Lovelyish

SCREW THAT.

I reward myself with food all the time.
I’ll be like okay, do this chore and you can hit up the mac shack for lunch, lol.

I’ve never found any sort of ‘balance’ I always eat more than I should and feel bad about it later– oh well!

Food is tasty!

I’ve never been able to maintain a healthy relationship with food, or even a healthy diet. It seems like either everything I eat is crap and I don’t care, or I’m on some extreme diet, or I’m restricting. There’s never a happy medium. I have been trying for it lately, though.

I think I’ve always had a healthy relationship with food. 
My mom has taught me well :]
 Although I occasionally eat too much chocolate when I’m stressed in college.

Some things that help to stay healthy:

-Learn more recipes from other countries’ cuisines and try new food.  By looking at recipes from around the world, you’ll be getting more variety and learning more delicious ways of eating healthy. It doesn’t have to be anything super fancy or complex, there are a lot of simple dishes out there that anybody can make.  I find that American cuisines lacks variety when it comes to vegetable-based dishes or even tasty healthy dishes, and that’s where you look at other country’s cuisines for ideas.  I come from an Asian family, and I find that Asian cuisines have a lot more vegetable based dishes than America, and I think that’s what helps me to be healthy.

-Eat three meals a day. It’s the best way to keep yourself from over eating or under eating, and it’s the best way to keep good healthy rhythm for your digestive system and body.

-Take it a baby step at a time.  Big changes don’t come immediately.  Suddenly changing your diet isn’t good for you anyways, so if you are trying to eat healthy, then change things one step at a time.

When I was younger I was the extremely chubby, overweight awkward ugly girl. I had huge glasses, a gap in my teeth and frizzy bangs. Since then I wanted to make a change with my appearance for a fresh start in high school. I got braces and worked off everything that I put into my mouth and ate very very little. A slice of bread a day and water. I actually reached my goal weight and looked fit for quite some time. People noticed and I felt great. 

During the summers when I was bored and there wasnt anything to do however, I began to binge eat. And then work out excessively. This backfired however, and I only ended up with a lot of weight on me still because I wasnt eating right. I would have to lose the weight all over again. Go through the entire process ALL over again. Now, I’m at community college and I’ve been eating to the point of no return. My struggle with food and my yo-yo dieting will never cease until I die. Here it goes again, another diet and more exercise. Its like a game I play with myself because I dont understand moderation. I hate it.

Oh my god this defines me to a T. I want to be thin I feel best on an empty stomach and when I haven’t eaten much for the past few days etc but then it’s like I realize i’m not fat so why don’t i deserve to binge out on some chips?! Then after i’m like WHY did i just do that now i’ve ruined my entire day and usually throughout the day I’ll continue to make poor choices. I go back & fourth with the extremes of i want to take in 500 calories max per day to that’s not normal! Lets eat 1,500 per day. But I then hate myself. I understand this isn’t normal and i need “help” but i will never feel comfortable with feeling fat. It’s just not possible. When i’m bloated i take a nap because i hate the feeling so much. Pretty sure i’m just outta luck.

hahahah this title is awesome. 

I’ll definately admit, even to just myself, that my relationship with food is god-awful. In high school and even middle school, I always scrutinized my appearance and my weight but never came to a good balance. Then I moved out on my own, did some ‘stuff’, found out about my mother’s affairs, got pregnant, had a car accident and lost the baby, battled my family, had a house fire, dropped in and out of school, got pregnant again, lost all my friends, dealt with making my relationship work, dealt with trying to make my family happy….. bottom line: at this point I feel like the only reason I eat at all these days is mainly to punish myself. There are days when I forget to eat or only have a few bites of a few things, and then there are days where I’m at home and bored and my body, my head, or whatever just says, “a breakfast taco sounds good…..so does a bowl of cereal……so does a ham sandwich…..maybe after these cookies I’ll be ok…. i could really go for some taco bell,” and this usually happens within a course of a couple of hours. I know my weight is starting to get out of control and I feel like my ‘just do it’ button is broken when it comes to keeping a healthy menu or workout schedule, my man shows concern by offering to watch the baby so I could take a couple hours out for a walk or at the gym and he tries to shop healthy for me but like I said I feel like I’m mostly punishing myself when I eat…. so when you find a good balance please let me know…I miss my size 8 jeans v.v

Since I was born I never ate much, my mother always struggled to make me eat healthily. I’m not sure why I didn’t like eating but I know it wasn’t because of a body image issue. But since I hit my teen years, I started eating more and now I eat pretty much whatever I want. If I’m hungry, I eat. If I’m bored, I eat. I may be a skinny girl, but I love eating. Food is honestly one of the best things about life.

