I know some people hate driving around. I actually don’t mind it so much. Mainly because I love listening to the radio. Especially my favorite morning show!

104.7 The Fish with Kevin & Taylor in the morning!

Music always puts me in a good mood. Plus, I often find the topics highlighted on the talk shows very interesting. Radio shows are kind of like blog reading in audio format! You get snippets of the hosts’ lives. You get random entertainment. And you get thought provoking conversations. Like a recent bit I listened to on the way to church this past weekend. It really got me questioning…

Can Self-Love Ever Have Negative Side Effects?

Every Sunday morning my favorite station plays a national program that will often have a theme for the week that includes stories from listeners. The theme for last week focused on forgiveness and one man shared his story of forgiving himself.

He talked about how he had always been very overweight when growing up and hated himself plus classmates who teased him. Eventually, he met a group of friends that emphasized loving himself for who he is and not defining himself by his appearance.

Then, he said he adopted that mindset, realized being overweight is “just who he is” and never bothered worrying about his weight anymore. He almost seemed proud that he was still overweight and accepted that part of himself. And I’m not so sure how I feel about that.

You know I’m all for self-love. But I still think part of loving ourselves comes with the responsibility of caring for our bodies. Love yourself where you are, but also love yourself enough to treat your body with respect – which includes fueling it properly and helping it get stronger with some form of activity.

I would much rather someone see his or her worth and value and be overweight, than be healthy physically but depressed and full of self-loathing. I think mental and emotional wellness plays a hugely significant role in health. However, I don’t like the idea of accepting oneself but not having any desire to treat the body right.

I believe we are meant to care for our bodies. We should be able to enjoy a meal stress-free with loved ones and not worry about the calories, but we should also enjoy fresh produce from the natural world and strengthening our bodies to live more fully. I loved the message of seeing the true worth of a person lies on the inside, but not the way it tossed aside needing to care for our physical being. It really got the wheels churning in my head. Obviously. And I would love to hear your thoughts!

ETA: When I discuss “overweight” I should have clarified that I mean at a place where the daily habits are adding up to physical illness or stress on the body. I didn’t intend to imply simply “above average” weight, but instead at a weight with physical health implications.

• What do you think about this scenario?
• And for fun – do you like listening to the radio? Or do you prefer your own music/podcasts/etc?

Morning, friends! You may recall my not super balanced “lunch” of candy corn that I mentioned over the weekend.

Well, when I posted about Peter & I completely owning that bag of candy corn over the course of the weekend, I made light of it. Hey hey! I devoured a boatload of sugar. Whoopee! No biggie. Love me some candy corn goodness. Hip hip hooray!

You get the picture.

Well, when I wrote the post I truly did feel like it was “no biggie” in the grand scheme of things. I would be lying if I said it didn’t get under my skin at first.

The dreaded food guilt.

I know some of my triggers that will lead to the dreaded guilty feeling:

• eating past a comfortable level of full
• eating mindlessly
• eating emotionally

Then, when reading a post last week by Lee on food guilt, something struck me for the first time – food guilt (and exercise guilt too for that matter) hits me hardest when I make unplanned less than healthy decisions.

So, a surprise baggy of candy corn gone in a matter of days equaled a twinge of food guilt. And Chelsey – don’t you dare go feeling friend guilt for my silly food guilt. Do you hear me?! I still love you mad…and the candy corn.

It’s an interesting concept and crazy how I never fully realized that before. At least I can usually recognize food guilt, pinpoint the cause, learn from it, and move on relatively quickly these days. However, I still have things to learn and ways to grow.

I have no qualms eating less than healthy food at times. In fact, I believe it’s a necessary part of my eating habits so I can keep the road of balance and not revert back to how I felt during my first binge and the years that followed.

But perhaps, as Lee posed in her thoughts, food guilt can do good on some level. Perhaps it can positively motivate our eating habits. Or at the very least make us take a closer look. Just don’t take too close a look and bring it from self-aware to self-deprecating. Mmmkay? You (and I) deserve more than that.

• What things set off food guilt for you?
• Do you think some food guilt can be a good thing?