The carrot cupcakes....
I was recently at a beautiful baby shower. With the yummiest carrot cupcakes ever. I ate 2. They were delicious! Super moist with the yummiest icing ever. Do I feel bad that I ate 2. Nope(there were many left over so I didn't steal one from someone if you are wondering). Did I restrict my dinner because I ate 2 cupcakes (plus a few other yummy treats) in the afternoon. Nope. I ate to my hunger and fullness cues. I have decided to share my cupcake story for 2 very different reasons.
The first being that I think it is really easy to guilt and shame ourselves when we eat more than what someone else might view as normal. I do not eat 2 cupcakes every afternoon. I don't even eat cupcakes most days. And I wanted a second one after the first. I listened to my body and it said "please enjoy one more". I think it is very common-especially for women- to not listen to that voice when they are in a room filled with other women. Especially ones that they do not know well. Especially when you are a dietitian and many have the perception that you do not eat cupcakes. FYI...I LOVE cupcakes, they are the perfect cake to icing ratio. I ate what I wanted at the time and didn't listen to the inner commentary of "what will they think". Yes I have the inner Mean Girl voice too. I have just spent a long time working on shutting her up. I think that pervasive diet talk can lead to an inner critic when eating, which can get amplified when we are in social situations. If you want to eat the second cupcake because it was delicious and you are not overfull and it will truly bring pleasure then eat it....and tell the Mean Girl in your head to F*@# off.... That takes practice. I think I post in the future....
The second reason I decided to share the cupcake story is because being at a baby shower brought back many memories of both my pregnancies: the amazingness of growing a human, the craziness of what would happen next, the insane amount of comments people felt it was acceptable to make about my body because I was pregnant. Yes that's right. Almost daily. And it didn't end after the birth. I heard months and months of "don't worry it takes time for your body to go back", "take your baby for lots of walks it will help you lose the baby weight" "are you breastfeeding that will help you burn more calories (umm it actually provides nutrition for baby but what do I know)" have you read (insert random woman's magazine here) there was an article on (insert popular diet fad here) it might help you" I gained almost half of my starting body weight during my pregnancies. So twice- exactly 3 years apart- I had to listen to these comments. Did you know that while growing a human your hormones are a bit wonky? And maybe these comments are not helpful but might put a person into a very negative downward spiral And did you know that many first time moms are terrified (maybe I'm projecting I was terrified) of what is to happen after they give birth? So why do people think it's ok to comment on a human body regarding something they have no control over. New mom's have enough to worry about- keeping their new little human alive!- so lets be supportive in other ways.
Funny...I just received a message with the recipe for carrot cupcakes...Thanks J!!
As always be unapologetically you while I be unapologetically me- eating my carrot cupcakes