Hello World,
We all know about mamma’s cravings during pregnancy. Luckily I had been able to balance mines quite well until I reached the count down of the last weeks. By then I was in need of regular small amount of foods and I craved filling dense, mostly carbs, foods.
One afternoon I happened to come across a candy shop and I couldn’t resist the temptation. As I was paying for my little bag of sweets, two ladies encouraged me in that act of indulgence: “You deserve it, you look great and will lose those calories after delivery!”
That’s when I realised that my mindset had changed these last years. The potential “weight gain” from indulging never crossed my mind. I focused my meals and snacks on nutrients, on the added-value of what I was consuming and I was concerned about the little nutritional value and artificial additives of processed foods, which I was minimising. Not to underscore that during pregnancy, there’s a responsibility for that baby in the oven. I was very aware that he was getting whatever I was nourishing my body from. So to go back on the candies, I was not feeling guilt about the calories intake but the content of this “food” empty of any nutrients.
Awareness regarding food has risen tremendously in the last years. Words like whole food, organic, healthy, nutrients are all over the place. People are more and more conscious that what matters is the quality of the food, its nutrients content. But even though there is a change in trend and people are getting educated, the shift in how we think and act towards food is slow.
Society is so obsessed with body image that we keep worrying about weight gain and we keep counting the calories – doing the math to balance what went in and what burnt out.
Additionally, we’re all so busy that we forgot how to cook and don’t dedicate much time to this essential “chore”. Sometimes cutting out calories seems easier than learning how to replace certain foods by healthier tasty choices, it’s less time consuming and after all, we are creatures of habits. We forget that health is what matters, that cells are constantly renewing with what we nourish our body from. We literally are what we eat. In the end, just by eating what’s right for us, it will automatically be reflected on the outside. Implementing changes takes efforts but this kind of change is empowering, we realise how much transformation we are capable of.
And again, it’s not about feeling guilt if you sometimes indulge, limiting the intake of processed food is enough. It’s not about feeling deprived either. There are plenty of delicious healthy recipes that will give you a sense of satisfaction. Some easy tips to begin with are replacing potato chips by nuts or edamame, sweetened yogourt by plain yogourt with fresh fruits,… And to maximize the nutrient, start by eating a rainbow (usually foods that come without label), avoid the center aisles of the supermarkets and head to local farmers market to stock up on healthy whole food.
How much empty calories are in your pantry right now? How can you start limiting their consumption without feeling deprived?
Need help to implement changes in your food habits? Contact me for a free consultation…
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