My Journey to Getting and Staying Healthy

ADHD, impulsive over eating, OCD and the need to "be perfect." After reading another blogger's post regarding body image and the negative messages we feed to our children through society's expectations, I feel compelled to share my story. Last year, I took a solid analysis of my relationship with food, body image, and what I was teaching my daughter. From an early age, like most little girls, I became aware of expectations of women to stay in shape. I remember my dad making jokes about my mom going to "the fat farm" to work out. When my parents were still married, my mother at 5'10" weighed 130 pounds. Although she years later ate her way to obesity, she was far from it at that point. All through high school and college, my weight stayed pretty steady at 125#. (I'm 5'6"). I can't say that my weight was that way for the healthiest of reasons, and throughout my adult life, like many women, I have struggled with my weight. I, like many others, turn to food in times of stress. I remember beginning in middle school (gym class memories anyone), becoming more aware of the comparisons of girls' bodies. It became obvious fast that according to society, fat meant ugly and there were plenty of ways that teen girls learned how to stay skinny. I remember one summer eating very little on a regular basis so I could fit "the norm." I remember one year in high school "feeling sick" on a regular basis and knowing if I just got rid of whatever made me feel that way, I would "be fine." While saying that I was lucky this is as far as it went might seem extreme to some readers, I was fortunate because this didn't necessarily become a long term habit of either behavior. In my adult years though, I did realize that having grown up on lots of processed food and knowing how happy sweets made me, I would find myself eating those sweets a bit over impulsively and my weight has fluctuated tremendously. When I took a solid assessment of this behavior last year and what the scale said, I decided to make a change. I qualified as overweight and my daughter might look like her dad, but if there is a high maintenance gene to be inherited or a bad habit, she tends to pick up my toughest ones. Did I really want her to learn from me that if something is hard to deal with, she should over indulge in some sweets? If I'm going to make these major dietary changes, how will I talk through the issues and decisions in an age appropriate manner AND ensure that I am teaching her how to have a positive body image? I spent some time researching nutrition and how it affects our bodies. My mother who had previously been underweight and now is obese with arthritis, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, and pre-diabetic is far from how I wanted to end up and as I learned about nutrition and auto immune disorders (little one and I have celiac), I learned that rarely does a person with one auto immune disorder just have one for long and processed foods really feed into this downward spiral. Eliminating grains and artificial sugars, as it became very obvious they are inflammatory drivers and I was desperate with a year long mysterious head to toe rash that five MDs couldn't identify the source of it. After having my fridge, pantry, & freezer cleaned out on the morning news, http://www.digtriad.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1736833830001&odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cfeatured I had the opportunity to explain to lil e that we were going to be feeding our bodies more foods that are made by God & Mother Nature and less food made by scientists. I explained that our bodies work better when we eat real food than when we eat fake food. I began the meal planning process again and started using many recipes from Maria Emmerich's cook books and blog, after Dr. William Davis of Wheat Belly endorsed her recipes (most are kid friendly), I was thrilled. I learned through this journey of getting healthy that when I'm stressed, I eat what sounds good and is on hand. I learned to keep her healthified snacks on hand by baking in bulk on the weekends and prepping for any out of town trips with cooking ahead and bringing with me. I learned that while my goal was to lose twenty-seven pounds and get to a certain weight, the words I said to my daughter were just as important as the words I said to myself. I learned to give myself some wiggle room. The grain free, sugar free from scratch is 80% of what we eat. I learned that she needs to know the why and how of what we put in our bodies and to focus on discussions about real foods. Read the ingredients to her and explained what these ingredients are. When they were questionable, ask e if she thought we should eat wax, etc. (Read the labels on some of those "fruit" gummy snacks.) I reached my weight goal, but more importantly, I've had tremendous opportunities and continue to leverage the opportunity to let my daughter have input in the meal planning process and understand why we eat what we do. I took her to Disney to celebrate her birthday and Halloween donations, along with mommy getting healthy again to help my body work better so we could play more. I have people on a regular basis make comments about my weight change or ask how can I possibly make time for this or put so much effort into cooking. The answer is easy: we don't change our behaviors unless or until we have a reason to do things differently. I had a big reason to get healthy and I don't regret committing to being healthier for myself and my daughter. I don't regret stopping the binge eating or impulsive behaviors that were destroying my health. I don't regret taking the time to teach my daughter what it means to eat healthy and why. So when you ask how can I spend time in the kitchen, meal planning, etc, it's simple, I'm investing in my daughter's and my future.

***7/2014 Update - Blessed to have found and partnered with a health & wellness company that allows me to now spend less money and time on so much meal prep, while still falling in line with my stringent requirements.***