Confession: Sometimes I choose not to be healthy.
Exhibit A:
Last night, I ate a crap-ton of ice cream for dinner for no reason other than I wanted to. I didn’t feel like cooking dinner and ice cream just sounded like a tasty option.
As a healthy living blogger, eating ice cream for dinner probably doesn’t seem like the healthiest meal, but healthy living is all about choices, right? Ok, well, it’s more about making choices that are good for you, but sometimes making a “bad” choice is okay too.
To me, healthy living means making good choices as much as possible, but not all of the time. Sometimes, “good” choices can be “unhealthy” ones, such as sharing a plate of nachos with a friend, drinking a half bottle of champagne during a celebration, or skipping a Body Pump class to sleep in. I mean, doesn’t a truly healthy life include indulgences and leisure on occasion?
Nutritionally-speaking, an ice cream dinner probably didn’t do my body any favors, but this “bad” choice was good for my mind and soul. It was fun to eat and made me happy! It also didn’t hinder my healthy living efforts one bit. Indulging actually got the craving out of my system, so today my body wants healthy, nutritious foods. Weirdly, I guess that’s a bonus of eating an ice cream dinner!
Feel Great Weight
For this week’s Feel Great Weight post, I wrote about how I deal with injuries during marathon training: How to Keep Up Fitness Levels When an Injury Interferes With Training.
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There’s a FUN OpenSky deal today! Check out this Bondi Band Bundle!
It includes blue “I Run So I Can Drink,” black “Will Run for Beer,” and pink “Suck It Up, Cupcake” bands. Clearly, I need all three of these. There are solid and neon color Bondi Band Bundles available too.
Question of the Day
Are “bad” choices part of healthy living?
178 Comments
Definitely! I’m all for being healthy but I’m also all for fun 🙂
I totally agree. As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder, I think there are no such thing as good or bad foods only healthy or unhealthy diets. It’s all about balance and I think you never know where obsessions about eating only so called “healthy foods” can lead.
Absolutely! I believe everything in moderation is good and sometimes ice cream is the perfect dinner. Yum!
I am really glad to see these kind of posts popping up in the blog world this week. I have been struggling with the leap of healthy living and making “good” choices–esp. when out to eat.
This posts just reminds me that we are all on the same boat–and yes, it is ok to make a “bad” choice sometimes! 🙂
Its necessary for sanity in my opinion! I think if I ONLY ate healthy ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the time I would actually go bonkers…I need just a little something naughty every now and then!!
I am glad to see you post this, and it really made me think about my own path towards healthy living. While I admire you for being able to eat ice cream for dinner, I know that at this point in my journey I’m not able to do that. I know that it would not really affect my health and wouldn’t really be a big deal, but I’m still in the first year of maintaining a 70-pound weight loss and getting over a history of binge and emotional eating. While I think I have a pretty healthy lifestyle, this post made me realize that I’m not quite at that point yet.
I couldn’t agree with you more! Healthy living is about balance. The balance of veggies and ice cream, exercise and rest. Sometimes the “bad” choices are good for your soul.
I definitely agree. I feel that healthy living is a balance. Some people are just too strict and they omit anything remotely unhealthy from their diet and its unnecessary. I love ice cream so if I want it for dinner one night then I can have it as long as it doesn’t become a regular thing. Its a game of checks and balances and ice cream should always be included!
dude, it’s totally fine. i ate ice cream after dinner a few weeks ago. I enjoyed Haagen Daaz Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I haven’t tried B&J, I wonder which one tastes better. HD was phenomenal. Will definitely give B&J a try.
I know I am a little late at posting something on this entry, but I wanted to add that I completely agree with you! I think they are a big part of it. My journey started 11 years ago and at my heaviest I weighed 250 lbs. (149 now) I had to WANT to change. My reasons for wanting to lose the weight will be different from someone elses, but small changes and big changes later my life is completely different. Through the journey though I have made some “bad” choices and given into temptation. In doing that however, my focus was renewed and I got back on track. Do I struggle still? Of course, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to still continue on my journey. When I found this blog I was (and still) so excited! Thank you thank you thank you!
I totally thing “bad” choices can be part of healthy living, especially if they do some good for the soul. We all need a little pick-me-up now and then.
Thank you for being a voice of moderation in a world suddenly full of self-righteous nutritional asceticism! I’m a (recovering) anorexic who has spent the past 9 years struggling to embrace the idea that sometimes, it’s okay for food to be nothing but pure enjoyment. Veggies, lean protein and whole grains are like your basic handbag – vital for everyday needs; but dessert is the sequins that makes it fun to carry. I love that you espouse this philosophy, and it’s one of the reasons I keep coming back to your blog!
Loved this post! It really is a matter of including both healthy and special perhaps unhealthy treats to live a well balanced life. Thanks!
I’m a little late to this but I wanted to add my two cents…
Honestly, I think we all know it’s fine/healthy to eat nachos or other less-than-nutritious stuff once in a while because otherwise, we’d all become guilt-ridden, way-too-stressed-out biatches who can’t enjoy our lives or a treat when we want it. That said, I feel like a lot of women say things like this repeatedly out loud (or on the internet) to convince THEMSELVES it’s okay. And it is. You can post a picture of your nachos or ice cream or beer any time you want and you don’t have to share your reasoning behind eating it. I just wish more women would just embrace their cravings and choices and let that be the end of the story!