Where I Come From, Part II

I met the love of my life while I was working in an ER in Denver. I wasn't really looking for a relationship, and neither was he, but he liked my sassy, sarcastic attitude and I liked his sense of humor. He and I bantered for a few weeks before he finally asked me out to breakfast after an especially long night shift. I said yes, of course, and we talked for hours over coffee at a restaurant that doesn't even exist anymore.

Five years later, we've had our fair share of ups and downs. I've had times where I couldn't love him more, and times where I honestly, flat-out believed I wanted to leave him. I'm sure he's felt the same. But in the end, the beauty of our relationship has been that we love each other more than anything else. Well, except for good beer and delicious food...

A typical vacation of any length for us involves immersing ourselves in the local food culture. My main checklist involves ferreting out local coffee, ice cream or gelato, and beer. Yelp is our #1 travel app as we navigate cities looking for the best grub and local breweries. This summer it helped us essentially eat our weight in Kansas City barbecue. In D.C., we indulged in 10-oz burgers topped with Havarti and bone marrow, sampled soft-shell crab sandwiches, and filled up on infamous chili dogs. And in San Diego, Yelp brought us a jewel of a restaurant, a breakfast joint straight out of the 1950s that served the best bacon waffles this side of the Mississippi. Because, like I said before...food is a beautiful human experience.

The trick, then, is to be able to balance our love of food and drink with our wish for health. Both of us aspire to be healthy, and we're ultimately in this together, but neither one of us want to get there by eating plain turkey patties, raw vegetables, and unseasoned quinoa. And I guess if that's what it takes to get me six-pack abs, then maybe I never needed them in the first place.

But I've seen from the experiences of others that you CAN have a healthy relationship with delicious food and still get the body you aspire to. I won't be entering any figure competitions, but that's never been on my list. 

The key to all of this is to evaluate our food history together and all the hurdles we have in regards to food in our current life: 

At the very core of the issue is that we like tasty food, pure and simple. If it tastes good, we will more than likely polish it off in its entirety. 

Secondly, food seems to be a primary memory-maker for us. As I said in my earlier blog, it obviously runs in the family. On a trip or even an indulgent day at home, we'll not only eat out for the three main meals, but also snag treats between meals at coffee, chocolate, and ice cream shops. 

Lastly, right now we live in a house with multiple roommates, and there are numerous days where we'd rather just go out to eat. This is fueled by the fact that I get off work at 7pm, making it a late dinner time most nights, and who honestly wants to cook a meal that late in the day?

Ultimately, we need a healthy cornerstone to base our relationship around, as well as a plan to keep our eating habits healthy far into the future. Part III of this blog series will help formulate this plan :)

xoxo

amanda