I have issues forcing myself to eat sometimes. They say ‘eat when you’re hungry,’ but sometimes that just never happens for me.

i think you can still reward yourself with food every now and then, just swap them out for healthier alternatives. maybe try a fruit salad instead of a bowl of ice cream? or try frozen yogurt instead of ice cream with fruit toppings? a healthy lifestyle isn’t just about eating, but also incorporating exercises too. find an activity you like to do, that way exercising is FUN and not a chore. you’re beautiful! don’t ever doubt yourself of that. 

Food is not a reward or punishment to me, food is pleasure! I eat what I want whenever I want to or feel hungry. A healthy lifestyle to me is to excercise regularly and eat when you’re hungry and don’t deprive your body of the food it craves. If you don’t eat a spoon of ice cream when you want to, you’ll eat the whole bowl in a week or month at once.

Edit: If you’ve lost your feeling of hunger.. it’s tricky. But I think your body still needs at least breakfast, lunch and dinner. Maybe it’ll come back if you keep eating regularly.

For those of you who have eating disorders or feel bad about your body for whatever reason, this is inspirational. For me, it’s pointless, angering, etc.

i love food. if i could eat endless and never feel sick or get fat i would. i can binge like no other. that being said, i definitely eat too much most of the time. i get way too much enjoyment out of food. i also have body image issues. i’m not fat per se, but i’m definitely heavier than i’d like to be. i’ve gone through periods where i didn’t eat enough regularly and purged when i did eat enough. i hate myself for eating so much, but its so hard to stop. its very, very hard for me to find a balance. once i get the hang of it and lose weight, then its easier for me to restrict my calories because i know what i’m working for. but when i lose enough weight i start to think that i can eat a lot again. then i gain weight, hate myself, try to restrict, fail. blah blah blah its an endless cycle. 

@bittersweet_surveys@xanga - Now don’t take this the wrong way but ‘when I’m bloated I take a nap’ ummm…that is probably the absoulte worst thing you could do in that situation! If I’ve eaten too much before bed I stay awake just to make sure I’m not sleeping on a full stomach lol. Peppermint tea always helps <3

@x_damaged_yet_unbroken_x@xanga - Don’t read it, then?

I use it as a reward and the whole “deserve it” thing, I didnt know others were like that. 

i definitely have an unhealthy relationship with food, usually more on the overeating then feeling guilty/disgusting/etc. side.  i don’t usually starve myself or anything because i love food too much for that, but i do beat myself up about it.  it’s nice to know this is a problem for so many people because sometimes it feels like all my friends have everything under control and have perfectly healthy habits and i’m just a mess.  let’s hope we can all find some balance in 2012!

@neon_kaleidoscope_eyes@xanga - i do that ALL THE TIME.  i know it’s not really “healthy” but sometimes it’s hard to come up with other rewards.

Food and I do not get along at all. Sometimes I have to make myself eat just so I don’t get sick and other times I just can’t stop stuffing my face. My weight has taken a hit big time due to both and I need to get it under control.

I’ve always had an issue with gaining weight. It sucks when you’re super thin, and yeah, ignorant people think you have an eating disorder. But I eat what I want and no it isn’t always healthy, but its w/e. I don’t think too much about it. It’s this whole media hype of supposedly trying to “get healthy” and join an effing gym when in reality it’s just to try to get you to “look better”. Which is funny cause all them buff guys you see at the gym, most of them are on steroids, which fellas, isn’t healthy no matter how great you look and feel on the outside. It’ll come get you at some point. So I’m really not into having a damn relationship with my food. I eat to sustain myself and I look just fine now, so no worries. As for reward/punishment, sure I’ll go eat to celebrate stuff but I don’t take away food or force feed myself as a punishment. That’s pretty stupid. But that’s just my opinion. 

