Chrizo

lenachen:

So it’s been pointed out to me that it’s kind of funny that I posted a photo and recipe for a deep-fried Taiwanese dessert right after being selected to compete in SHAPE Magazine’s Best Blogger Awards. Which — okay, fair — that post does indeed seem ironic when one is supposed to be promoting “healthy living” (the category I’m nominated in).

That said, I don’t think objectively unhealthy foods — and let’s not kid ourselves, there’s no nutritional benefit to deep-frying — are a bad thing. Oftentimes, they taste really good! Like way better than “healthy” food. And when Aunt Flo’s in town and I’m cramping and grouchy, I don’t want a fucking salad. I don’t even want a salad when I’m not crampy. Gimme waffle fries covered in chilli and cheese any day. As I’ve written before:

You’re not on a healthy diet if you have to describe it using the word “never”. Abstinence and deprivation just aren’t good ideas, with sex or with diets. Don’t make sacrifices that will substantially affect your quality of life. The reason why many diets fail is because their unreasonable restrictions can’t be sustained over the long-term. Even if you do succeed, at what cost?

Health is as much about the mental as it is about the physical. Given my history with disordered eating, the most important thing to me when it comes to food (and exercise) is to ensure that guilt never enters the equation. Because guilt doesn’t just make me feel bad about my appearance; it makes me feel bad about myself for lacking the willpower or strength to resist. That’s what led me to throw up in my teens. And if dessert is what it takes for me to not go back there, I’ll take the chocolate peanut butter cup, thankyouverymuch.

Allowing myself luxuries like dessert is part of my pact with my body. Regular readers know that I am quite fond of making and ingesting fatty or fried foods. The theme of my Twitter on any given week usually revolves around a craving of the moment. Lately, it’s been the aforementioned mantou, Peking Duck, and churros. None of which are particularly healthy. But not eating what I want because I feel intense guilt isn’t healthy either. (Have you ever been at dinner with someone who eyes your dessert but refuses to order their own? They look deranged, not healthy.) “Healthy living”, if such a category even exists, is all about creating balance and realistic expectations that are based not on how you look, but on how you relate to your own body.