Healthy Chicks

During my days as a chronic, obsessive dieter, I knew my relationship with food was not normal, but I just couldn’t stop. It was like being in a toxic relationship — you know the dude’s not right for you but for some reason you stay. Meanwhile, all your friends are like get the eff out of that. Then years later, you look back and say “What the hell was I thinking?”

That was me with food!

When I was in college, I so envied my friends who could eat normal. They’d nonchalantly order a pizza after a long night out, get a salad whenever they felt like eating salad, and be able to have a bagel on a Sunday (with all the fixings!) without guilt. I wanted that. But instead, I sat there drooling over their meals, as I anxiously counted calories, picked apart my sandwich and ordered what I thought was “healthy.”

Years later when I decided to quit dieting once and for all — cold turkey — I subconsciously began to develop the mindset of what I referred to as a “normal eater.” I realized right then and there that it wasn’t about what or how … Read More!

My journey with dieting started when I was 16 years old with the South Beach Diet. I started it right after a family vacation, when it became apparent to me that my thighs were ‘huge’ and I was ‘fat.’ So I scoured the internet in search for a solution, and of course going on a diet was the number one answer from Google.

I still vividly remember sitting through English class, counting out my celery sticks and 30-calorie cheese wedges. I started the diet right around my sister’s birthday, where I avoided nearly all the food and quietly ate my ricotta ‘pudding’ in the corner as everyone else devoured the cake. I had egg beaters every morning for breakfast, turkey roll-ups at lunch and grilled chicken or fish with veggies for dinner. I avoided most fruit, all grains and bread like the plague. After all, they were ‘off limits.’

Throughout the whole diet process, it was the first time in my life I became obsessed with the scale, counting calories and losing weight. Even though I was in fact dropping pounds (mostly water weight in the beginning), I was more self-conscious than ever and literally consumed with how I looked.… Read More!

As a child, I absolutely adored food. I was lucky to grow up in a household that valued good food, and sitting down for family dinners. My mom’s chicken parmesan, shepherd’s pie and chicken devan were absolutely to-die-for, and I cherished each and every bite.

I have fond memories walking into my grandmother’s house to the comforting aroma of a fresh pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. I loved helping my grandma cook, plopping celery and carrots into the boiling water ever so carefully to assure I wouldn’t get burnt. She taught me how to make pierogies (making sure to pinch the dough juuuust right), and that there’s nothing sweeter than a tomato picked fresh from the garden with just a pinch of salt.

Food was love. And we all loved to eat.

Somewhere along the way, that all changed. I learned that food was “bad” and would in turn make me fat. And so the self-depricating, fat-shaming deprivation began. Food consumed me for a solid 6+ years of my life. It was always on my mind, and I completely let it dictate my life. I’d skip out on dates, dinner with friends, and fabulous opportunities all because of my … Read More!

Good afternoon, babes! Hope you’re having an amazing week, and soaking up some sunshine. Hubby & I just moved into our new place in the ‘burbs yesterday, and we’re already loving the simplicity and quiet. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Boston, but I’m definitely a country gal at heart 😉

Anyway, I wanted to let you in on a little secret over here: I used to absolutely hate my body, in particular my “fat thighs.” I was super self-conscious to the extent that I wouldn’t wear jeans or shorts, let alone be caught dead exposed in a bathing suit. Trust me, I had the worst tan lines!

By focusing on what I hated about my body, my mind was filled with negative thoughts like “I am not good enough,” “If only I could have her body” and “Once I lose some weight and that thigh jiggle, maybe then I’ll be happy.”

Newsflash: those thoughts got me no where.

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of negative bod talk stemming from the whole “bikini body” goals. It’s all over the place on social media, tabloids, magazines, and blog posts shouting at us ladies that THIS IS WHAT … Read More!