Uncomfortable comfort...what?!?

SO...in my new (it's still been less than a year and I am still adjusting, so I say new) world of being a stay at home mom of two of the most amazing little people God has ever created (aka Kolten and McKinley), I find myself often having the TV on during the day at times and I do have my "shows" that I like to watch or have on in the background, and one I have started to watch a lot is "The Chew."  It's on at noon here and on ABC, it's a show all about food.  I am pretty much a food-aholic...I LOVE to eat.

They had this segment on a few weeks ago that really got me thinking.  They were talking about "Comfort" Food.  You know exactly what I am talking about, usually fried, usually cheesy, fattening, make you feel warm inside, yummy goodness.  It does just what the name says, it makes us feel comfortable when we are eating, we drown ourselves in what we are eating and let every feeling good or bad wash away and the food can "make it all better" - it comforts us.

I really started to chew on this (pun intended - NAILED IT!)...I am a comfort food kinda gal!  I LOVE Chicken Fried Steak and for a period of time I would jokingly refer to myself as a "connoisseur" of the meal and had it every time we would go out to eat (which was at least 3 times a week, if not more).  During that time I was also at my heaviest and I would look in the mirror and seriously feel so upset with what I saw in that mirror. I would get so upset about it that I would yet again, drown my feelings in more "comfort" in eating....ice cream, cookies, brownies, chips, whatever I could find to try and ease my feelings.  All it took as another look in that mirror and that cycle started itself over and over and over.

Probably mid "connoisseur" peak time - New Years 2010 - 6 months after having Kolten

What I started to realize along the way that is was all my "comfort" food that was making me UNCOMFORTABLE in my own body!  I was ignoring signs that I needed figure out who I truly was as a person, become COMFORTABLE with my self and stop seeking comfort from all the foods I sought out for so long.  There is this AMAZING verse in The Bible that helped me so much on my journey and into understanding fully what it meant to take care of this body God has given me:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

~ 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

- See more at: http://fitforjesus.com/scripture-and-fitness/11-more-bible-verses-for-your-body-and-christian-weight-loss/#sthash.9EZmCTmc.dpuf

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

~ 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

- See more at: http://fitforjesus.com/scripture-and-fitness/11-more-bible-verses-for-your-body-and-christian-weight-loss/#sthash.9EZmCTmc.dpuf

 "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for got bought you with a high price.  So you must honor God with your body" - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I just had never really thought of it in that way before.  God gave me this body, this one body.  I need to take care of it!  Yes, I wanted to get healthy so that I could be around longer in my lifetime to be around my family longer (it seemed like an odd fact to me at the time, but as I started thinking more, I am gonna be 30 soon, it's not like time is going backwards!).  Yes, I want to set a good example for those around me and especially my beautiful children.  However, in everything I do, I want to give glory to God and truly know that I am honoring him.  He gave me this body, I better do my best to take care of this business! :)

Truthfully, my whole change has taken a long time to come about.  It was NOT overnight and is a continuing journey.  There are some pretty amazing things I learned along the way....I never knew we needed supplementation to truly get the nutrients our body needs.  I always thought loosing weight and being "healthy" was based on calories (excuse me while I shake my head and laugh under my breath at myself...it still gets to me that I focused so solely on that for so long! :().  I thought that if I ate "healthy" and "clean" that was it.  Nope..it was about what nutrients my body is getting and the truth of the matter is that the food that is around today is no where near the nutrient filled food that was around years ago.  It's still so very important to eat as clean as possible and avoid highly processed, sugary, artificial and carb-loaded foods, but supplementation make a HUGE difference!

Kolten and I at Keith's Uncle Norm's wedding in September 2013

What I know now though is that I STILL LOVE food!  Don't get me wrong either, I don't ALWAYS follow plan 100% (to be honest, I usually shoot for 80-90%).  If I do have an occasional day of shooting the plan out of the water, instead of swaying a bit and letting the bottom fall out form under me, I know now that an occasional slip up is OK!  It's about the long term here people!!!  Get back up, get back on track and all it's all good! :) What IS different now too is I love to LEARN about food.  What is best for my body, what can fuel me to do what I want to do and help me reach my health and wellness goals.  Those goals involve weight loss because I do have weight to lose, but my focus is to get HEALTHY and weight loss is just an amazing side effect! I have realized that all the comfort I truly seek is to look in that mirror and be happy with what I see.  I won't let food be my comfort, my comfort lies in knowing I am doing what is best for myself and my family and I am doing it ALL to glorify God!  Now, THAT is COMFORT!

Have a blessed day friends!!!!