emily-finding-balance-blog

[emily-finding-balance-blog]

I would really like to open up about something that has been heavy on my heart and mind in hopes of helping someone else with problems that I used to face. My thyroid almost completely died last year, heavily affecting my metabolism as well as much more, causing me to gain 30 pounds in a short amount of time. Later on in the year, this lead to me sort of “giving up” when it came to making healthy choices, because I thought “what’s the point? It’s too late.” (PS- It’s NEVER too late to take care of yourself, and we shouldn’t be taking care of ourselves just because we want to change our bodies, we should be doing it because we LOVE our bodies. Seriously, they can do amazing things❤️) When I went to the doctor this January, I realized that I was slightly over weight. And although no one NEEDS to weigh a specific number, I have almost always been someone who is health conscious, and I wasn’t completely comfortable with the negative side affects that being over weight, or becoming more over weight, could have on my overall health in the future. I wanted to make healthy lifestyle changes without relapsing back into the restrictive eating habits that I gradually adopted as a young teenager struggling with an eating disorder. I joined WW briefly, and it helped me get back into a healthy eating pattern of fitting less nutrient dense foods into a balanced diet, but eventually stopped doing WW when I felt more in tune with myself and my journey. Especially over the last couple months, I base my eating habits on a balanced, not clean 80/20 lifestyle, meaning that no foods are off limits, I don’t cut out any food groups or restrict any macros, and I strive to form my diet to consist of roughly 80% nutrient dense foods as well as 20% “treat not cheat” foods, or less nutrient dense foods. I highly recommend this type of eating pattern to EVERYONE, especially those who have struggled with some type of eating disorder in the past, those who often struggle with “food guilt” after eating less nutrient dense foods, and those who have developed a pattern of eating that mainly consists of a vicious cycle of excessively restricting themselves to 100% “clean” or even “low carb” foods for some period of time followed by binging on large amounts of “treat” foods, followed by food guilt and lowered self esteem, and the cycle starts over again. The only foods that you need to remove/limit from your diet are foods that you don’t like, foods that you have an allergy too, or foods that negatively affect a health problem that you have, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. As someone who has dealt with an eating disorder in the past, it definitely took time as well as trial and error to arrive at my current place with my food relationship. What brought about this post is eating Taco Bell today😂 It wasn’t just the act of EATING the food from Taco Bell that brought along the opening of this discussion, it was that I ordered a Baja Blast without giving it a second thought. I used to be obsessed with completely cutting soda from my diet. I would have periods of time where I drank it every day, and periods of time where I drank absolutely none for many days or even weeks, and then I went right back to drinking it every day after exposing myself to it once. I placed HEAVY restriction on it, and as soon as I allowed myself to have it once, I had to have it every day. At some point over the last few months, I freed myself from this cycle by first focusing on HOW MUCH water I could drink instead of how little soda I could drink. Over time, a craving would come along, and I would honor that craving, and move on with my life. Because the only foods that are “good” are foods that TASTE GOOD TO YOU, and the only foods that are “bad” are foods that TASTE BAD TO YOU. Different types of food simply nourish the body more or less, and to achieve peace with your body AND mind, you can work on achieving a balance among them all❤️

[emily-finding-balance-blog]

🍫Healthy Chocolate Chia Pudding Recipe🍫

Ingredients:

•1 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (or other milk of choice)

•1/4 Cup Chia Seeds

•2 TBSP Cacao Powder

•2 TSP Coconut Sugar (add more if you prefer it to be sweeter)

Instructions:

•Combine all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl with a whisk

•Allow bowl to sit for 15 minutes before thoroughly mixing again to break up any chia seed clumps

•Pour equal amounts of the mixture into two small glass bowls/cups/jars

•Cover containers, let sit in fridge for at least four hours, but preferably over night

•Before eating, top with chocolate shavings, fresh fruit, granola, nuts, or other toppings of choice

•ENJOY!!