Can you be a "fit foodie?"

Isn't it funny how when you hear the word "foodie" you think of someone who loves food but you don't really think of a fat person?  At least I don't.  Many people who see fat people assume that of course they love food or they wouldn't be that way and that once they start losing weight they won't ever get to be a true foodie because they'll have to deprive themselves to get and keep the weight off.  I think there's nothing further from the truth.

I consider myself a foodie more now than I did 188 lbs ago.  I would say in the past I was more of a food addict though I really hate to use that term.  At close to 500 lbs, I didn't eat the way many people assume people that fat people eat.  I didn't dump a bucket of food in a trough and chow down from morning to night.  I had normal meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I bought cereal because I thought it tasted good (hello Lucky Charms and Crunchberries!) and not for the fiber content.  We had Lean Pockets and veggies and fruit and some kind of fruit bar.  For dinner, restaurant sized dinners but nothing ridiculous and a snack later in the evenings.  These things may have been in a normal calorie range but very low in fiber and high in sodium.  On the weekends basically from Friday night to Sunday afternoon was spent eating out because we'd been "good" calorie wise throughout the week.  We basically ate the way many people do now that have little time or desire to cook.  While we could've eaten the way we did then during the week and maintained our weight, we blew it on the weekends because our relationship with food was so screwed up.  You were supposed to eat until full and our definition of full now is so different from what it was then.  Full equalled stuffed back then.  We used to split a box of spaghetti...thats 4 servings each!  But that's what they give in the restaurants so it must be okay, right?  Wrong!  Eating out for 5 meals during the weekend didn't help because those things are loaded with sodium and we considered it a free for all because we "watched it" during the week.  Ugh!

Now, we have a different relationship with food.  I measure EVERYTHING.  It's automatic for me.  Condiments, pasta before I cook it, meat before I cook it, all of it.  There are still times I look at what I prepared and think "there's no way I'll be full after that" but am always amazed that I am.  Sometimes I'm ashamed at what I used to eat and thankful I know the difference.  I still eat cupcakes and pizza and donuts.  What kind of life would it be to never indulge in those things?  But I don't settle for getting those things from anywhere.  It has to be a high quality place.  If we're trying new things, we split them.  If it's bad, we throw it away because putting something inspiring in my body is more important than being in the clean plate club.  When I see or make up yummy recipes that I post here, I do it with not just nutrition but taste in mind as much as possible.  I'm not going to deny myself something that is delicious even if it's not the most nutritious.  I just don't keep it in the house.  I take a serving and either freeze it or send it to work.  This has to last me the rest of my life and I refuse to go on some fad diet that I would grow to resent and not be able to stick with.  Been there, done that more times than I care to recall.

As this journey continues, my love affair with food has thankfully changed for the better.  I am always looking for ways to make recipes healthier or make something that will make my hubby sink back in his chair or proclaim "that was awesome!"  I may not be a fit foodie yet but I'm getting there and my relationship with food is the healthiest it's ever been!

Do you consider yourself a foodie, a food addict or something in between?

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