[itissteve]

I came across this article a few days ago and really liked the approach it took to dieting -- and then thought it extended well to many forms of self-care. So many of us felt like our diabetes diagnosis was like getting sentenced. What if we looked at our restrictions as gateways to better health? What if there was an organic way to make better choices?

We’ve been told: Stop eating late at night. Cut out all your favorite foods. You’re lazy if you don’t work out, and God forbid you simply don’t like to cook. You need to control yourself! Send in the self-care apps, trackers, diets and fitness plans that will transform you into a “better” person.

[...] “Self-care” that feels more like prison than a step toward freedom is bound to send you ricocheting blindly back to your old “bad” habits. [...] We don’t need control. We need relief. How we find it is as unique as we are.

What do you think?

 

[itissteve]

I sometimes get asked:

Can you eat this or that.? My standard answer is I can, but I don't.

My default is to say "I can't eat that." But most times I catch myself and say "I don't eat that." I have always been in the "live to eat" camp but concluded that the way I felt after eating an entire piece of birthday cake or a "serving" (ha) of hash browns or home fries just wasn't worth how I'd feel later. If it's the best birthday cake on the planet, I can eat a little of it and derive most of the benefit without the regret. But then it's a choice, not an edict.

 

[itissteve]

My brain and body know better if I say “ I can eat that(fries,bread,brownies) but I rather eat” fill in blank” . When there are fries around , I’d RATHER eat tha than anything 🤣

Fries probably was the food I hated most to stop eating. These days if they're really special fries I'll eat one or two and enjoy them. Too often I find after eating them and even after rave reviews from the other people at the table eating those fries that "they're just fries". But I certainly understand foods that are kinda like kryptonite.