No More Rules.

In the past few months, (since stopping blogging), I've really tired of the rules surrounding food and exercise that I've given myself over the past few years.  I don't know how much it comes through on this blog, but I am strict with my diet - it's fine because I enjoy it, but I've regularly been at a point where pasta is the devil, eating any sort of carb was a 'bad food day' and, on more than one occasion, even a gram of sugar was completely forbidden.  I finally cracked when I realised I was pretending to like Slim Pasta.  Great stuff if you need or want to lose weight or stay on a low calorie diet, but guys, that is not spaghetti, and I am not overweight..

Living like a health-nut (as above) sure does get you slim and, in conjunction with 4x weekly gym visits mixed in with some intense home cardio, pretty fit and toned too.

But! I was that girl, you know, the one that cooks you an amazing risotto and then piles a heap of vegetables under hers because she doesn't want to eat the rice.  Or goes to an Italian restaurant and scours the menu for the fish and steamed vegetables option.  Italians make excellent pasta!  I don't want to be that girl! 

So I've decided not to be.  

A pretty and irrelevant photo from flickr.

Don't get me wrong, I make healthy food choices because I have too much knowledge not too and I genuinely, genuinely love everything that I eat. But I also love pasta, wine, eating out, my mother's lasagna, bread (rye sourdough, but hey), and, believe it or not, sometimes I want a piece of grossly sweet and sickening Cadbury chocolate instead of the dark Lindt I usually reach for.  You heard it here first, she eats (crappy) milk chocolate.  You know what I don't like?  Feeling guilty, so I've stopped doing that.

Allowing yourself everything is great - honestly, I've lost weight since I started.  What it lets you do is eat your piece of chocolate and put it down, rather than finish the row or block because you 'won't eat any for the rest of the week'.  It also stops you eating 10 healthy cacao balls because you  feel like some chocolate but they're not hitting the spot.

I'm not saying I'm about to go out and eat McDonald's, that is still not food to me, and I still eat my 8 veg and 1-2 fruit a day.  I'm also not saying I've started eating pasta every night - why would I when I can have it whenever I want?  I've just started listening to my body, enjoying food for what it is, and not being scared to glug a little olive oil in my minestrone.  For most people, this is normal healthy eating anyway, but for me and a lot of other nutrition-nuts, this is a huge step!

So while I respect the no sugar crusaders, the paleo lovers and the (fricken' amazing) men & women who train to be in body building contests, those lifestyles are not for me and not at all suited to my highly-strung personality.  I needed to relax about food!


Do you ever get tired of all the rules we place on ourselves, or do you need those rules to maintain a healthy diet?


I'll leave you with my new mantra, taken from Michael Pollan, who's book I have just purchased and will read soon...

"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants".

Stay well,
Nat x