Why We Eat

I can remember growing up that my father used to always say, "I eat to live...you all live to eat." Now while he did enjoy food, and had a crazy obsession with trying to find the hottest pepper our there and then see if he could find someone to eat it, he literally ate to live.  With Crohn's Disease, food for him is often times the enemy and a meal for him has not existed for many, many years.  Each time there was something in our family, there was food.  I can remember when my grandmothers (yes both of them in the same week) passed away there was a whole tray of sandwiches that we devoured not realizing we were hungry!  Food was comfort at times.  As I got older, food for me was just the opposite.  As life got crazy, my food intake dwindled.  Instead of stress eating I avoided it as a way to control something.

As the years have gone by my relationship to food and my emotions have gone in many different directions, leading me to the last few weeks.  I always in a way prided myself as a person who did not stress eat, but the other day as I snuck another bite of the chocolate treat on our kitchen counter I realized that I was no longer that person.  Stress was taking up space in our house and I was eating...a lot.

I'm disappointed in myself for letting my stress take over my ability to make a good decision...for undoing some of the progress I had been working so hard on.  I am working on taking a step away from the sweets and thinking about why I am actually eating...am I hungry?  Am I stressed/sad/worried?  There are so many reasons people eat...to celebrate, to mourn, to hide, to treat....but I want to be eating for one reason...to nourish!  I'm getting back to my HBBC2013 clean eats and listening to Amanda's daily emails! 

Why do you eat?

As if she knew I was needing a reset, Laura from Mommy Run Fast posted about her 21-Day Post Holiday Detox Challenge that she is hosting in January.  This is perfect timing for me since it will carry me from HBBC trough January...and apparently I can't be trusted alone these days!!

This challenge is for anyone who needs either a happier gut or like me needs that guidance and boost to a better overall feeling!  Laura is offering 3 different levels of the challenge from a solo venture, to group coaching with Facebook support, to group coaching with private sessions with Laura herself!  The challenge is running from January 6th through January 25th and you can sign up here!  Laura is also running an Early Bird Special if you register before December 15th for $10 off your registration by using the code "earlybird"! (who doesn't love saving money!) 

Sooooo...Who's detoxing with me?