Does Frozen Pizza Spark Joy?!
About 3-4 years ago, I bought Matt the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up….hoping he would be inspired to, you know, tidy up! For those of you living under a rock 😉, this is the book that has us ridding our homes of half of our belongings and keeping only the things that #sparkjoy. It’s the whole minimalist movement.
Of course, Matt didn’t read it, but I dove right in! I already knew that I wanted more “special things” in my closet. I wanted to be able to get dressed in an outfit that I not only loved, but I felt confident wearing. The problem was, I loved a good deal!
Up until then, every time I went shopping, I found myself buying clothes based on the price more than my real criteria: loving it and feeling good wearing it. When I really settled into the spirit of the book, choosing only the things that “sparked joy”, I stopped spending money on things that were "good enough". Instead, I took more time and spent money only on items that I truly loved.
It occurred to me that we could use the same principles to choose our food!
When clients come to me wanting to get healthy, they often have a complicated relationship with foods they love like pasta and dessert. They love it, yet they feel guilty for eating it. So often they eat mindlessly or quickly (instead of slowly savoring it) to avoid the discomfort of the guilt.
The problem with that plan is that it takes the joy out of the food!
Let’s be clear, if you want to get healthy and have a body that operates and looks like you care for it, you need to give it quality food.
But that doesn’t mean that you can’t eat foods you love too! But if you’re going to be eating less nutritious foods, be picky!! I want you to get the maximum joy and satisfaction from those choices.
Here’s what I mean: You all know I love chocolate cake...but there is a big difference between a pack of Hostess cupcakes and grabbing a slice from the local baker! Both will have roughly the same impact on my body, but one is a shit-ton more satisfying mentally!
Those free donuts in the break room that have been sitting there all day and came from the grocery store and not even a donut shop, yeah, skip those! Eat a donut you love!
Just like I am discerning about what goes into my closet, I want you to be discerning about what goes into your body! It doesn’t mean don’t eat things you love, but it does mean when you are eating that type of food….you better love it! And if you don’t, you have my permission to toss it and get something else.