Grandma Gave Me Some BAD Habits…”Eat EVERYTHING On Your Plate Cause Children In Africa Are Starving.”…

By: Dre’chelle Edwards-Williams

So while eating a plate of homemade marinara sauce & three cheese raviolis this weekend, I found myself faced with a dilema: I had four cheese raviolis left….

Yummy! Anyway, it was a cheat meal for the day, groceries were low and I was not going to store so I had to cook what I had! *My excuse and I am sticking with it!*

Anywho the serving size was like 8 ravioli’s so of course I got my fair share, nothing more and definitely not anything less 8 is what I got, and I made dog-gone sure they were all whole, not broken, etc…true fat kid in me! So when I got down to the final 4 raviolis I noticed that I was stuffed, like really full.

But in the back of my head I heard both of my grandmother’s voices “Guhl, you bet not waste that food, do you know there are starving children in Africa who could eat that!” And pending on which grandmother’s house I was at as a child that statement could have been followed by “…And don’t carry your tail in here askin’ for NARE-NUTTHA piece of nothing!” and in a slight mumble you could hear granny say “…waisting my $%^&* food, you can waste your momma food, but not my food over here, not today you won’t!” LOL Lord have mercy! I love both of my grandmothers!

But listen y’all, alot of parent’s have this same rule of FINISH YOUR PLATE and DON’T WASTE FOOD.

Now I understand my grandparents grew up in a time where refrigerators were a luxury and the microwave was unheard of, so I can kind of see why they insisted in eating ALLL of the food given to you. And especially since having a plate of food was/is a true blessing, I understand you didn’t want to waste it.

However, in today’s times we have sufficient refrigeration and microwaves, so why do we still insist on stuffing ourselves in the name of these starving kids in Africa ( *DISCLAIMER: I do take World Hunger seriously, in fact I do my part by donating to various orgs for that cause. ) I don’t want any hate messages talkin’ about I’m being insensitive etc. etc.

Now, back to these starving kids that my grandmother’s advocated for all of the time. I have found myself playing a mind game when it some to some foods. If it’s a food I really like and I have had enough, but my plate was not completely eaten I would stuff myself and then have the nerve to feel a since of pride as if I did my part for hungry kids in Africa!

Yeah, that’s sad, I know but I am learning that in this journey alot of my eating habits are out of just that HABITS, and bad ones at that.

Out of habit I cleaned my plate, out of habit I used to stuff myself, and out of habit I became FAT!

So I think I have come to grips with this one, and I heard a new mantra that I tell myself when I see I have food left, and y’all can use this too….this one is free lol ” WASTED food is better than WAISTED food” Simply saying, I’d rather waste some food than to have it added to my waistline (which is still shrinking by the way!)

Again, let me give a disclaimer, I am not saying make a big ole plate and eat 1/2 of it and throw the other half away and think you are doing something.

I am saying if you use proper portion control you won’t have that much wasted, and if you do, REFRIGERATE IT and EAT IT LATER! It will speed up your metabolism and shrink your stomach volume naturally. The key is listen to your BODY and not the VOICES, in my case not the voice of my grandmothers LOL

“Eating to LIVE and not the other way around”

Dre’chelle Edwards-Williams is a plus-size health and wellness blogger . Her current blog project “Pigfeet & Eggs” is her journey to health and wellness in words. Her witty and transparent  personality gleams through each post as she gives her readers insight and motivation to live a healthy and clean-eating lifestyle. Her journey to health & wellness began in her quest to combat gestational diabetes, after dodging that bullet and shedding over 60 pounds  it became her mission to tell anyone who would listen about living a healthy & balanced  life.

Be on the lookout for her book Health & Wellness: Plus Size  Edition set to release Spring 2012! Pigfeet & Eggs Blog Website http://pigfeetandeggs.blogspot.com/ Follow her on Twitter: @MrsLadyDre