So…I love to bake! Is that so weird or wrong? Apparently if you are a fitness professional it is! When my students and clients hear that I like to bake they are amazed! How could someone who teaches health and fitness like to bake sweet treats? And then eat them too?
I find that baking soothes me. I love to come home and get out all my ingredients and prepare something yummy! What I enjoy more is sharing it with others and hearing how much they enjoy my tasty treats. I’m not a whiz at baking or a natural, I need to follow a recipe and pay attention to what I’m doing, but I think that is what I enjoy. It takes me out of my brain for a bit and I forget about any stress or problems and focus on creating. It makes me happy!
Everything in moderation. What’s one cookie or one little slice of pie? When we deprive ourselves of certain foods we seem to only want them more. I find that when I bake, I bake for the enjoyment of it more than the eating of it. I usually only sample a little bit of what I actually make. The rest gets given to friends and family to enjoy as well. A little bit for everyone equals less guilt later and less to burn on the treadmill! I also strongly believe in never calling something a “bad” food. There are healthy choices, less healthy choices and not so healthy choices. Saying something is “bad” only makes us feel worse about eating it. Before I started baking, I was one of those people. Now I understand the hard work and love that go into creating these confections and I would never turn down a homemade treat. I may not eat it all or try just a little, but I wouldn’t want that hard work to go un noticed.
Unless you need to refrain from certain foods for medical reasons my philosophy will remain that we should never say never about eating certain foods or call a food “bad” for you. Never eat a cookie again? Gasp! Can you imagine? If we never ate cookies, there would never be a Cookie Monster and THAT would be a tragedy!