Confessions of a Foodie

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love food! All kinds....healthy, unhealthy...fattening, low-fat....deep fried, baked...raw, cooked..etc. But I also hold firmly to the belief that what you put into your body, directly impacts what you get out of it and how it functions.
..And so begins my Foodie dilemma - wanting to eat for sustenance & nutrition vs being tempted to eat for pleasure.

Exhibit 1:
No vegetables with a prepared meal.

Raise your hand if you grew up eating veggies and understand that they are beneficial and necessary in our diet. This may seem like common knowledge, but I have witnessed many meals with only meat and starches and not one veggie. I'm not talking about the occasional lazy night where you don't feel like cooking a full meal.... I'm talking about all-out vegetable neglect. I'll be honest, if you are cooking for me, my feelings will be a little hurt if I don't see anything green or vegetable-like on my plate :-\
Ok, so you say what's the big deal? Why are eating veggies so important?! Per the USDA, here are a few benefits:

• Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.

• Eating foods such as vegetables that are lower in calories per cup instead of some other higher-calorie food may be useful in helping to lower calorie intake

• Vegetables are important sources of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fiber, folate (folic acid), vitamin A, and vitamin C

• For those trying to conceive =>  Folate (folic acid) helps the body form red blood cells. Women of childbearing age who may become pregnant should consume adequate folate from foods, and in addition 400 mcg of synthetic folic acid from fortified foods or supplements. This reduces the risk of neural tube defects, spina bifida, and anencephaly during fetal development.

I realize this is is very basic to some, but it bears reiterating. For more information on healthy eating tips, go to: Choose My Plate
They have some very good tools and resources.


Exhibit 2:
All things sweet.

I've always had a sweet tooth and for the most part it did not subside when I became more conscious about what I put into my body. The struggle got very real last year when the company cafeteria decided to start selling fresh baked chocolate chips..Every.Single.Day. *SIGH* Forget that one cookie was almost two dollars, if I stepped into that cafeteria, I became cookie stalker (True story: My co-worker and I would wait around and harass one of the servers.."when will the cookies,be ready???" - I won't even talk about how the cashiers hated to see us coming because we always complained about the conflicting/fluctuating prices).

While one cookie a day does not seem like such a horrible thing, I can't help but feel like I am creating a monster by feeding it daily (..get it monster..cookie monster!). Ok so I have been able to ween myself for the most part but there is always sugar lurking somewhere...a potlucks at work, birthday dinners, etc. We are so conditioned to having sugar in our diet, that our bodies start to crave it once we decide to quit it.

In my studies on refined sugar, there are numerous reasons to limit consumption:

• Sugar is toxic. Ever heard of a book called Sugar Blues? Check it out.

• Sugar suppresses your immune system 

• Sugar can lead to tooth decay

• Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein

• Sugar can cause depression

 Here's a good article:
 Sugar Health Effects: The Truth About Sugar


So....here's to striving for a good balance between veggies & desserts...All things in moderation, right?!! (Except veggies..you should eat lots of those;-)