of it. Instead of thinking I could only have so many calories I thought about how much food could I fit into the calories I could have (foods I liked of course). My focus was on foods that I loved and looked forward to eating, which were whole foods, and meals made with real ingredients that are naturally lower in calories anyway.

The habit of calorie counting has become second nature to me, I probably couldn't stop if I wanted to! But to be honest, if you eat foods that you don't prepare yourself, and with all of the abundant food choices out in the world today, I feel that you must educate yourself about all aspects of nutrition including calorie content if you tend to overeat. Even if you aren't in the habit of overeating being aware of the nutritional content of the foods you eat is important for good health.

But when the focus is on restriction it is still restriction. How does that phrase go? "What you resist persists."

When it comes to counting calories instead of focusing on how few you can have, or how few you should have, think about how many you "can have". With so many diet theories about which types of foods are "good" and which foods are "bad" when wanting to create a desired physical effect, whether it's weightloss, fatloss, muscle gain, or performance, instead of making a list of "can't have's", make a list of "can have's". Make sure the "can have's" are foods you love and fit into your vision of how you want your body to look and feel like, as well as your vision of how you want to live your life. Soon the "can have's" will become "must have's". The choices will find you.




I'm convinced this is one of the reasons why my compulsive overeating binge mentality has all but disappeared. I don't restrict any kinds of foods, and I eat foods I love that fit into the vision I have for my health, weight, and life.