Learning to eat in my own way

It’s not always pretty, but it is yummy. And it may not look like much to some, but this was my lunch today. Leftover steak, eggs and spinach with some pine nuts and the usual sweet chilli sauce (I think I’m addicted to the stuff).

I listen to my body’s cues and I eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full.

I’m not low-carb, I’m not Paleo, I’m not anything labelled. We eat gluten free because my husband and son have Coeliac Disease. Do I have gluten sometimes when out? Hell yes!

I eat lactose or dairy free because even the smallest amount will have me throwing up within the hour. I mean, I love cheesecake, but not THAT much.

We eat low-amine because my daughter has shown intolerances to it, the main offenders being cocoa/cacao, grapes, oranges, bananas & tomatoes (all determined through a medically supervised elimination diet). My brother has an anaphylactic reaction to grapes, so I am careful with how much she eats of those foods.

I don’t add much sugar to things because I have Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and a family history of diabetes. That doesn’t mean that I think sugar/carbs are evil. I just need to keep an eye on it for my individual health needs. I train a lot, and carbs give me energy, so I eat them, keeping as low GI as I can (blueberries are my current favourite). I don’t actually like bread much, so I rarely eat it. Except when I have a craving for vegemite toast. And then I eat vegemite toast.

I get the judgements and I get the comments. Trust me, I think I’ve heard them all over the years. From a slightly chubby child to being a tiny, skinny person, to an overweight mumma, and then down to a small, muscular person who lifts heavy things, I’ve had a lot of things said for my benefit.
The one that is currently bugging me today is the “that’s only a small amount, you should eat like a normal person!”. Yeah, that might actually work if I was, you know, the size of a normal person instead of a 12 year old.

I tried ‘eating like a normal person’, and guess what happened? I became overweight.

I’ve spent the last 2 years re-training myself to eat to my own hunger cues. If I’m not hungry at breakfast time (you know, in the morning), I probably won’t eat then, but instead will ‘break my fast’ later in the day. If I’m hungry at that time of the day, then I’ll eat. Life isn’t a static series of events, each day will be different. I prefer to eat slowly, and I prefer 1-2 small meals throughout the day and a larger one at night (maybe a couple of snacks thrown in there, depends on the day). It’s just how I am.

Eat the way you want to eat, when you feel like eating, and what you want to eat. Be mindful of portion sizes, but otherwise just do what works for you.

And if someone does things different to you, that’s okay. The world would be a boring place if we were all the same.