Tag: vlog

How To Stop Counting Calories

There was a point in my life where I figured I would just be stuck counting calories forever, resigned to a life of sadness and disordered behavior.  However, this proved to be untrue as I transitioned from a religious calorie counter to an intuitive eater – and you can too.

When you stop counting calories, you start enjoying and experiencing your food for its texture and flavor instead of as just a number.  Eating becomes pleasurable when you aren’t constantly measuring, calculating, tracking, and obsessing over the food on your plate.  You’ll open up space in your brain to focus on things that actually matter.  You’ll be able to start eating intuitively by creating a stronger relationship to your body’s cravings and the food you eat.  Obsession with food will fall by the wayside.

The truth is, no matter how accurate you think your calculations are using your BMI, TDEE, BMR, etc. to calculate the right amount of calories for you – there is no way to truly know as every single body is different.  More to the point, without going crazy it is completely impossible to accurately know the calories of every food you eat.  Remember, all a calorie is is a unit of energy and our bodies NEED energy to live.  So here are some tips to stop counting calories forever.

GET RID OF CALORIE TRACKERS
This is a big one. I tracked all of my calories on “My Fitness Pal” but there are many others like it.  Cronometer, Lose It, Fat Secret, etc.  These apps were built to count calories so the best first step for a life without this burden is to get rid of them!  If you aren’t using an app than get rid of whatever device you use to track the numbers.  A notebook, planner, journal, or word document.  Delete it, burn it, or have a friend drive 20 miles away and throw it in a dumpster.  Getting that out of your life is a crucial first step.

GO OUT TO EAT AT RESTAURANTS
Most restaurants are impossible to gauge to calories for because you don’t know everything that goes into the food preparation. It helps to make sure you are with a friend or family member that can keep you distracted from trying to break down and calculate the meal components.  If you are financially incapable of dining out, that’s alright – just have a friend or family member cook a meal for you without telling you what is in it.  This is essentially the same concept.  You are looking to let go of the tightly wound control you have to maintain while counting calories by letting go of the control over food prep.

BLOCK OUT NUTRITION LABELS
Take a sharpie and cover them up so that you can’t look at them obsessively. Go grocery shopping in bulk bins or for items that don’t have nutrition labels on them at local shops of farmers markets.  Pick food for flavor and not for numbers.

HAVE FAITH YOURSELF TO EAT INTUITIVELY, BUT BE PATIENT
We are all born knowing how to eat. Your body knows what it needs and it is not trying to sabotage you.  It loves you and want to keep you alive, return the favor to it.  Eating intuitively takes practice but it is completely achievable for all of us since it is the way we are supposed to eat.  Remember that it will take time as well because you are breaking a very bad habit – and habits are not broken overnight.

If any of these steps seem impossible or overwhelming than feel free to take it slow.  I know how daunting and unreasonable these may seem – but if you implement these tactics into just one meal a day at first, and then slowly increase, you will eventually get there.  Take it from a girl who used to count the calories in gum – you can do this!

 

New Years Resolutions (That Aren’t Weight Loss)

New Years Resolutions.  Every year we see people around this time of year resolve to make a change in the next year, and unfortunately that change usually surrounds weight loss.  Thousands of people determined to shed what they consider unnecessary weight typically through methods that are dangerous manifestations of the corporate, money grubbing, health ignorant, diet culture pervasive in our society.

Instead of resolving to change your beautiful body why not focus on something else this year?  I’ve compiled a few ideas here.

Save Money
This is a great resolution because it’s easy to keep track of.  At the end of the year it’s so gratifying to check your savings account and see your success!  Plus you gain something valuable through it.

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School Related
Maybe your aiming to work hard to get into college, or a graduate program.  Maybe you need to focus on getting straight A’s all year.  Achieving academic success is valuable, productive, and a good goal to execute.

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New Hobby
Perhaps you want to start playing an instrument, or learn how to cook, or become really skilled at makeup?  These are all great resolutions to work on!  Starting a skill you’ve always wanted to master is an excellent and worthwhile goal.

