Maple Strawberry Mascarpone Granola Parfait

This post is also available in: French

The truth is I am struggling with food. It seems that I had this Love / Hate relationship with food forever ... I've watched a TV show today about people really obese that have to lose weight. The TV show follow them and help them during one year. It made me think a lot.

Of course I'm very far from being obese I know that. But I can relate to this food addiction. Food has always been my drug. When I am depressed, stressed out,bored, sad or lonely I turn to food.

You would think like a lot of people ... The thing is that when I get into a " crisis " I really can't stop myself, I can eat anything. I can eat cereals, salami, croissants with butter and jam, smoked salmon, nutella and then cheese and chocolate chip cookies and I keep eating until I'm feeling better for a little while... We could use the word " binge " here I guess...

I know that I am not hungry at all, I'm just looking for comfort and food also bring that to me. But in the end I feel really bad and ashamed for eating all that unecessary food... And of course I gain weight. I wasn't in a really good mood lately and so emotional eating or should I say " binging " came back real strong in my face.

I was really thin as a child and then when I was 14, puberty happened and I gained a lot of weight really quickly. I think that I did my first diet when I was about 16, it was my first Weight Watchers' diet and since then I think that I did it maybe 6 times, I tried all their versions and gave them a lot of money.

It really worked each time and I think that it's a good diet because you have to keep eating some good fats, you can eat everything you want in moderation and I think that this is how you are supposed to eat in a healthy way.

But the downside is that instead of obsessing over calories, you find yourself obsessing over " points " and at the end of the day it is the same thing. And it drives me crazy and brings me a lot of stress. So I decided to stop a few months ago.

I decided to try a new " diet ". Which consist in listening to your body and only eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full. Sounds easy right ? Not at all. At first I had to rediscover what hunger means to my body and how it manifests.

Then stopping when I was full.. Argh ! Even more complicated. But it worked really well and I wasn't frustrated. I know what I am supposed to eat or not and I know that I gained a lot of weight because I just ate a lot of food I wasn't supposed to with no hunger at all ...

I also know that if I don't deal with my personal issues I will always go back to that place. It's really tricky because you need to eat. You need to put food in your body. You don't need to smoke cigarettes, to have drugs or to drink alcohol. You can't quit eating ...

One of my favorite " healthy " breakfast that I discovered through other food blogs and instagram is Granola with fresh berries and Greek Yogurt. I've seen so many versions of Granola Parfaits that I've decided to try a more luscious version by adding a maple mascarpone whipped cream to my " Canadian " granola with fresh strawberries. It was just so so good ... I ate all of them by myself one more time but for breakfasts and desserts ...

What about you ? Are you struggling with food ? Are you having a healthy relationship with it ?

Bon Appétit !

Laure.