I have always LOVED food....of all kinds.....and my relationship with it has been evolutionary.
As a kid, I craved healthy foods. If you gave me a choice between a sandwich and a candy bar, I would have taken the sandwich any day of the week (there has been some major evolution since those days, haha!). I would even hoard my Halloween candy, and often times, have some from the previous year still stashed away when it came time to pick my costume the next year (I know, I was WEIRD! Chocolate doesn't last an hour in my presence these days :) ).
There were also those years when my entire interaction with food revolved around strict, stringent, rules that I had created in my head. Food consumed my thoughts, what I had eaten, what I could eat next, what I couldn't eat, what I didn't eat, when I could eat, how much I had eaten- it was torture and nearly destroyed not only my ability to enjoy food , but also my life. I didn't eat ice cream for nearly 3 years!!! Me, the girl who can rarely end a day without indulging in the rich, creamy, melt on your tongue deliciousness. Now THAT was torture. All because of some stupid, made up, ridiculous rule I had conjured up that said "if you eat ice cream, you will get fat" and at that time in my mind, it was totally rational and factual (it's completely not factual for anyone who is wondering!). The list of rules, all of which were similarly insane, were innumerable and even changed as those years progressed. It was misery.
Thankfully, the evolution continued. It is still a process and as crazy as it sounds, I have to force myself not to worry about or think about what I eat. It's the only way I can be healthy. I just eat what sound and tastes good, when it sounds and tastes good........and it's wonderful......and it frequently includes ice cream.
My amazing, talented, sweet husband has been on his own food journey. He has always had an impressive ability to lose weight if presented with an adequate reward or incentive (to date, he has NEVER lost a weight loss challenge, which has been quite lucrative, I might add); however, he has struggled to keep the weight off. Almost a year and a half ago, he decided he wanted to make a permanent change and rather than starving himself to win some challenge, he wanted to lose weight the right way, over time, while making sustainable change. He was determined and I was in awe of that determination. He worked out EVERY morning at 5 am. He decreased his portions and made healthier choices, and he lost nearly 70 lbs over 8 months. He is seriously my hero. It was not easy. Not one day was easy. I was beyond proud of him.
As often happens, life got crazy and my poor hubby got hit from all sides with some monumental stress. Some of the weight crept back. He felt discouraged and I felt heartbroken for him. But, he did not give up (did I mention that he is determined and beautifully stubborn).
He came home a few weeks ago and hesitantly told me about another challenge that he wanted to enter. He was hesitant because we had had several discussions about his need to make changes for himself and not to just win some short term objective and I'm sure he was more than worried about what my reaction might be.
This challenge was different. It was BIGGER! I think I surprised him a little with my response. He wanted to enter the 200K transformation challenge put on by bodybuilding.com for a chance to win 40 or 80 thousand dollars. This challenge also is not based on weight. It is based on overall, greatest body transformation, which is refreshing. He made the argument that whether he won the money or not, personally, he couldn't lose. I was excited and you can call us crazy, but I honestly believe that my husband can do anything he sets his mind to. I don't feel like winning is out of his reach and I told him I would do anything in my power to help him achieve his goal.
That is when he told me that I had just been hired as his nutrition specialist.
I decided, at that moment, that I was going to do my best to help him see that he could still eat, that healthy food could taste good, and that losing didn't have to mean deprivation.
Something you should probably know about me is that I have enjoyed cooking and preparing and baking food but I have not always been very good at it. I had a roommate in college that lovingly (at least I hope) referred to what I ate as squirrel food. I am totally content to eat cold cereal (with or without milk), crackers, nuts, chips, fruit, veggies, etc for every meal. Those are foods I really enjoy.
Needless to say, I haven't done a lot of meal preparation in our marriage. Not because I couldn't, but because I just wasn't quite brave enough to step out of my comfort zone.
I have told myself for several years that I could ruin any recipe I came across mostly because, for the first few years of marriage, I massacred several meals from cookbooks after tediously following the directions. After that, I threw out the cookbook and started creating my own recipes, most of which turned out pretty well but I stayed in my realm of comfort, foods and flavors I knew and was familiar with. During that time, I also stopped baking because I thought that I needed to revamp every cookie recipe to be "healthy" without having an adequate understanding of baking chemistry (chem was one of the only classes that I got a letter other than the first letter of the alphabet in, and it was for good reason).
I started getting a little braver a couple years ago and started challenging my fear of baking. I started to have some success and have learned a lot about how to alter recipes without ruining taste or texture. That gave me a little push and I have come to really love baking again.
When Kel told me that I was now his nutritionist, I decided that I was going to let go of some of my fears about preparing food. I have allowed myself to be extremely intimidated by foods that I think are labor intensive or "difficult" to make and have avoided trying to make them at all costs. Anything in the bread department has always been a "don't even attempt it unless it's frozen dough that can be thrown in a pan and baked" as well as many other "from scratch" items. Those foods were scary to me. I had convinced myself that the process was too long or hard or beyond my scope of ability. It was silly, really. Most likely another manifestation of my perfectionism and procrastination, so I decided to put my pinterest boards to good use, even the scary ones, and the results have been pretty fantastic.
Several people have asked me to post some of my recipes for the yummy foods we've been eating so the next few posts will be some of our new favorites. I hope you enjoy!
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