Things Are Looking Up!

This week has been a good week! I took a shopping trip on Tuesday to Costco and Winco and stopped in to see my favorite Aunt Kaye. (She's officially my husband's aunt, but I very much claim her as mine.) She is an inspiration to me! She is one of the healthiest people that I know and she looks and is amazing. She has recently become a certified Hydro therapist, is also working on her certification as a reflexologist and she's almost a Master Herbalist. She has a wealth of knowledge and I love to chat with her for hours on end and pick her brain. :) We talked about some of my goals with fitness and also some frustrations that I have in trying to change my lifestyle. She told me that she never counts calories. Her theory is that if you are eating whole foods, listening to your body, and not eating in excess your body will naturally find it's balance. She said that she has weighed the same amount for the past 18 years and has never once counted calories. She occasionally has a few bites of desert and eats a little chocolate every now and then but she has reached a point that she doesn't have cravings for things that she knows are not good for her body and craves things like fruit and veggies. In fact I had to ask her to move her giant candy bowl that she keeps on the counter. It was full of peanut butter M&M's and starbursts! I just can't have stuff like that in plain sight or I will eat it all!
I believe that with knowledge comes power. Kaye said that the more she has learned, the easier it has been to make healthy lifestyle choices. She loaned me this book by Kevin Trudeau called "Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About." It's been fascinating! He talks about ways to prevent becoming sick and the importance of what we put into our bodies. I'm not very far into the book, mostly because my husband stole it from me :) so I'll be interested to learn more.
I think this week has been better because I haven't been strict about calorie counting or food logging. I also read that it's a great idea to do that for a month or so just so you can really get a feel for portion sizes and what the regular things you eat would amount to and then from there it's easy to know what's right for you. I haven't told myself that I can't eat this or that but I just ask myself if I really need it and if I really do (haha) then I only eat a few bites. The hardest place for me to just hang out is my in-laws. Our favorite thing to do there is eat, seriously. Food is love and the kitchen is the center of the home. Though Jared's family is in great health and his Mom is a lot like Aunt Kaye (they're sisters) and she can have tons of goodies in her house and not eat them. I don't know how they do it, seriously! I have a habit of going to the pantry or the "treat cupboard" and eating whatever looks good and it's a habit I'm working to break. I'm trying to make better choices and eat things like popcorn or fruits and veggies and I really have to have those talks with myself about "needing" food and I'll just keep on keep'n on! :)