My friend and ever-inspiring blogger girl, Jenna, wrote a post today about food journaling.
Read her post, then read my take:
I food journal, and I truly believe it’s like the best thing ever.
But
first let me say this: (and please, still love me after) I have an
addiction to food. No, I’m not saying “I’m addicted” in the cute way
that food bloggers say it. I really, truly, terrifyingly, am addicted to
food. It FEELS good to eat it. It improves my mood. It’s how I handle
emotions. Bottom line: my relationship with food is unhealthy.
Now that
I’ve got that on the table, I can explain why food journaling helps me.
It keeps me from eating so damn much. It’s not about guilt, it’s about
honesty. With myself. How many times have I said to myself, “I didn’t
eat that many cheetos, I’m still good on calories for the day” without
counting or measuring or writing it down, when in reality if I had
actually paid attention, I would see that I ate close to three cups of
cheetos, and gained a butt-ton of weight in the process. (dramatization,
but you get the point).
So for me, journaling keeps me honest. It keeps
me aware. It keeps me healthy. But let’s say a healthy person, with
healthy eating habits, and a lack of self-lying habits- let’s say they
want to know if they should food journal. My answer: whatever is right
for you is right for you.
Does it feel good to write it down? Sweet. No?
Then don’t.
Thank you, as always, for being honest and inspiring. Maybe being more honest with what food means to me would help me break down those barriers I've put up about them. For example, I really think that my lack of nutrition and food growing up has led me to think that food wasn't important. Once I discovered that it was important, it has still been hard for me to naturally nourish myself. It's not that I eat unhealthy foods, it's more that I don't eat enough. Like, food is to me, what fashion is to some. Not that big of a deal. And here I am with a food blog.
ReplyDeleteOk, can we pause for a sec and just be amazed at how awesome the internet is, especially when you consider that you and I, two people with VERY different views on food, can have a melding of the minds and inspire one another? Impossible otherwise. So cool.
ReplyDeleteOkay, enough dorkiness. On to the serious stuff- It is supremely important for me in my life to be honest with myself. As I've gotten older, I've realized that I have become a master at pulling the wool over my own eyes. Sure, I can be honest with others, but I am constantly justifying behaviors and bending realities in my own head- usually to give myself that "I'm ok" feeling. But here's the thing: I want to "be ok" without lying. Without convincing myself that eating a dozen Krispy Kremes is "normal" (true story, gross.) Without convincing myself that I wasn't bitchy to that girl, I was necessarily honest. And, worse, without convincing myself that I'm the perfect parent and everything I do is correct. So, how do I be more honest with myself? For food, it's journaling. For my attitude, it's listening to the correction of others. And for parenthood- well, it's humility. We all have to find our own way to be honest with ourselves. Is journaling the answer for you? Maybe, maybe not. But striving toward personal honesty is never a bad thing.
Oh, and I love you. I am so blessed by you. :)