The Confessions of a Naughty (but human) Nutritionist

My name is Patricia, and this is my confession.  This summer I ate a lot of things that weren't good for me.

*gasp!* A nutritionist who ate sugar and processed food?  Yes.  It's true.

This summer has been a challenging one for me, and most all of my routines got completely out of whack.  I let my emotions dictate my food choices and I fell back into some very old habits that I thought I had tossed to the curb a long time ago. 

• I wasn't doing the food preparation that I was consistently doing before, so I was making poor food choices when I was hungry.
• I wasn't always eating the full amount of veggies and fruit that I had been eating before. (some days I don't think I ate any at all)
• I wasn't drinking as much water everyday that I should have been, and
• I was eating too many sugary things.

Yes, all of the things that I counsel my clients on.

And guess what?  I'm not feeling as great as I did at the beginning of the summer.  No big surprise there really.

Since the beginning of July I have been guilty of the 'I'll start fresh again next week'.  But next week came, and it was the same thing all over again.   The worst part was that the whole time I was making all of these poor choices, I knew it, but wasn't doing anything to correct it.  I fell back into my old emotional eating patterns, and I felt like complete shit.  I stopped taking care of me and wasn't using any of my emotional eating coping mechanisms. I gave in way too much and ate away my feelings.

I had 'food hangover' too many times to count in the past 2 months.  I was tired all the time, had very little energy, and my bowels were starting to get slow again.  I don't like how that felt. Not one bit.

I could tell you I was doing research (my daughter suggested that this is what I call this summer of crappy eating), but I'm not going to lie.   I made a lot of really poor food choices too many times this summer.

Here's where it is different from 3 years ago though.  I'm not going to feel guilty.

Yes, I ate like crap, but I have recognized that and I am doing something about it.

I can't take back the past 6 weeks, but I can make it better, starting today.

The person I was 3 years ago was addicted to food, but didn't realize it.    I'm grateful that I recognized those old food addictions creeping back in and did something about them.

So, today was a fresh start.  Today was the beginning of my fall detox/cleanse.  Yes, I know summer really isn't over yet, so let's call it the 'summer is almost over' detox.  Po-tate-oes, po-tah-toes.

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning out my fridge and cupboards.  I can't believe the crappy stuff that crept back into my life and my cupboards.  So - poof!  That garbage is gone, and in its place are all of the beautiful fruits and veggies that I have been craving.  I think that's when it really hit me - my mind and my body had been in a food war.  My emotions were choosing crappy foods when the whole time my body has literally been salivating for tomatoes, and berries, and kale.

So, this morning I got up and made my beautiful green smoothie - strawberries, bananas, spinach, kale, cashew butter, hemp seeds, spirulina and ginger.

And it was all kinds of amazing!  I made enough for 2 full glasses - so one for breakfast, and one just before lunch.

Lunch was a beautiful bowl of chickpea salad with cumin and garlic, and a bowl of those veggies my body has been crying for.

Snack was lovely fresh cherries, and dinner will be Mango, Black Bean and Quinoa Salad.

Oh, dear energy and feeling of clean-ness, my body and I have so missed you!  I promise to try to stay true to you and not stray again.