My name isn’t really Snarfy. 

Once upon a time, I made some big life changes and eliminated certain foods from my everyday diet. Because of those changes, coupled with an increase in activity level, I had lost a significant amount of weight. Then I hit a period of great stress and depression so I threw everything out the window and gained all that weight back. Now I’m trying to relearn how to listen to my body and treat it right since this is the only one I get.

Since you’re still reading, here’s a few things to get to know me better:

1) I’m an addict. I’m addicted to food. It makes me feel better when I feel like crap and it was always there for me when I thought nobody else was. I eat my feels, and I’ve had a lot of feels throughout my life. That’s how I got here. The thing of it is though that I can’t give up food and “recover” the same way a person addicted to opiates does. I’m constantly nagging myself to be better, but I’m trying to change the nag to love. It’s all a learning journey and it takes a long time to reprogram that inner narrative.

2) I am type 2 diabetic and I found out in October 2017. As of October 2018, my A1C is at goal (less than 7) and my doctor has declared me under control. I control my blood sugar with medication, but I’m not on injectables. I’m really trying to avoid that because needles give me the heebie jeebies. I’d learn to do it, but don’t want to get there if I don’t have to.

3) I once willingly gave up gluten. I’m not celiac. I did a cleanse and I found out that I don’t like the way gluten foods make me feel. Basically, I react by getting bloated, headaches, and inflammation. Our whole house did a cleanse and I reacted the most to gluten. Because of this, I try to stay gluten free at the very least. Ultimately though, I try to just avoid excess carbs, which includes rice and other gluten substitutes, because of my blood sugar. This doesn’t mean that all my recipes are void of gluten. I indulge from time to time, and sometimes that poppin fresh dough mix is irresistable.

4) I try to eat clean on an everyday basis. This can mean a bunch of different things. For me, this means eating things that are not processed. I try not to eat from boxes. I make things from scratch and use fresh ingredients. I’m not a stickler (I still use jarred marinara sauce), but when I buy pantry items, I read the ingredients list and look for things that are on the “cleaner” side. No added sugar, no crazy ingredients I can’t pronounce – just real food.

5) I don’t follow one particular diet style. I did, however, get to know my body through cleansing and reintroduction of problem food groups. Most recently, I started to notice some reaction to dairy (in addition to gluten) but only when I eat a lot of it in one sitting or in successive sittings. When researching recipes, I usually start with Paleo or Keto as they’re mostly reduced to my ideals (proteins and vegetables) and I go from there. Sometimes I un-paleo a recipe by using real dairy items. Other times I sweeten things up with fruits, preserves, or sugar alternatives. Know your body and know what things you can change in your food to accommodate you.

6) It’s all about moderation. I still have burgers from Five Guys (I get it lettuce wrapped). French fries are my kryptonite. Don’t leave me alone in a room with a roasted tri tip because it won’t be there when you get back. But I really try to keep it all in check. It just doesn’t always work, but I’m trying to accept me and improve me. For me, moderation comes down to trying to stick to only 3 meals a day, no snacks. Everyone (including my doctor) always says 5 or 6 smaller meals in the day, but refer back to #1 in this list. I turn those smaller meals into full meals, where I can control it better with only 3 meals.

7) Stay hydrated! I drink a lot of water. Like 12-15 cups a day on top of what I get in my food. I don’t drink soda or fruit juices. Tea counts as water. Coffee does not. I still love coffee.

8) Buy what you like and cook with what you have and then you don’t waste food. Nowadays, I usually go to the store with a meal plan in mind and a shopping list that complements it, but I also like use up what we have and keep myself on my toes. I call this Iron Chef America: Home Edition.