Cook Eat Compete

Wild to think about marketing and cultural pressures that makes it feel like eating is a bad thing.
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If we listen and absorb without reflection, it’s easy to start to believe that we are simply not good enough if we aren’t meeting predetermined societal ‘ideals’. This often means feeling pressure to be as skinny or lean as possible. As if the presence of body fat is some metric for our worth, attractiveness, or says something about our character or morality.
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It sounds ridiculous if we talk about it objectively, but these are real thoughts and feelings that drive behavior around food and eating for many people. Operating from this perspective is something I have been talking about as Restriction Mindset. This is not a positive way to view food and doesn’t set us up for a healthy relationship with food and eating.
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One interesting trend I’ve seen many times over that seems to have roots in Restriction Mindset is the rollercoaster between purposely trying to not eat, getting so ravenously hungry, and then binging on food because physical and emotional hunger are so strong. This pattern includes feelings of fatigue, guilt, confusion, and frustration. It is a cycle that makes the person feel worse at each turn and perpetuates poor relationship with food and self.
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The alternative is to believe it is indeed okay and actually a really good idea to eat food. A Nourish Mindset operates from the view that the self is inherently valuable and deserves self compassion. Therefore, nourishing the body with food regularly is important to keep feeling energized, happy, cared for, and level. It is okay eat. It is okay to take care of the self. It is okay to be healthy instead of as skinny or lean as possible.
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Dealing with this mindset shift goes way beyond nutrition. I think it’s important to recognize these patterns around food and eating to start to realize the need to address where these behaviors are coming from and get the appropriate support. Just trying to learn more about nutrition doesn’t really help this situation, as we’re talking about food, but we’re not really talking about food.

Summer may not seem like meatball season, but I would challenge that idea.
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Yes, it might feel too hot to turn the oven on to bake them, and especially too hot out to simmer them in a big pot of delicious tomato sauce.
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But, who says we can’t take meatball cookery outdoors? Yes! Turns out these guys grill up great. (They really are just like small, spherical hamburgers after all). And, they help switch it up deep into grilling season when it’s hard to think about what else to grill besides chicken, burgers and sausage.
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These garlicky grilled turkey meatballs were great with grilled broccoli (yes, also an excellent grill option), pesto pasta, and a splash of soy sauce.
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Make a batch of delicious grilled meatballs and future you will thank you for the high quality, ready-to-go protein source that you can use in tons of different dishes. 😋

Sherry!! 🥰 that’s the post