Land of Plenty

This post is for all the people who restrict themselves from eating certain foods. If I had a penny for every time I heard someone (usually a female) say “I can’t eat that” or “I won’t let myself eat that because I’ll eat the whole box” or “I know I shouldn’t have eaten (insert your vice here), but I did” I would be shopping at Whole Foods every day (har har I love that place but I call it Whole Paycheck).

Here is the way I think about it: If you are thinking out of a place of restriction, then you are attempting to control your desires.  This sense of restriction, brings on the hoarding/binge feeling. This feeling of “I shouldn’t eat this” or “I’m not supposed to eat it” brings on the sometimes unconscious “I’ll just keep eating it because I don’t know the next time I’ll be able to.” The end result is guilt and overeating. What if you never felt guilty about what you ate?

What if you ate as much as you wanted, as often as you wanted? What if the pressure of not eating or abstaining from certain foods went away? If you truly believed you could (because in reality you can, you have the power to choose) to eat an entire gallon of ice cream, everyday, multiple times a day. Your inkling to eat the whole gallon after a few tasty bites of “limiting” would probably go away. (Just a reminder, one cookie or gallon of ice cream isn’t the end of the world and it won’t kill you. I have never eaten a gallon of ice cream in one sitting, but I know a woman who has. I HAVE eaten a whole plate full of ice cream because three guy friends bet that I could not eat it all– boy did I prove them wrong).

Why restrict ourselves when the beauty of our freedom and opportunity in America exists in the power of choice? All it takes is a change of perception. Forgive yourself for yesterday, and eat what you want today while trying not to think too much about it. Remember that we come from a land of plenty, so there is no need to binge because you can have a little everyday, or a lot today and none tomorrow– if that is what you want. In the land of plenty, you choose.

In honor of my mother and her sweet tooth (I swear it is hereditary), maybe better described as a chocolate obsession, enjoy a laugh from the picture below. I took this while visiting home over the summer. I asked if we had any chocolate to make cookies– all the chocolate she is holding was what she had “on hand.”