eating everything
I always think it’s so weird to write about eating and eating habits. Part of me can’t help but think that it’s silly that I think anyone should care about how I choose to feed myself, but at the same time, I feel like it’s important to be transparent with my readers, especially when things change.
For quite a while now, I’ve been eating everything.
Not beef or pork -I haven’t had those as a staple in my diet since I was about 7 years old- but there’s been gluten, cow’s dairy, candy, fried and beer in my life.
It’s been pretty awesome.
So you’re probably wondering what the heck happened to my gluten and dairy sensitivities? I still have them, but they were never huge issues -I’m fortunate to be sensitive to them instead of full-blown intolerant- and I still find that if I have too much dairy or gluten my digestive system and skin start to freak out. It still bothers me physically, but I can handle the reaction.
To be totally real, I just don’t care that much anymore.
Since having Liv, I’ve developed a serious “ain’t nobody got time for that” attitude as far as food goes, and getting a meal on the table is a feat that I’m proud of. If people make or give me food and there’s no pork or beef: I eat it. Last week, nana brought over a dozen bagels. I had a white jalapeño bagel with a smear of goat cream cheese and it was freaking amazing.
The main reason I initially cut most gluten out of my diet was because my naturopath said that it interferes with ovulation and that my test results indicated that I was sensitive to it. Since I really wanted to get pregnant, I was happy to cut it out since it made my stomach hurt and I usually felt bloated after eating it. I did everything my doc told me to do because I really wanted to have a baby, which included taking boatloads of nasty and expensive supplements. Now that I have the little love of my life, and have no plans to get pregnant again for a while, I figured some gluten here and there is NBD. The same goes with dairy. I don’t have it very often, but sometimes I want a cheese enchilada or some gelato… and I eat it.
My eating habits have changed so much since I started the blog, and I’ve changed a lot too. I like to think (hope?) that I’ve grown up a lot on the blog -it’s been almost 5 years!- and things that used to matter so much… well, they just don’t anymore. After I lost the initial 40 lbs, I continued to educate myself on health and fitness, and while I know in my heart that I had the best intentions and wanted to be as healthy as possible, some of the things I used to do make me give myself the side eye. With all of the things I learned about health, I started removing more and more from my daily life. I didn’t feel deprived since I had so many other things to choose from, and if you go without something for long enough, you don’t miss it anymore. I don’t miss eating donuts every morning before school, but I did miss my mom’s enchiladas. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
I’ve never claimed to be perfect, and I’m sure we all have things we wish we could change about ourselves. I wish I could have started the blog immediately knowing what works for me as far as fitness goes, but it’s been a long journey, and I’m grateful to all of you who have been on the ride with me. Along with all of the recipes and workouts I share on the blog, it’s also been a form of online diary with an incredible community behind it. When I first started blogging, I really got into food, which I think came from the trend of taking photos of every single morsel that went into my mouth. Since I stopped posting all of my meals a few years ago, it’s been freeing to not think about food all the time.
I often feel the pressures as a blogger to be “all or nothing,” but in my life there are so many grey areas. I’m a stay-at-home mom, a work-from-home mom, a work-away-from-home mom, I used breastmilk and formula, cloth diapers and disposables (but mostly disposables), I have goals pulling me all over the place… the list goes on and on. With all of the grey areas, and everything I have going on, I think I’ve finally found what health and balance mean to me.
I want Liv to have a healthy relationship with food. I encourage her to try and eat anything she wants, and everyday endeavor to set a good example for her.
I won’t be a mom who’s afraid of having ice cream or cake with her daughter.
I want her to see a woman who’s confident, works hard, fuels her body with nourishing foods for her body and soul, but most importantly, one who loves her family more than life.
Thank you for following along with me through all of the craziness, the grey areas, and the eating changes. Nothing will change about the blog from here on out, but I just thought it was worth mentioning, in case you see me have a beer or something 🙂
Love to you all <3
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Love this post.
Honesty is what matters! Love your blog!
I love this post Gina. I think the balance you’re talking about – with food, family, work, life – is what so many people are actually striving for. Congratulations on finding yours. 🙂
I’ve been reading your blog since you started it but never comment. But I just wanted to say you rock and the example you are setting for your daughter is priceless!