You need professional help….and I’m being completely serious.  All of the comments that refer to using food as a reward/punishment ….all need to talk to a professional too.  Food is fuel.  If you deny your body the food that it needs then you are hurting yourself.  Eating a fucking cookie isn’t an unforgivable sin that needs to be atoned by exercising or starving yourself. 

If you do not love yourself, then it is easy to deprive your body the good things that it needs.  I lost a dear friend 20 years ago because she thought her body was so fat and so ugly that she starved herself until she was a skeleton with skin draped over it.  I held her hand when she suffered the defeat of the feeding tube.  Within a month of discharge she was found by her mother, unresponsive.  She died of cardiac arrest at the age of 27. 

It’s very easy to be cavalier about anorexia and bulimia…until your friends start dying.  Please get help. And please…don’t contact me….I won’t go through this again with someone else.

for anyone saying “i’ll never be comfortable with my body unless i’m X weight” or “i’ll hate myself if i’m fat”…

the problem with this is that, essentially, you won’t like yourself no matter what unless your mindset changes. oh, you lost five pounds? you probably want to lose more. feeling good about yourself is NOT about the number on the scale, or how small your waist is, or what size jeans you fit in. feeling good about yourself comes from the inside. however cheesy that sounds it is 100% true. you have to make peace with yourself first. if you do that, you might find that having “the perfect body” is just not important anymore.

also, for anyone saying they too have an “abusive” relationship with food: go get help. before it gets out of control, or before you just end up hurting yourself… plain and simple.

One way I keep from binging on the whole box of cookies, etc and also keep the weight from creeping up “silently” is to keep real food in my house.  I go to the grocery soon after I’m paid and spend plenty of money on the “right” things to eat.  [This also uses up my money so I can't eat out too much.]  I get items that have a shelf life (cans, boxes, frozen) that are in each category:  takes 10 min or less/30 min or less/45-60 min or less.  I include pastas (stir a little cream cheese to melt in), rice (add a little extra water/chicken stock & pieces of frozen grilled chicken), canned pintos (add onion & garlic powders + oregano! & put over rice), and a few fresh potatoes (microwave & add shredded cheese) — they’re quick and filling, but ALWAYS make them with a protein; don’t eat just carbs at any time!!  I’d love to eat more fresh produce, but it goes bad quickly — so I only buy 1 or 2 pieces that last (like apples, pears, acorn squash, carrots) and 1or 2 pieces that should be eaten soon (like bananas, melon, yellow squash, tomatoes).  It’s pretty easy to get more produce when I run out since it’s in the front of the store…I pretend I’m going there for fast food instead of going to McD/etc, then go home with it or eat it on the run.  For breakfast I like coffee and a “bread thing” but I make myself eat a slice or two of cheese with it, or I fry a piece of pre-sliced ham/frozen bacon in a small skillet while my frozen waffles are toasting and my coffee is brewing…a little honey drizzled on 2 waffles and make it a bacon sandwich:  you can eat it on the run.  One-minute oatmeal is much better than Instant and takes less time than boiling water!  I take it in a thermal mug with a handle (and use an iced tea spoon) so I can hold it while I’m driving.  I’m very surprised that I can make a decent breakfast even tho I’m not a morning person and usually don’t have a minute to spare.  Yes, I eat treats.  But I’ve finally, finally developed the HABIT of taking 3 cookies on a napkin to sit in bed or my chair while watching TV (or a small “salsa” bowl filled with carb snacks) or a 1/4 cup measuring cup scoop of nuts.  I keep individual sugar free candies like a bag of mint patties or Reese’s mini cups, so I can take one to bed or chair.  If I still feel hungry, I tell myself that I’ll get something at the end of the show or after I do all my email or some other project…usually I don’t eat more or it’s a couple of hours later so I go back to eating a protein or protein+carb “mini meal”.  I missed lunch for years and now I regularly buy cheese crackers, jerky, nuts, Laughing Cow cheese, etc. and keep it where I’ll be (at work or in purse, etc.)
Do I break from these good ideas?  Sure!  But the goal is to have the RIGHT FOOD AVAILABLE  & EASY, then you’re more likely to eat it 3 times a day.  Also, I give grocery gift cards so my niece can get a little push toward stocking up !

@bittersweet_surveys@xanga - I’m the same way. I feel so strong when I’m hungry and vile when I’m full.