. solution? eat more food .

Woooowie. Can I just say that your responses to my last post blew. me. away. Seriously. If you’re ever feeling frustrated or guilty for eating “too much” or “too dirty”, then just head on over and read some of the comments that people left behind and you’ll instantly feel better. Or, come and visit me, and I’ll eat you under the table 😉 We’ll start with breakfast, which will most certainly include chocolate in some form:

… enjoy one of those “killer cupcakes” (the tiramisu is mine)…

(Katie, I’ll save some frosting for you ;))

… and see what happens from there. Sound good? Good stuff. Hit me up and it’s a date.

So because you guys inspired me so much with all your words of wisdom and anti-restriction diet protests, I thought it would be fitting if I dedicated this post to my own hatred dislike of low-calorie diets by pointing out all the “wonderful” consequences that you can look forward to if you don’t eat enough.

Again, I’m not a nutritionist. I speak [unfortunately] only from personal experience.

. – . – . – .

Your physical performance suffers.

If I don’t fuel myself properly, I can’t run as far and fast as I want to, nor lift as heavily and efficiently as I’d like to. My workouts become sloppy and seem to drag on forever, and any progress that I’ve been making with my training plateaus and sometimes even begins to decline. My motivation to work out basically disappears, and it takes longer for my body to recover from my training sessions – I end up feeling lethargic and achey a lot more often.

Your cognitive performance suffers.

Thinking in general, nevermind logically, becomes a lot harder if I don’t give my body the right amount of food. A starvation induced mental fog begins to set in, and I find it a lot more difficult to focus my thoughts and concentrate on whatever I’m trying to do. In school, this was a big problem –  writing essays was a nightmare as I struggled to express my thoughts in a coherent way. Outside of school, I’m not able to focus on any of the things that I love doing, or pursue any of my interests becaaaaause…

You begin to obsess about food.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to think about food and come up with creative meal/snack ideas, but not when it reaches a point where I’m thinking about it twenty-four/seven. Oftentimes, I don’t feel hunger in a physical way (think grumbly stomach), but I begin to feel it mentally. If I start thinking about food non-stop, or finish a meal only to think about my next snack, I’ll know it’s either time to eat or that I need to start eating more. Speaking of which, I’m starting to think it’s snack time… intermission!

*insert elevator quality music here*

What do you mean you don’t consider a bowl of “overnight” oatmeal with chia seeds and a fresh nectarine a snack? Why not?!

That’s better. Now, where were we? Ahh yes… on we go.

You get cranky, moody, and bitter.

You do NOT want to run into me when I’m hungry. Seriously. I will mow you down if you stand between me and food. Of course, I’ll come back, help you up, dust you off, and apologize afterwards, but I really advise you not to get in my way, or to just avoid me in general if I haven’t had enough to eat. When I’m hungry, I’m cranky, and when I’m cranky I’ll snap at you and say things I don’t mean. Furthermore, if I’m denying myself treats, and you’re eating something that looks delicious, I’ll hate you for it… for no reason other than you can have it and I can’t. I’m a much happier and more approachable person when I’m well fed. There’s a reason those toothpick runway models are always scowling… Just saying…

You begin to experience a host of digestive problems.

If I go too long without eating, or let myself get too hungry, I suffer when I finally do eat. My stomach does not take kindly to food when its pH has been thrown off, and I end up with a host of digestive complaints that make life that much more miserable. It’s hard to be happy and upbeat when you feel crampy and bloated… or when you’re forced to face a sight like this…

… that would be an empty bottle of kombucha; which, while we’re on the topic of digestion, has done absolute wonders for mine. But I digress… One more point to bring up before I’m through…

The quality of your sleep suffers.

Ahh, sleep, how I love you. It’s almost impossible for me to fall asleep on an empty stomach, so I always eat a hefty snack before I go to bed to put me to sleep and get me through the night…

(whoever thought of the rule that prohibits eating past 7 o’clock needs to be shot scolded)

If, by some miracle, I’m actually able to fall asleep when I’m hungry, there’s NO way that I’ll be able to stay asleep. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been awoken by a grumbling stomach in the middle of the night, and then fallen asleep only to be awoken again an hour later. Not fun. The night is very long when you can’t sleep as a result of starvation induced insomnia, and you wake up very tired.

. – . – . – .

There are tonnes of other negatives, but it would be impossible to cover them all and, quite frankly, I’m getting a little tired of thinking about how crappy life is when you don’t eat enough; I’ve wasted enough years of my life living just barely getting by already.

Luckily, there’s a very simple way to avoid all these unpleasantries, or to bid them farewell:

Eat. More. Food.

And it works. Trust me.

Can you relate? Anything to add to the list?