SUCH a great post! Thank you for keeping it real 😉
I really love reading your blog. I feel like I have learned so much from you. And I like beer too! Though I am more of a Michelob Ultra girl!
great post gina!!! i share a lot of the same feelings and opinions you have. i feel like too often people cut out certain food groups or types of foods because of “shoulds” and obligatory feelings. food feeds our bodies BUT it also feeds our souls; it sounds like you’re using it for both and that’s a great example to set for your little girl.
“I don’t miss eating donuts every morning before school, but I did miss my mom’s enchiladas.” this rings so true to me!!! i used to eat donuts at work whenever anyone brought them in. i’d eat them at 10am – sometimes two at once – and feel like crap all day. i don’t miss that. but at the worst of my ED, i wasn’t letting myself eat my favorite food – pizza. goddammit, i missed that! now i’m so much better at feeding my body and soul in ways that make both happy. pizza totally does that for me, but i do not miss the donuts and how crappy they made me feel physically after i ate them.
thanks for inspiring your readers to be true to body and soul!
Thank you so much for posting this. I’m a momma of two little boys struggling to lose this weight and find a balance with family. I’m trying to teach my kids to eat right but the last thing I want to do is never have that special treat with them because I’m scared. Thank you again, this is exactly what I needed to read today!!
Bravo!!!
I love that you have a healthy balanced approach to your diet for yourself and for your daughter. I’ve noticed so many awful issues teens have about food because of the issues their mothers had about food. I don’t ever recall my mother mentioning anything about her weight, diet, or anything growing up – hers or mine! I think that is why I have a healthy relationship with my body and a great self-esteem. Here’s to the occasional donut and birthday cake with the kids!
I love your blog Gina and your honesty! I feel the same way and I know I’ve grown so much myself over the last few years that I sometimes feel embarrassed about the way I used to took at & value certain things.. It does me good to read your experiences and journey. Most lessons we learn from reflecting. It’s all good… and I know it is 🙂 Thanks Gina, Love, Lianne (Leanne)
Great post!
I think it is great that you’re taking Liv into consideration with your eating habits. I truly believe that daughters learn how to love and respect their bodies from their mothers.
I just love how honest your are with your readers. Its so refreshing for you to just be YOU and not care what everyone thinks. That’s what keeps us coming back for more! 🙂
I feel like I’ve developed a lot of that same attitude since Tripp was born. I basically lived on salads, fish and smoothies before I got pregnant. I could never do that while I was pregnant or even now continuing to bf him, and I’m loving life so much more now that I don’t scrutinize every little thing I eat. Like you said, “ain’t nobody got time for that” anymore haha. I’d rather make healthy choices 90% of the time and focus my energy on enjoying my family.
I think it is an incredible thing to be willing and open to change. Fitness (for me at least) is a journey, and one that is constantly evolving. I started off eating mostly meat with no fruits or veggies, then I went vegetarian, and now a year and a half later I’ve added fish to my diet for the first time in my life. Every body is different and everybody has to do what’s right for them.
Thank you for being so open! I have read your blog for a year and half now, and during many fits of procrastination I actually went back and read most of your older posts as well haha. No matter what you are or are not eating, you are always an inspiration. Cheers to that!
I’m not much of a commenter but I must say AMEN! Love you’re perspective! I’m a full time working mom to an 18 month old, everyday is different. Everyday I’m learning his to juggle it all!
Gina thank you for being so open and honest!! Your blog is one of my favorites to read and follow. I’m looking forward to Summer Shape Up!!!
