Do you know anyone who calls themselves a “real food lover”? Maybe someone who almost lives for food but for some reason is still healthy and fit?

Nope, I’m not talking about “loving” food in the way that you rely on it for all of your comfort and relationship in life, like it’s your “best friend and lover”. Actually that’s another good question – know anyone who uses food like this? Maybe you’ve done that before?

Can You Love Food and Still Lose Weight?

I was thinking about this today, about the fact that just because you change your lifestyle and begin to treat yourself with health and respect that you can still love food, and that it’s actually a healthy love of food. I mean, I bet that if you were to really let loose and eat whatever the heck you wanted to, all of those foods that you’ve been telling yourself that you “shouldn’t” eat, that you just might find that you don’t even like them – if you get gut level  honest with yourself.

For example, if you truly take the time to taste it and see how it feels in your gut after you eat it, you just might find that those sweets and pastas or whatever else it is that you’ve been wanting really don’t taste nearly as  good as whole, healthy, live foods do and the processed foods don’t make your body feel all that  great either. This is an exercise you can do for yourself though, and when you tune into your body you will find your own results.

You  just may  find that those foods that you thought you “couldn’t live without” have only been on your mind because you were telling yourself you couldn’t have them. Well there’s a big difference between telling yourself you “can’t” and  making the conscious choice to eat  healthy,  whole foods  because you want to get healthy and fit, wtih the caveat that you only eat healthy foods that you truly like.

Which Brings Us Back To….

Now we’re back to the original question here, which is can you love food and still lose weight?

It’s been my experience that Yes, you can! Here’s an example of just a few foods (and  dishes)  that I absolutely love, foods that I eat that not only make me feel great but they also  speed up my metabolism and drop the fat off of my body:

• strawberries
• pineapple
• chicken breast grilled plain or with homemade mustard and pepper  sauce (sans sugar, salt, MSG, or preservatives)
• winter squash
• sweet potatoe chips
• mashed yukon gold potatoes
• shrimp scampi with rice noodles
• berries: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
• oats – regular oatmeal and steel cut oats with Stevia for sweetener
• egg whites (yes, I like them,  hard boiled)
• shepherd’s pie
• chicken marengo
• bananas
• chicken ghallaba
• green beans
• asparagus

These are  only a few of the foods and meals that I love to eat – whole foods that make my body feel awesome, give me tons of energy, and easily allow my body to lose weight.

So to answer my question, can you love food and still lose weight? Yes, absolutely you can! All you need to do if you aren’t used to eating whole, healthy foods is be open minded to trying something new and just see if you like it or not. If you don’t then do not eat it because that’s not fun – stick with the healthy foods that you enjoy and allow your body to sing with health and vitality in 2009.