Daily Eats + What Does it Really Mean to Be Healthy?

If you're curious what a day of intuitive eating looks like for me, keep reading! As I write that sentence, though, I recognize that it may sound like intuitive eating is just another diet. Just to be clear, it's quite the opposite of dieting. Intuitive eating is about eating with no rules. Dieting is all about rules. Intuitive eating says trust yourself. Dieting says you can't be trusted around food. Intuitive eating says all foods can fit in a healthy diet. Dieting says don't eat dairy, grains, sugar...you can eat fat but it's gotta be "good" fat. I'm not about that diet life. I've been there, done that. I'm so grateful I discovered intuitive eating which is really just eating before diet culture took over.This morning started with our favorite breakfast lately...two fried eggs, a slice of sourdough with grass-fed butter and my favorite jam which is Trader Joes low sugar cherry. I love how it tastes so similar to just eating a bunch of cherries! And can we just point out how diet culture really tries to deprive us by saying butter is bad. I regret all the years I went not eating butter. Life is better with butter! Oh and of course coffee on the side. I'm so excited to say that I think Graham is over his dairy issues so I can eat dairy products again! That means REAL milk in my coffee! Right now I'm loving coffee with just a little bit of half and half. So creamy and good.Today was also Paul's first day of work so that meant just me and Graham. After breakfast and some time spent reading and praying, I did a Barre3 online workout. This particular one was a 60 minute cardio workout. It only had a few Graham interruptions. I will say, I miss those days where I could workout without interruptions but that's #motherhood I guess. But I'm glad I still moved my body because I felt so good afterward.After showering and getting ready I made a smoothie. I usually find myself making the same smoothie for a few weeks before switching it up. Right now I'm loving the Green Monster smoothie from Oh She Glow's cookbook. It has spinach, banana, almond butter, flax seed and cinnamon. These days with breastfeeding I'm all about how can I get the most energy from what I'm eating.Graham and I ate lunch together which was so fun! I've really enjoyed baby led weaning, and of course Graham's enjoying it too. It's so cool to see intuitive eating in action at such a young age. I'm re-learning how God really did make us intuitive eaters from the start through watching Graham eat. I made a bowl lunch inspired by Pinch of Yum with baby kale, sweet potatoes, fried chick peas, avocado, and a tahini sauce. Graham ate some roasted sweet potatoes and avocado I coated with nutritional yeast so he could pick it up easier. Not pictured, after lunch I had a Nature's Bakery Fig Bar which left me feeling more satisfied. I know that to feel really satisfied I have to be good and full and after a vegetarian meal I usually need a little something else. All afternoon I was finalizing something I've been working on that I can't wait to share! I'll share what it is in a few weeks since it's set to be released in early September, so get excited! Thankfully Graham took a good, long nap and I was able to finish what I'd wanted to finish as far as work goes.We've been loving afternoon walks lately, too! Even though it's hot we still try to make it out later in the afternoon for some fresh air. It's good for me, it's good for Graham. He loves being in his stroller and just looking around at everything. I packed a couple mandarin oranges because I was starting to feel hungry.To celebrate Paul's first day I wanted to make a special dinner for him. It started with a charcuterie board with some meats and cheeses from Trader Joes, olives, and some sourdough. We had it with some Cabernet and just talked about each other's day. I saw a friend of mine post a picture of some blistered, jammy tomatoes the other day on Instagram and it inspired me to want to make a yummy pasta with some. I found a recipe by Half Baked Harvest for Jammy Cherry Tomato Pasta with Crisp Lemon Rosemary Chickpeas and...oh, it was so good! Sadly I didn't have burrata but we did some goat cheese gouda on top instead and it was still delicious!Ended the night, as always, with some dark chocolate. I see nothing wrong with having something sweet after dinner whether it's chocolate, some ice cream, some fruit. I actually find that practicing food freedom in this way helps me not go crazy on dessert in general.That was our day!So I've been thinking a lot about what it means to really be healthy. Diet culture really messes with us and our definition of health. They make it seem like healthy looks a certain way. But this view of health actually can set people up to be unhealthy, which is messed up.You see, weight is largely determined by genetics. So why does our culture say you have to be thin to be healthy? What if, instead, we were taught that lifestyle was what determined health, which is far more accurate? What if we were encouraged to get out and exercise not to "lose the baby weight" or "get beach-body ready". What if we were encouraged to move our bodies because any amount of exercise is protective for your heart against disease? What if marketing wasn't geared towards you buying supplements for weight loss but put money towards educating on a healthy relationship with food which encourages your natural weight as opposed to weight cycling which stresses the body and can be physically harmful and increases the risk for disease?Sadly, the diet industry is motivated by making money. And there's no money in you making peace with food and your body. Because then you wouldn't keep buying their programs and supplements and teas and books. The diet industry is an over $70 billion dollar industry that continues to grow and feed off of you being dissatisfied. Gahh it makes me angry.So, a question I always like to ask my clients is this...what does healthy look like for you? They rarely say taking a bunch of supplements or going to the gym every day or eating diet foods. They say, "living in the present instead of 10 steps ahead", "feeling more confident", "feeling better", "having a routine", "waking up with motivation", "appreciating their body".How do you get to this place of real health? It really does start with a healthier relationship with food. It's not the most popular answer, by far. It doesn't make people a ton of money. It's not something you can get a quick fix with. But it's the answer that will lead to more lasting confidence, joy, happiness, and presence in your life. I'm down for that!Ok, I'd love to hear from you...what does healthy look like for you? If you were to envision your healthiest self, what does that mean? PS: there are no wrong answers.