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Eco Friendly
You could make the decision to switch to veganism for the earth, the animals, and yourself.  You could work on reducing your trash waste or converting to minimalism.

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Mental Health
You could practice positive self affirmations and body positivity by working to truly love and accept your body for all that it is and all that it does for you.  You could decide to seek help from a therapist, or vow to be more open about your struggles.

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Finally, if you are suffering from an eating disorder this is the year that your resolution is to truly and honestly recover.  No more quasi, no more excuses, no more reasons to wait.  Recovering from an eating disorder started with a NY resolution for me in 2015 and in that year I started Minnie Maud, gained all my weight back, graduated from college, met amazing friends, had unforgettable experiences, started my career, and met my boyfriend.  There is no greater choice than the choice to recover and get your life back.  Make your year 2018.

No matter what your 2017 was like, it’s time to look ahead – and when you pick a resolution (if you even want to) make sure you focus on the things in life that matter, your relationships, your mental health, your personal growth and development and not the things that don’t – your weight, size, or shape.

My Vegan Story: Veganism after ED Recovery

In the last 2 months I have transitioned to a vegan lifestyle.  While I do think it’s possible to recover while being vegan if you are ethically vegan and feel passionately about it, I’m not going to recommend it.  I think a huge part of eating disorder recovery is having the freedom to eat whatever you want no matter what.

When I was sick I was a pescatarian.  I wanted to believe I was doing it for the right reasons but there was just really no way to tell because the timing of my eating disorder and my vegetarianism coincided a little too conveniently.  When I recovered I stayed pescatarian for the most part but if I wanted to eat meat I let myself.  I didn’t feel good about it morally which helped me realize that I really did have an ethical dilemma going on in my head, but I still let myself eat it because my recovery was about having zero limitations in my diet.  So, I ate meat for a few months of recovery and then I phased it back out because it went against my own morals.  After being vegetarian again for a few years I started wondering if I was still truly doing it for the animals.  I decided to test myself and let myself eat meat again.  I ate only chicken and I had it about two or three times and felt so horrible. Not the kind of guilt that comes with ED thoughts but the guilt over being a part of a system that I hate so much.   That experiment made me realize that I’m not eating animals because I really do care about them – and it has nothing to do with my diet. I truly don’t want to be a part of a system that I so strongly oppose.  So, I decided to try veganism because taking any part in the system of animal slavery, abuse, torture, and murder was not who I wanted to be.  It wasn’t that hard, I was already vegetarian and I always found that after I recovered lactose really made my stomach hurt.  I think I made myself lactose intolerant by cutting it out of my diet for so long, so it was actually quite easy for me to transition.

As far as my biggest justification for my veganism (not that I need one, but I do have one…) Climate change is this huge looming doomsday that’s off in the not so distant future and everyone’s kind of ignoring it.  We’re down here squabbling about issues which are important but the bigger picture is that the earth is going to die, climate change is going to wipe us all out, we’re responsible, and we’re not doing anything about it.  So I think about it like this: you have the White Walkers in the North and they’re going to kill all of us but we’re all down here wondering who should be sitting on the Iron Throne when really, does that matter at all?  I mean eventually hopefully one day we can worry about those issues, who’s sitting on the Iron Throne, etc.  In the meantime, shouldn’t we all be focusing on killing those White Walkers?!?  Believe it or not animal agriculture is a leading cause of global warming (go watch Cowspiracy on Netflix asap) and it’s insane to me that everyone continues to ignore it instead of doing something about it!

I also care deeply about the animals and I think that the way we treat them is the most unethical and inhumane injustice in our society.

For those of you who are still recovering from an eating disorder – despite my strong views on veganism, I do not recommend starting a vegan diet in recovery.  You have to be in the right headspace to make a decision about your diet like that and if you are recovering from a restrictive eating disorder or you are in a restrictive eating disorder that is not the time to make that kind of decision.  While I don’t find veganism restricting at all, if I was in a headspace of restriction I sure as hell would find a way to. I think it’s great when people want to go vegan I just think you need to make sure you’re in the right state of mind to make that decision and once you are recovered please join us!  Until then do what’s right for you ❤

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