Since going Paleo my family has fallen even more in love with our grill. Paleo and grilling just work well together. The past couple of years I've even been stepping outside my grilling comfort zone more and more. Grilling things I'd never thought to have grilled before and trying new flavor combinations. I have to say I'm pretty thrilled with the results of most of my flavor experiments. In the past I'd never have thought to grill fruit, but it's amazing. Grilling fruit and adding it to traditionally savory dishes? Brilliant. Oh yes, and? New rule: every burger recipe for the rest of forever must contain grilled pineapple. OK, maybe more of a guideline. It's a seriously delicious combination though. This Smoky Grilled Pineapple Burger is always a crowd-pleaser at my house. It's not only Paleo, but Whole30, glutenfree, lower carb, and clean eating friendly. I promise you won't miss the bun! paleo, grilled pineapple burger, smoky
Please enjoy this guest post from Al of http://sweatinguntilhappy.blogspot.com/ I think a lot of us can relate.
Looking in the Mirror
I really want people to know that emotional eating is REAL. I know it’s hard to understand unless you have been through it, but it does exist. I have a very supportive family, but they haven’t always been like that. A lot of my family members would shun the idea that the reason I was overweight was because I ate my emotions. They just figured I was lazy and didn’t know when to stop. It was really frustrating at times when I would try to justify why I ate, just that phrase “justify why I ate” really bothers me. I finally stopped justifying and started modifying my habits.
So I have made great progress, I have lost almost 80lbs since September 2009. I still have a lot of weight to lose but I am up for the challenge. But with this small victory sometimes my family forgets that I still battle with my urges to eat every day, they seem to think that since I lost some weight that the urges magically disappeared. About a month ago I had a serious conversation with my mother. More than anyone I wanted her to understand what goes on in my head. So we sat down and she asked me what’s going on? I told her I wanted to talk to her about my emotional eating and before the words even left my tongue tears were streaming down my face. I mean that’s how painful and sensitive this subject is for me. I asked her to not speak and just listen to me until I was done.
I told her,
“I want you to understand that my emotional eating is an extremely serious problem. I know that I have lost some weight but the urges are still there. This is a problem I will deal with for the rest of my life, I am not going to lose 250 pounds and magically have my urges just disappear. It’s something I will have to control for the rest of my life and I have accepted that, and sometimes I don’t feel like you guys take it seriously. I sometimes feel like you guys think I am selfish. If I don’t put myself first who will? Nobody will. When I decline offers to eat out with the family or skip family time to hit the gym for a workout you guys sometimes give me a hard time about it. I have to be somewhat selfish in this battle; nobody is going to do the work except for me. I want you to know that I can win this fight but I will not let anyone or anything get in my way and I don’t want anyone to take it personally.”
My mother completely agreed with me, and I want everyone to know that my mother is my biggest supporter. The things I said weren’t necessarily directed at her, I just wanted to make sure she knew how I felt and what was going on in my head. My mother did ask me one question, “if you knew why you were eating then why did it take you so long to take control of it?” I told her it’s one of the easiest things in this world to be honest with someone else, but it’s one of the hardest things in this world to be honest with yourself, and it took me a very long time to realize that. I sincerely believe that the first step of taking control of this problem is being honest with yourself. You are going to have good and bad days, but the most important thing is not letting a bad day turn into a bad week, month, or years. I often say, “failure is not the act of giving up, it the act of not bouncing back”.
My heart goes out to anybody who is dealing with this problem. If you need someone to talk to, need advice, or even have questions, please feel free to contact me. I also invite you all to check out my blog and follow me on twitter.
http://www.sweatinguntilhappy.
sweating_it_off@hotmail.com
Twitter: sweating_it_off
I absolutely can relate to this. A huge reason I'm fat is because of my inability to sever the tie between food and my emotions. I know what it's like to drown your sorrows in a large pizza, chicken wings and all that other stuff. I know what it's like to hide the pain underneath a box of brownies.
ReplyDeleteI like this Al person. I think I'm going to start following his blog/twitter/life.
Good find!
Keep Rocking it hun!!
ReplyDeleteToni-Lynn
Awesome awesome awesome post...IMO-my favorite post of yours. It IS much easier to be honest with others and not yourself. I deal with this daily...and like you I will deal with it for the rest of my life. I am very much an emotional eater and find myself binging when "no one is looking". And as of late (Jan 2010 is when I returned to my journey) I fight the "being selfish" feeling because I don't get to see my family (or friends for that matter) as much as some others do. after 10 hours a day away from home for work (and the previous 6 years of taking classes at night) I feel incredibly guilty saying "I'm going to go for an 1hr bike ride or 30 min jog" because that's time I am taking away from my husband and whomever comes by for a visit. I'm confident that I will work this out and come to a nice balance but the struggle is real and sometimes overwhelming. And sometimes, defeat is so much easier than sticking to my plan!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post...It really hit home
This really hits home, thank you for being so honest about your struggle. It's tough to address an issue that everyone scoffs at. And by "everyone" I mean those outside of this community. Looking forward to seeing more of your journey.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a big person to admit to yourself what the issue is but also to sit down your mom and talk to her. Sometimes saying it outloud is even harder.
ReplyDeleteYou got this! You can do this and I wish you nothing but tons of success! Thanks for being raw!
So proud of your accomplishments!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you're working so hard and doing so much to change. Change is hard. Good work. Keep it up.
ReplyDelete