No matter what your current relationship with food is, you can learn the secret to eating right! It’s not as hard as you might think – any anyone can master it!
What’s the Secret to Eating Right?
{Refferal links are used in this post.}
Like many women, I have had a complicated relationship with food. Veterinary school, my internship, and my residency were 8 years that were chock full of long, busy hours and late nights. Eating out (or skipping meals completely) was definitely the normal for that time in my life. (20-hour, on-my-feet, on-the-run-all-day, day? Cereal for lunch=dinner=breakfast anyone?) Sometimes the choice very seriously came down to “should I take a shower or eat something?” Usually I opted for a shower and the McDonald’s drive through. And coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
Since then, I’ve tried to have a better relationship with food and the way I eat. (But not with coffee. We already have a perfect relationship.) Needless to say, my eating patterns were less than ideal. And as my metabolism started to slow down (hello, 30!) I started to gain weight. More than I care to admit.
I’ve been on Weight Watchers on and off for the last 6 years or so, and my weight has been up and down. I did lose a bunch of weight before my wedding (the lowest I had been in years!), but I think that had as much to do with the 4 hilly miles I walked every day as it did with how I was eating. After I got married, I found all that weight I had lost, along with some friends I didn’t know it had.
I started seriously thinking about food when I got pregnant. I was already heavier than I (and my doctor) wanted to be, so I was careful during my pregnancy to not gain much weight. I really started paying attention to what I was eating, and consciously making choices that were “good for the baby.”
Turns out, the same choices are also “good for mommy.”
I didn’t use my pregnancy as an excuse to live in the ice cream maker. (Although I did certainly put it through its paces that summer…)
After our son was born, I was trying to pay even more attention to what I was eating. I had enormous trouble breastfeeding, so I tried to be sure that my nutrition and hydration was as good as could be to try to get my milk production up. (What I would have given for a dairy farm’s nutritionist to come do a consult for me!)
In the long-term, breastfeeding didn’t work out for me. My son was thriving on formula, so I didn’t pay very close attention to what I was eating anymore. And I’m about back up to my highest weight now.
Now kiddo is eating “real food.” He’s pretty fed up with being spoon fed pureed baby food, and would much rather feed himself. (Of course, he neglected to mention this until after I stocked my freezer with homemade baby purees.) So now I’m back to seriously thinking about food again, and the kinds of choices that I’m making for myself, my husband (who is also trying to lose weight and get in shape for a trip this fall), and my 9-month-old son. I’ve been in lots of conversations that seem to end with “just feed him what you’re eating!” Which is great, because that means that I don’t need to cook another meal for my 9-month-old, but it really doesn’t help when I’m sitting down to a big bowl of ice cream Frosted Flakes cereal for dinner because I’m just too tired to cook.
What can I grow/buy/cook that is good for my husband and I who need to lose some weight and for my son who has a lot of growing and developing to do? I’m no stranger to food labels, but it can still get very confusing sometimes.
So when Indiana’s Family of Farmers offered me the chance to go on a grocery store tour with Kim Galeaz, a registered dietician, I jumped at the chance.
Finally! I was going to learn the secrets to “eating right”!
Are you ready?
There is no secret!
Well, okay. There’s a little secret. The secret is: Everything in moderation.
Even Raisinets. (Raisins count as a fruit, after all!)
For real. That was the big message.
And you know what? It made me feel way less guilty. It’s okay if I have a big small bowl of ice cream Frosted Flakes cereal for dinner once in a while. Because ice cream has dairy and protein. And many cereals are made with whole grains. And if I top it off with a fresh banana, frozen blueberries, or canned peaches I’m adding a fruit. It’s all about looking at food from a nutrition standpoint – seeing the good and the bad in everything that you choose. And trying to make the best choices that you can.
Truthfully, we talked about a lot more than that in the 2-1/2 hours that we roamed the aisles of the Kroger. We covered everything from the produce aisle to the frozen foods. Check out some more of the tips for navigating the grocery store that we learned from Kim.
See what some of the other moms on this tour had to say:
What has been your biggest struggle at the grocery store, or at the table at home?
Enjoy!
3 Ways to Take the Fear Out of Your Kitchen
- How to Get Kids to Eat More Vegetables
- Breaking Down the Top 5 Food Myths
- Should I Buy Organic Food?
At our house, the hubs seems to have no problems staying skinny… but I on the other hand have been gaining weight for the last few months. #EpicFail. Can I blame the county fair? Probably not. I started gaining weight before then. I think I need to give up all the snacky foods. But who knows. Maybe it’s just because I’m getting old.