Why I Could Care Less About Being Good

I love food. It's not a secret. I love everything about it. I love buying food, reading about food, looking at food, eating food, talking about food, writing about food...and why not? It's delicious and fun, and it's full of deliciously fun calories.

I like pasta. Even better, pasta with cheese. I cook with butter because I just don't believe in margarine (sorry, Mom). I drink whole milk. I use heavy cream. I drink wine, eat chocolate cake, love a good burger and eat pizza for breakfast (cold, of course). Do I feel guilty? Absolutely not. Why should I?

You know what I DO feel guilty about? Wasting food. That doesn't mean I have to sit and eat a 3 serving bowl of pasta so it doesn't go to waste. It means I hate to throw food away. It's a waste of money and a waste of resources.

But I digress...why could I care less about being good, you ask? I'm not saying I'm planning to rob my neighbor or trip the old lady trying to cross the street. What I AM saying is that I hate that so many females feel the need to be like "Oh I'm being good today. No carbs" or "I can't eat cake. I'm being good" or "I'm only going to get the small salad even though I really want the Big Gruesome and the quarter pound cheeseburger with cheddar and handcut fries. I'm being good." That, folks, is what grinds my gears.

Associating food with being "good" or "bad" is just uncalled for. Associating eating or enjoying a meal with a black and white tag like that isn't healthy. It's a poor train of thought where you only end up feeling guilty for having cheese fries or ordering the bleu cheese dressing. Get it? I like cheese. In some groups of girls, it's like some sort of strange competition between who can "eat the most healthy" ie. who can eat the least (on Wednesdays, we wear pink...). I promise you, you're not winning anything by only eating a slice of cucumber for dinner. Screw you all, I'm having the steak.

But in the end, it isn't about eating everything you want all the time OR constantly denying yourself about what you really want to eat. It's about finding the balance between both. Moderation. It's also about living a healthy lifestyle, working out, drinking water, and having a balanced diet. I like to be right between the brownie sundae and double chocolate stout AND the vegetables (spell it with your peas!) and Cuties. I think, if you can find that balance, it puts you right in your dietary happy place. I know I am.