Healthy Chicks

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We listen to our heart…Why not listen to our body?

As I’ve talked about many times on my blog, my summer trip to Italy about four years ago was one of the happiest times of my life. Before Italy, I used to fear food. I thought it was an evil substance that would make my thighs even bigger, my pants even tighter and the number go up, up, up on the scale. To put it simply, throughout college, food (and calories) was all I thought about. I wasn’t ever able to enjoy food because I was too busy calculating calories, planning out my “meals” and exercising my little butt off. It was unhealthy. Now I adore food. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, and I love trying out new restaurants and exploring decadent flavors I’ve never explored before. Now I am happy, though it took a long time to get there.

When I went to Italy, the country made it difficult for me not to enjoy food. Everything looked oh so fresh,  beautiful and mouth-watering. So I ate. I ate it all. The fresh-baked breads from the corner cafe that you could smell from a mile away, the cheese that melted in your mouth and made you want to sing of joy, the fresh stuffed fish and seafood salads that made me want to cherish every bite because it was so darn delicious, the savory risotto and pasta smothered in fresh herbs and olive oil that made you feel satisfied not full, the sweet treats like chocolate and gelato, and well chocolate gelato. I was in heaven.

One of the foods that I savored nearly every day while abroad was nutella. It was the first time I had been introduced to it, and I think I fell in love. The combination of roasted hazelnuts, skim milk and cocoa is absolutely decadent. I fell in love more and more after every bite, so I made it part of my daily treat. Sometimes I’d have just a few dollops on top of sliced fruit, and other times I’d go a little crazy and eat maybe just a tad too much. But I didn’t care. I loved it and was learning to listen to my body. That meant sometimes going a little overboard if I was reallllllly hungry, and sometimes eating a small lunch to save up for the Italian dinner feast with our new friends. I learned self-control, listening to what I wanted not what I thought was the “healthy” or “right” choice, and most of all I learned to love food.

It’s been some time now since my Italian dream trip, and I have to say I haven’t enjoyed nutella in quite some time. For Italians, it’s like their peanut butter so they have it atop every store shelf, but here it’s at times hard to come across if you don’t have your eyes wide open. Well, yesterday while perusing the local convenience store in Miami, I saw it. A beautiful jar of nutella. It looked exactly as I remembered, and it was totally calling my name. Since my best friend, who’s also on the trip with me, is obsessed with nutella even more than I am, I bought a jar for her and wrapped it up in some newspaper as a “thank you” gift. She totally deserved it for working her butt of all week while I tanned all day, and I knew I would be able to steal a few bites.

Let’s just say, it was glorious. Creamy. Chocolaty. To-die-for. After just a few bites, I was satisfied so I stopped. But the taste stayed with me throughout the entire night. It’s like a good kiss. You just don’t forget it. Does it have 200 calories per 2 TB, 20 grams of sugar and 11 grams of fat? Yea. But it’s totally worth it in my opinion, that is if you let yourself enjoy it.

Allow yourself to just enjoy today. Whether that means indulging in some gelato or freshly made pizza, or taking yourself out for a mani/pedi. Life is too short not to enjoy the little things…you know like eating nutella out of the jar and such…

XoXo,