For The Love, Eat, Eat, Eat!

So not to call my mom out, but I get very frustrated with her effed up way she thinks about food and eats. It doesnt seem to matter how many times I tell her and her trainer tells her that skipping meals is a major no-no, she just keeps "forgetting". Personally I dont how you could ever "forget" to eat. Huh? Thats like forgetting to sleep. "I feel a little off today hmmm...oh thats right, I was so busy I forgot about sleeping!" Baffling but nontheless I hear it a lot from people.

For myself, skipping a meal or even going more than 4-5 hours without eating, turns me into the incredible bitch. I snarl, I snap, I am generally just an enormous biatch if my blood sugar gets low. This is why on any given day you will always find food of some kind - usually a cliff bar, energy chews or trail mix etc - in my purse because I dont feel it is fair to unleash hungry Kasey on the general popluation.

Eating regularly is not only important for my mental well-being but also for my metabolism. I am so fed up with the celebrity magazines inundated with articles that say that some new starlet that is no doubt naturally stick thin or anorexic/bulemic stays thin by eating lettuce leaves and raisins or does fasting or cleansing diets and you can too! People, starving yourself for any amount of time is not good for you. There is a reason you get crabby and weak and shaky and tired when you don't eat - your body is trying to protect you and alert you that oops, you forgot to eat! It is basically the body's version of tying a string around your finger. But if you dont listen, your body will continue to try and protect you by s-l-o-w-i-n-g your metabolism w-a-y d-o-w-n.

Waaay back in the day when humans grunted more than spoke, food was not as easy to get to as picking up a phone and calling Me-n-Eds. Mmmm Me-n-eds Valley Veggie pizza...*mouth watering*. Anyway, in order to keep our species alive the body adjusted to not always being able to eat whenever we wanted to by actually slowing down when there is a large gap between meals. If you then eat a huge meal -- at the same time your metabolism is functioning as if you're starving -- your body wants to hold on to every calorie. The body is really effing genius when you think about it, however it does go against what might seem like common sense which is the less you eat, the more weight you will lose. A recent study explored the risks associated with skipping breakfast. Those whose skipped breakfast had higher BMI's than those who ate just about anything, including the dreaded high carb breakfast. Overall, the findings support the theory that a low-fat, high fiber breakfast is associated with less weight and skipping breakfast will likely result in, well you hanging onto that spare tire or flabby ass.

I think people have an unnatural fear of food and very unhealthy relationships with it. Food doesnt make people fat, people make people fat or rather their decisions do. Instant gratification is a prevelant theme in regard to many aspects of society including food. This is especially true when you starve yourself and then try to eat a proper meal. How many times have you been absolutely famished and went for the quickest thing you could shove down your throat and it *gasp* wasnt a perfectly proportioned and well balanced meal? I know this because when I do want to eat something not so good for me, I find that I sometimes try to justify it by making myself really hungry and then blame my starvation for my naughty choice as if I had no control. Puh-lease I know exactly what I am doing, I just wanted that In-and-Out burger!And thats just one reason I workout fiendishly - I want to eat a burger and fries sometimes and if I am healthy the majority of the time then its cool.

So back to some guidelines/info about eating:

1. Eat smaller meals every 4 hours or so. I typically eat a reduced calorie Jimmy Dean egg white breakfast sandwhich with my coffee at 7 and then around 10 I will have an apple and peanut butter or almonds and a string cheese. Then I have a lean cuisine or sandwhich at lunch with a piece of fruit or an individual serving size of microwave veggies. At around 3:15 I eat a cliff bar or something with about 200 calories so I am fueld for my workout and then its dinner as soon as I get home from the gym.

2. Don't let yourself get to the point of starving pyscho bitch, you will over eat, choose the wrong things to eat and generally be annoying to everyone around you.

3. Eating food regularly will keep your metabolism from slowing down and also keep your energy levels up!

4. If you try to starve yourself by following the 1,200 diet celebrities seem to be fond of these days, dont be suprised if it doesnt work and you dont end up with Gwyneth Paltrows legs. She is a natural stick of a person, you have no chance, lets just be honest here. Your metabolism is going to slow down because thats what your body is supposed to do so you dont die.

So there you have it. A rumbling stomach should not be a testament to your will power as a dieter. Think of it a your body warning you that your body is going to punish you for starving it by making you fat.