Say No to Dirt and Twigs



http://www.flickr.com/, photo by spaceamoeba


Truett Cathey, founder of Chick fil-A, once said, "Food is essential to life; therefore, make it good."

I couldn't agree more.

I think the reason I resisted going the healthy route for so long is because every time I looked up healthy recipes or checked out diet plans, they seemed disgusting to me. I didn't want to eat foods I couldn't pronounce. I didn't want to purchase blocks of tofu instead of real meat. I didn't want to give up cheese or try to count calories.

I resented the experts who tried to tell me what I could and couldn't eat. My absolute pet peeve, however, was those diets that lay out a menu for you. I'd have to be absolutely desperate to ever try one of those. I don't like half of the items on those menus. That would be torture!

Eating shouldn't be a chore. We shouldn't look at our plate and sigh. Our cupboards and refrigerator shouldn't be full of foods we hate. If that's the case, we're not going to make it. We'll eventually give up and go back to eating the foods that taste good to us, even if they're terrible for us.

God made our bodies to need food. We crave it, and it should taste delicious. Taking all the joy out of eating  just seems wrong to me.

This healthy eating thing has got to be sustainable. You can read all the information in the world about what foods are best for you, but if you hate eating them, you're not going to stick with it. Healthy eating isn't about deprivation. That's what a diet is, and this isn't a diet. This is a way of life; therefore, it has to be sustainable. You've got to figure out how to find acceptable foods you love, and maybe even fudge here or there in order to keep from falling off the wagon altogether.

I've had a couple of people tell me they absolutely hated something that I said was delicious. Of course that will happen, because we all prefer different things. What do you really love to eat? What do you crave? Is there a way you can make that work with a healthier eating plan? If it's just plain terrible for you, plan to eat it as a weekly "cheat," and then make sure that you thoroughly enjoy the other healthier foods you make for your family so you don't feel deprived.

My family enjoys homemade pizza every week. We make juicy burgers on the grill with sweet potato fries, we throw all of our favorite ingredients in a skillet and make stir fry, we enjoy taco/nacho night, and we even make our own ice cream, because those are the foods we love. We don't feel like we're missing out, because we're not! That's sustainable.

Take a minute and look at your menu for the past week, if you had one. Did your family enjoy the meals? If not, don't give up on healthier eating. Make a list of the foods you know your family loves, and try to find ways to make those foods healthier so you can continue enjoying them. Keep searching for new recipes and ways to adjust the foods you love to make healthier living a joy.