I love reading posts about people finding freedom with food. One of the things that bothers me the most about the HLB community is the fact that people get so hung up on eating 100% clean and seem to look down on those who don’t eat everything organic and have no problem with occasional helpings of things like white flour, white bread, and even -gasp- fast food. I used to be completely obsessed with making sure my diet was as healthy as I could make it, and the irony was that my body ended up in the worst state it’s ever been in. There’s food that’s good for the body, but there’s food that’s good for the mind too… and sometimes the latter is even more important than the former. Great post, girl 🙂
I absolutely love this. We all put more pressure on ourselves to be “perfect” than anyone else. My persona motto is “screw it, within moderation”. I have a lot of weight to lose, but the truth is it won’t happen on the most strict diet and fitness plan. I need to have some fluidity and flexibility. I have been employing 90/10 mentality. if I eat healthy and well for 90% of the time, I treat myself for the other 10. I have found out I can’t eat the “crap” that I used to anymore, which is good, but it doesn’t mean I don’t indulge from time to time. I have lost 15lbs already. I appreciate your honesty, and it is why I continue to read your blog everyday!
Thanks for being so open! I love how realistic your approach is to food and fitness. I’m a big believer that having a lifelong commitment to health and fitness means you have to be flexible and do what works for you and your body 🙂 (and I LOVE your focus on setting a positive example for your daughter!)
Proud to be a reader! Awesome wisdom for Liv, keep it up
Hi Gina! While I agree and commend you for your honesty/transparency, I have a question for you. I feel like I have a similar struggle, but I find that if I take a “I can have a little of everything and it’s ok”, I end up pretty far off track and do gain weight – which leads to the old “yo yo” diet. I’m wondering how you draw the line. Pretty soon I find myself picking at this and that, and before I know it my pants are snug!
Really love and appreciate this post! Your honesty will keep me reading:)
This makes my heart happy 🙂
Goodness gracious. I thought you were about to say you were quitting the blog!!!! I almost died! Glad i was wrong. 🙂
Preach it, sister! You have to enjoy your life and do what makes you happy. Change is fun and it’s what keeps life – and fitness, and food – interesting. So glad you wrote this post!
Love this post and you! You are honest and real. 🙂
I think you have a healthy attitude with food, and that’s definitely a good way to be when you have kids. My poor husband, he was inundated with his mom preaching only healthy ways his entire life…and he was overweight the second he left his family house and still hasn’t been able to lose the weight. Me on the other hand, while my mom made healthy stuff for dinner we still always had junk in the house, and I was always on the thin/healthy side. My kids are the same way, they are 10 and 12 and both pretty thin/healthy, even though we always have junk in the house. They just don’t care it is there and will have it once in a while…mostly they would rather have fruit! Funny how when you don’t tell them what to do they just pick the healthy foods. Anyway I’m rambling just want to say not being so gung ho about everything is definitely the way to be!!!!
I love your blog, partly because of your balanced approach to eating. When I first started reading, I enjoyed how it was similar to mine (except I don’t have any exclusions) as far as allowing bits of everything in our diets (hello chocolate!) and making room for treats (froyo!). How we eat is a journey that further develops with knowledge. For me it was kicking the Splenda habit, then switchinh to organic produce and finally now to organic meat.
Gina, I’ve enjoyed your blog for about 2 years and I really loved this post. I think it’s refreshing to see how flexible you are with your eating! I love the complete honesty of this post and the reasoning behind why you eat what you do and occasionally don’t eat certain things!!
Thanks for sharing!
First time commenter, long time reader.
Thank you for this. What an amazing post. I imagine having such a beautiful little daughter is the perfect motivation to help her develop her own healthy relationship with food.
Also, coming from a lactose intolerant person, sometimes cheese is just exactly what you need!
I so appreciate this post and everything you blog about. It seems like there are so many good choices/options/lifestyles out there these days with regard to eating that it’s really confusing to keep up and know what is the best choice for you. There’s organic, raw, clean, paleo, gluten free, grain free, vegan, vegetarian and the list goes on. We had a very limited selection at one point due to my son’s food allergies, and his diet was dairy/gluten/soy/corn/egg/etc free. Thankfully he has gotten better and we are able to eat different things now. But I’m thankful for food allergies because it allowed us to explore this world of healthy eating. I really like how you explain the pros/cons of the different diets out there. I agree with you too, I like food too much to completely go one direction…for me I’d have to have the variety. And there is definitely no “all or nothing” either IMO. 🙂
Aww! what a sweet post! This has really been the highlight of my day! 🙂
awesome post and its all just so true! No need for a label, just eat mostly good things and don’t dwell on it when you eat something “bad”, its all a part of life!
