A Love Hate Relationship with Brie

Me and Brie – When Love Hurts

(or Why Do I Keep Eating This Stuff When It Makes Me Feel Like Crap?)

I truly loved Brie – I actually still do, but sometimes love hurts. It has taken me a long time to admit to myself that my relationship with Brie, and all other cheeses and forms of dairy for that matter, are not good for me. Oh, sure for many years I went along consuming all sorts of cheesy delights, my personal favorite being a triple cream Brie with hot pepper jelly poured over it or even better, ‘en croute’ – baked in a flaky pastry!

Nothing ever seemed to bother me about this until I decided to remove all dairy for my diet for a month, a few years ago. When I started adding dairy back into my diet I noticed that I didn’t feel too great after eating it. But I still ate it, until I did another ‘cleanse’ or ‘diet’ where no dairy was involved. Once again upon adding it back in, I physically felt bad.

I Was Doing Great until _______

For the past year and a half I have been riding the On Again/Off Again Express in terms of my eating. What really has been killing me lately is that I KNOW that

1. Eating certain things – wheat, dairy, sugar, and now beans for me – make me bloated, gassy, irritable and ‘fuzzy feeling’ and
2. I’m miserable with the way my body is aesthetically and my lack of consistency is the reason I am stuck in this place.

I hear the same thing from a lot of clients, friends and co-workers, “I was doing great until fill in the blank.. ..the weekend, a party, the kids got sick, the Superbowl, the wedding, I was stressed, I deserved a treat for all my efforts.” I have been on this roller coaster for over a year now and I really have to ask myself “If I know that eating brie (or whatever craptastic food) is going to affect me physically and emotionally in a negative way and take me two steps back from my goals, why do I eat it?” Well, I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve been looking around for inspiration and really doing a self check and being completely and unabashedly honest with myself about why I am standing in my own way – which is not always fun.

Are you Hungry, Thirsty, Tired, or Emotional?

In the honesty department I’ve been eating clean about half the time. I have given into cravings for my beloved Brie, pizza and about a month ago I went through a ridiculous craving for donuts (that was a new one) when I gave up alcohol (that’s another blog for another day!). During the week I would eat healthy foods that I cooked but the weekends were a disaster and I know I have been eating emotionally, so I’ve decided instead of eating my feelings, as I like to say, I will journal them instead. And when a craving for something strikes I’m just going to stop. Ask myself are you hungry, thirsty, tired, or emotional? I will answer honestly and make my decision based on that answer, and remember how eating well makes me feel so much better in all ways. The crazy belly bloat for days following any dairy is just not worth it anymore!

One Day at a Time

I have taken inspiration from Evolutions’ own Eileen Galvin, massage therapist extraordinaire, who has lost I cannot even tell you how much weight. She looks like a different person, but more importantly she feels so amazing and so different and is so much healthier. I was talking to her the other day about how much she has inspired me and we touched on the subject of consistency, which is key. I can’t eat good all week then eat garbage and expect my body to change. And I can’t eat things that make me sick! I’m not going to obsess over what will happen tomorrow or Friday or at a party. I’m going to work on this one day at a time, one choice at a time and focus on being consistent. So there you have it! Now I’m going to head into the kitchen for my weekend ‘cook up’ so I’ll have easy access to healthy food for the week!

See you in class and the studio!