Wolfsbane

I know it can become an obsession. Once you get passed reading the main ingredients you get down to the preservatives and the artificial dyes... There's no end to it, unless you only eat whole natural foods. I think it's funny that people are worried about horse meat, when it's very normal for some cultures to eat it. They're worried about a healthy lean meat, but not about all of the sodium and empty calories in their food? I think that people in general don't think about what they put in their bodies. They just eat what they like and don't worry about anything. Packaging is so deceptive too! I honestly feel that a lot of people rely on the food manufacturers to tell them what is healthy. Why else would margarine and aspartame be considered part of a healthy life style? "Low fat" means there is more sugar added. "Sugar free" means it's loaded with artificial sweetener. It still doesn't change the fact that you're eating a chocolate cake rather than an apple with natural sugars. I don't think anybody actually reads the back of the package. I started reading labels when I went vegetarian, and I was very surprised to see all of the ingredients I was overlooking before. I try not to obsess over the little things like preservatives and artificial dyes, but I'm sure those can't be good for you either. For me it's just easier to stick to natural plant foods. Anything that came straight from the ground. I don't even worry about buying organic yet. This rabbit hole just gets deeper and deeper. Yes it can very easily become an obsession, but is that the fault of the individual, or the food manufacturers for making such bad food in the first place? Or maybe it was spurred on by our consumer mindsets. Everything has to be brightly colored, delicious, and have a long shelf life for convenience. We don't know what real food is supposed to look like. I think it's good for your mental health to indulge once in a while. I do still enjoy the occasional pizza or dessert, but I realize that it's completely unhealthy. Everything in moderation. Food should be seen for what it is: fuel for your body. Your heart and brain cannot live off of pizza alone. While your taste buds may enjoy it, the rest of your body doesn't benefit from it. I just try to give my body what it needs to function at its best.

I think if you are wanting permanent weight loss, you should do it in a healthy way. The only way to keep it off is a healthy diet and exercise. Your body will suffer negative affects from not getting enough nutrition. It will pull the calcium from your bones, and your organs may be affected as well. I used to struggle with starving myself, and as much as I want to sometimes I know it's so horrible for your body. The reason you don't feel hungry is because your body is in survival mode. Your metabolism has probably slowed down to a crawl. Even if you are trying to lose weight, your body still needs enough calories just to function. Do you feel weak and tired a lot? Or light headed? I used to worry about people thinking I'm fat because I finished all of my food too. I never feel fat when I'm eating something healthy. I'm sure people see me and think, "Wow, I wish I could eat healthy food like her!" On my weight loss journey, the one thing that has helped me the most is realizing that the number on the scale is irrelevant. The only thing that you should worry about is how you look in the mirror. Your weight fluctuates naturally throughout the day, depending on water level and food in your stomach. By the end of the day I'm 2-4 pounds heavier. The next morning I'm back down to my real weight.

I've realized that food is classifiable in to four categories: quick, cheap, delicious, and nutritious. You can only choose three of the four. Most people choose quick, cheap, and delicious. We live busy lives and don't have time to cook. We want everything instantly, and we want it to be as tasty as possible. Unfortunately sugar, salt and fat are really exciting to the taste buds. Food manufacturers know this, and so they make food solely for taste. Recently I've been running in to the opposite problem. I've done so much to be fit and healthy. I've changed my entire view on food and exercise. Now I'm at the lowest possible healthy weight for my height, and I can't afford to lose one more pound. In an attempt to be super healthy I've cut out a lot of food. Meat, added sugar, junk food, unhealthy processed food, and now bread. The deeper I get in to this, the harder it is to eat anything. Can I eat this? No, the salt is too high. What about this? No, there's a lot of added sugar in that. Well maybe this... No, that's empty calories. I'm down to the basics such as fruits, veggies, nuts, beans/legumes.. Anything natural I guess. Everything I eat now requires some prep (I chose cheap, delicious, nutritious). Everything I eat is naturally low in calories, because that's just how a lot of healthy food is. I can't eat that much volume in one day, and as a result I don't get enough calories.

I've been struggling with that too! I assume it's normal to go through this, but it's still difficult to deal with. I've hated my body ever since I was five years old. In the past two years I've lost all the weight I needed to lose. I just don't know what it's like to be happy with my body. I look in the mirror a lot so I get used to the new shape, but I feel like it's still not me. There's a definite disconnect there. I just don't recognize that skinny girl in the mirror. I can see that I'm super skinny, but it almost seems unreal.