It's Time To Be Realistic

Life is supposed to be enjoyed and embraced. We are supposed to indulge ourselves with the smells and tastes that life has to offer us.  So what’s your weakness? Is it sweets, carbohydrates, or salts?  My weakness is for sure the Italian cuisine.

Ask anybody close to me what my favorite food is and they will tell you PIZZA! I seriously could eat a slice of pizza each day. I love pizza so much that my friend sent me an email with the option to buy a PIZZA VENDING MACHINE!  To have pizza at my disposal like that would be a dream come true, but I chose to take small lifestyle changes to a better and healthier lifestyle. Cutting pizza down to a few times a month, instead of every week, was one of my lifestyle changes.

I wanted to share with you the small eating habit changes that I have made over the YEARS.  My first two changes occurred when I was young, and my latest changes happened this past year. I have learned that when I am ready to make and commit to change a habit, I can do it. When I force it or dive right in, I always seem to fail.

I’ll never forget the first change, which was my consumption of mashed potatoes.

•    Mashed Potato Intake. I remember when I would go back for thirds for my mashed potato servings. Not little servings, three or more BIG servings.  I’d finish so there wouldn’t be leftovers. I remember when I made the choice to stop after one serving, and sometimes pass that side option all together. Guest what? It stuck!  I never crave them like I used to, but now I can eat a nice portion without feeling the need to go back for more.  I also substitute  cauliflower for mashed potatoes, which are REALLY good. Buy cauliflower, mash it up, add skim milk, and season it…very good!

•    No More Bubbly. This one was a little easier for me as well because it feels like a knife going down my throat when I drink it.  Soda, that is.  I hardly ever drink soda, unless it’s ginger ale because I don’t feel well. I used to drink soda as a kid, but the pain and knowing it just wasn’t good to drink, made it easier to give up.  Now my first beverage choices are always water, milk, or vodka. 

•    Down Grade Coffee. Okay, so I remember I used to be a straight up herbal tea drinker, which I still do from time to time.  I am now addicted to coffee.  I always used regular sugar because I believed the "other" sugars were worse for you.  So, I would use sugar and skim milk, but then my boyfriend made me coffee one day and it was like CANDY.  So good, ha-ha, I got addicted and started to really add sugar to my coffee. It was more, “Do you want coffee with your sugar?” Ha-ha.  Well, just a few weeks ago, my LATEST lifestyle change has been cutting sugar.  I now drink coffee with pretty much just skim milk and every once in a while I’ll add some sugar. You'd be surprised that you don't really need the sugar.

•    Who Cut the Cheese? My ass was starting to look like pepper jack cheese because I was eating so much of it!  I would get cheese with EVERYTHING!  So, I was ready, about a few weeks ago, to limit my cheese intake to only a few times a week, instead of a daily thing.  I now never get cheese on my sandwiches… just the turkey, lettuce, tomato, and onion. You know what?  I don’t even notice a difference! If somebody told me that a while back, I could have cut it out sooner!

So there are my FEW small lifestyle changes when it comes to eating.  I hope you find them helpful and maybe you have some more to add  below in the comment section!