mmmmmm food

everything in moderation? Oh, that's cute.

I wish I could be that sort of person. The one that has the willpower to have just one cookie or just a few french fries. Even when I hype myself up and think, I can do this! I'll eat a bunch of "healthy" stuff and just have a little of the bad stuff, I end up eating my weight in potato chips(Salt and vinegar, you are the devil) ....and naturally, hating myself for it.

Ever found yourself in a bad/stressful/happy/busy/boring day and thought....I could really go for some (fill in the greasy, fatty, unhealthy blank) right now? Me too. a little too often actually... it's dealing with these cravings that has become the biggest problem for me. I don't mind the hard work we do at CrossFit, I actually LOVE it, it's the food that I struggle with.

As I've said before, food is really emotional for me. It's my one true addiction, but unlike drug addicts or alcoholics, I actually have to have what I am addicted to, to survive. So there you have my strongest weakness. Food, making sure I eat the right things..that will help me perform better, and not let myself fall back into the habits of eating poorly, just because it's easier or comforting.

Now don't get me wrong, I am all about a cheat day. Especially if I am having a particular craving that I just can't kick, and I know I will drive myself crazy until I get whatever it is that I have a hankering for. (usually french fries or gluten and dairy free donuts.)

As a general rule, I stick with a paleo meal plan 90% of the time. For those of you who don't know, that means I eat :

 Meat- (grass fed when possible, if available, and if I can afford it...I'm a singer for a living...remember!)

Vegetables-Spaghetti squash, cauliflower, sweet potatoes ( in moderation) kale, spinach, onions, tomatoes, olives, peppers, zucchini, broccoli, and asparagus. ** you can have WAY more than this, but I am a creature of habit, and not always creative when it comes to food, so I stick with what I know I can cook and freeze easily)

Fruits-Apples, pineapples, grapes, melon, strawberries and oranges. **Here is where it gets a little tricky for me, although you are "allowed" to have fruits on a paleo meal plan, sugar is still sugar. so I steer clear of this later in the evening, and I only go with one serving of fruit a day. That isn't necessary for everyone, but I feel like it keeps me on track, and also keeps my sugar cravings down

 It's really easy to write down all the things I am supposed to use as my main source of nutrition. But here is the ugly truth. I am, and will always be a carb lover. Yes, I said it... I heart carbs. Rice, bread (even if it has to be gluten free) pasta, bread, and also....bread. Bread and cheese have been the two most difficult foods for me to "let go". Since going gluten and dairy free, for health purposes (studies show that people living with epilepsy that cut gluten and dairy out of their diet are way less likely to suffer from seizures, migraines, and insomnia. And as far as my experience goes, it's true. I went from having multiple seizures a day to only having one in the last year and a half.) it was a little less difficult for me to make the paleo switch this past December, but it still wasn't easy. I've always been really good at cutting one food out of my life, but somehow finding another that was just as bad, that I like just as much.

My best example....CORN.

Don't get me wrong, corn works for some people, and they have all sorts of awesome gluten free products out there where rice and corn are the main ingredients, but I took it to an extreme. I stopped eating bread, so I started putting EVERYTHING on a corn tortilla.  Want a burger, put it on a corn tortilla. Scrambled eggs with sausage and peppers, put it on a tortilla. I am NOT knocking corn, or it's by products... but when you go through a 50 pack of corn tortillas in 4 days... it's time for an intervention. Something about my brain thought that I just couldn't have a meal if it didn't consist of some sort of starchy bread like substance. This was a super hard habit to break. Again, corn isn't part of a paleo plan, and I wanted to get rid of  all of the things that were keeping me from the best I could feel while working so hard. (Like I said, CrossFit=Paleo. It's the only way to do it, in my opinion)

I said in my earlier blog that I have been hypnotized. I'm sure that some people see this as "hocus pocus" or they don't believe in it, and maybe it is just a mind game. I spent the chunk of money to have a "Weight release" done. Basically what happens is you go in to see the hypnotist and they ask you what you crave, and what do you feel is keeping you from losing weight. At that time, I was already gluten free, but I was definitely not dairy free. I found myself dipping cubes of swiss cheese into blue cheese dressing as a snack and thought, if I don't do something about this I'm going to have my own gravitational pull. So, dairy was the main focus, and let me tell you something, not only have I not eaten  one bite of dairy since I was hypnotized the first time, it legit grosses me out. The thought of butter or cheese on anything that I eat just doesn't do it for me anymore. Like I said, some people might think it's bogus, but kicking the dairy really helped me work out of a weight loss plateau and honestly, just feel better.

Apart from alternative methods, these are the other things I have found to be SUPER helpful:

GET IT OUT OF YOUR HOUSE. Don't keep bags of pasta, bread, cookies etc. in the house because your spouse or kids like it. Food is food, and those things aren't great for you anyway, so make them eat the same damn thing you do! They will survive and be better for it!

DECIDE WHAT YOU ARE EATING BEFORE YOU GET INTO A RESTAURANT. Don't even open the menu. This one has helped me so much, I can't even tell you. Having been a waitress for such a long time, I know that everyone in the world can make you a grilled chicken breast, a piece of salmon or a steak, no butter no oil, and most restaurants have fresh vegetables. and if not, get a dry side salad (no cheese no croutons, with oil and vinegar on the side)...but if you make these decisions to eat right without opening the menu, it makes it easier for you to stick with your commitment to eat healthy. And sure, it sucks to watch your friends eat cheeseburgers and fries while you have a grilled chicken breast, but in the end, you're gonna be so strong...you can beat them up... I'm just saying.

DESSERT. We aren't 12, we don't have to have dessert after every meal. WE JUST DON'T. But if it's a special occasion, find a way to make it APAP (as paleo as possible) for example, at my wedding, we had gluten free dairy free cupcakes, they were made with almond flour and a vegan butter and they were straight up delicious. (No one even knew they were gluten and dairy free) Granted, they still had sugar, but I was able to be a little bad without feeling like I was cheating all the hard work I had done to fit into that size six dress!!

Ok, enough on food for now.

Be strong, eat well, kick @$$!