I’m the same way. I try not to eat a ton of gluten and dairy because it does make me sick, but sometimes you just need to give in. Some days way more than others. The only annoying thing is when other people expect you to be so “all or nothing” based on blogs or how you mostly eat.
Loved this post. Everything about it. I think you’re a fabulous example of healthy and happy living for Liv, she’s a lucky little girl! And I have a similar reaction to gluten, my skin goes a little nutzo, I get easily fatigued, and I’ll just feel bloated and gross after I eat it. But sometimes? It’s freaking worth it. I’d much rather have the occasional cookie from a local bakery or whatever it is, rather than feel deprived and like I can “never” eat this that or the other. Especially when I’m out with friends and family, and they choose a restaurant that isn’t exactly GF friendly. It’s just food after all! I’m lucky that I don’t have a full blown auto immune disease, and it won’t hurt me too much to enjoy some gluten once in awhile.
Beautiful. Thankyou Gina. I think it is so important to be able to reflect where we were and look at how far we have come or have changed or have moved on from a phase. Without focusing on the past too much of course. I throughly enjoy your blog and am on my own weight loss journey at the moment. Thankyou for your beautiful posts.always. have a fantastic day. 🙂
Meeks
Great post, being totally right all the time is hard. I also have problems with lactose reactions, but here and there I eat it. I love ice cream and if 5 of my friends wants to have an ice cream in the local shop, I will join and enjoy a small portion that my stomach can survive without too much suffer
This is why I love you…and your blog! U are such an amazing person and have by far the best blog on the internet! I feel like you really love it and not that its just something u have to do! And you are sooo good at it! 🙂
THANK YOU!
Love love love this post!
Have you ever written a post about you before the 40 pound weight loss, and your weight loss journey?
This post is amazing. It explains exactly what I am going through at this time. I ate a vegan diet 90 percent of the time for the past year. I consumed gluten, eggs & on the rare occasion I would have dairy. I developed bad acne, my hormone levels went crazy and my stress only increased with those problems. 6 weeks ago I sat down with my naturopath and was given a boatload of expensive supplements, put on a food elimination diet and I took a close look at my diet. With much thought, I cut out all soy from my diet and decided to incorporate organic chicken and wild caught fish back into my diet, stay away from gluten when possible (except when I am out & it’s not easily accessible) and develop a stress free attitude with food. I lost 40 lbs also and I think why I decided to go plant based initially was to make sure the lbs stayed off but looking back now I had a unhealthy relationship with food. I am glad you did a post on this as I am sure a lot of people are going through the same thing, having a variety in your diet and indulging in food is healthy freeing 🙂 as usual I love reading your blog and thank you for the constant inspiration.
I love that you wrote this! Your blog is a huge inspiration for me as a gluten-free vegan, but I’m so happy that you’re enjoying life! Take care!
Love this! I 100% support balance…which I think includes the occasional round of dessert or fried food. I’ve realized lately that life’s too short to freak out over every morsel that goes in my mouth!
Beautiful Gina! I’m that way about being vegan…it’s never an all or nothing approach. I go with the flow so I can be happy and not just physically but mentally healthy too!
I have never posted ever but I have read your blog for a few years now and I just wanted to say that as time goes by you become more and more wise. I think you set a really good example for others and your daughter, but also challenge yourself in the right ways. Have fun enjoying all these new foods and thanks for being inspiring 🙂
Hi Gina! I cannot explain to you how much this post meant to me! I too struggled with weight and I’m still trying to figure out healthy eating and exercise habits after a long period of disordered eating and continuous struggling with terrible body image. It is so encouraging to me that you are willing to be REAL! And I’m so happy for you too. 🙂
Love this Gina and love you!!! We have been opening our eyes up to more foods and trying new things and loving it. We occasionally might have some gluten too and are okay with that 🙂
You’re amazing!!! love ya
Haha, I love that ‘give myself the sideways eye’.. yes, me too, me too. I think most people do crazy stuff on their way to finding a healthy balance, and we all continue to evolve. This is a great post.
you’re amazing. keep doing what you’re doing!