I never claimed to be normal…

I’m afraid with my basil adornments, foodie collections, and other broccoli-kissing shenanigans, I’m your village idiot neighborhood weirdo. And yeah, we won’t even go into what my neighbors must think of the robed and slippered girl outside at 7am taking pictures of a bowl of oatmeal…

No, what I’m talking about is my relationship with food and how immensely it’s changed over the last few weeks…how things are finally starting to feel “normal” again. Certain situations that USED to be a source of stress are now not even given a second thought. And the other day? I was perfectly satisfied with ONE cookie! 😀

So I started thinking about what got me to this point. I mean, my journey with intuitive eating has been a LOT of work, but through all the trials and errors, moments of needless guilt, and the fights with my nagging perfectionism, I found THREE things that stood out the most…

TIME

I assumed when I first gave up calorie counting and decided to start eating intuitively that it wouldn’t be easy, but I guess I just thought it would be easy? expected to catch on quicker. I mean, whenever I do something, the perfectionist in me wants to be THE best. Also? I’m seriously impatient. I’ll admit, without the support from all of YOU, I probably would’ve given up months ago.

Once I returned from vacation, I struggled to get back “on track”. While I felt like I had maintained a good amount of balance at the beach and was very proud of myself for not only having one or two minor freak out moments, it’s always hard for me to make the transition back after time away from home.

PERSPECTIVE

Then, after a week of ups and downs, jussssst when I thought I found a groove, my knee started acting up again. Now the OLD me would have been so upset by this sudden “derailment” that it would have ended in a downward spiral toward the nearest cereal box, but this time, things were different. Instead of seeing this as a setback, I took it in stride. I realized my body needed rest and well, there wasn’t any cereal in the house anyway! 😉

I used the extra gym-free time to find other ways to relieve stress…I allowed myself more time to sleep (even if it was just 20 minute nap before work), I picked up a new book, I caught up on blog stuff, and I even got in the kitchen! Which brings me to my last thing on my list…

CLEAN EATING

I know everyone’s definition of what’s considered “clean” is different…actually, I really enjoyed hearing Kat’s and Khusboo’s thoughts on the topic…but I’m not really looking to start a debate today. For me, it means sticking to whole foods and getting away from those that come with nutrition labels. Well, with one exception…

Some of you may have noticed a lack of cereal killing around these parts lately? Well, I’ll be honest, when first trying to breakdown the whole “good” vs “bad” label thing, I kinda overdid it. At one point, I may or may not have left the store with FIVE boxes of cereal! 😯

But after the excitement of having previously banned foods back in my life wore off, I came back to eating whole foods and left the processed ones on the shelf. It’s been about a month now since I’ve had a single bowl of cereal (don’t cry, Amanda) but I can honestly say, I haven’t felt deprived ONCE!

If and when I do crack open a box, I’m sure it will feel a lot more special since I’m no longer trying to prove something to myself by eating it.

But for now, I think I’ll just stick with my photogenic bowls of oats! 😉

Are you a patient person?

What’s something you are proud of yourself for accomplishing recently?