I started writing this post in my mind weeks ago.
I even began to incorporate some of the verbiage in one of my previous What I Ate Wednesday posts. However, as is often the case, my fingers got to typing in an entirely different direction. I don’t mean any Go Go Gadget stuff either; I’m saying I went a different route and edited this bit out. Shocking, I know.
Despite the length and girth of my posts, I do edit them. Multiple times in fact, although more often than not, I end up writing them the morning of actual publication which works, but it also means I’m not as funny. You see my first go around is simply me putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and typing whatever pours out. The funny comes later, especially when I have time to regroup in between drafting sessions. The more time in between, well the funnier it gets, at least in my mind, which is a strange and musical place.
Since I started today’s post weeks ago, you think it’d be hysterical. Well I am sad to report that is simply not the case, since I decided to go serious instead, which is something I don’t do well, unless I’m ranting, and I’m not doing that today either.
After that wonderfully wordy and unamusing intro, I’m sure you’re dying for me to get to the point or more pointedly the food. Patience my friends, says the woman who has virtually none. We’re almost there.
For those of you who’ve come to know and love me, this won’t be a surprise.
I like structure, I like order and I’m big when it comes to following the rules, unless of course I can justify a reason for breaking them. I also really like the original purpose behind Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday parties.
“WIAW is about food and fun! It’s about making new friends, breaking out of a food rut, noting changes in your diet/lifestyle, inspiring yourself & others, embracing fruit & vegetables, nourishing your body with the foods that work for you, finding new ways to eat your favorite foods, and so. much. more.”
I’ve started to notice a less than satisfactory trend hitting the blog world. A good number of participants in the WIAW link up are no longer posting an entire day of eats anymore. Confession: I am guilty of this as well, although I want to change that.
I know it can be tough to photograph every single morsel, and its even tougher to get a decent shot of them all. I also know the reason I started this blog was to help others looking to make changes in their own food choices, and if I’m going to be an example of that, a perfect plate of food every single meal or highlighting my great weekend eats, while glossing over the less than ideal stuff isn’t going to cut it. Sure, pretty pictures and picture perfect meals might be great for other food bloggers or sponsors, if that’s your thing, but for people really looking to make changes in their diets, I’m guessing it will push them further away.
So I want to get back to my roots and the real purpose behind Jenn’s WIAW link up. I also want to encourage other bloggers to do the same with future posts. I won’t hate if you don’t, and I’m sure I’ll break the rules again, with good reason of course, but I’m hoping you’ll at least think about it.
Today, I’m sharing my meals, my morsels and my snacks from Saturday. The only thing missing is my morning cup of coffee and the gallons of water I consumed. Alright fine, it was probably more like 80 ounces. Whatever.
(Screw the rule that says you can’t eat more than one banana a day).
WIAW shouldn’t be a highlight reel of your best ‘healthy’ stuff. Instead, it’s about being open and honest with your food choices, even when they are less than ideal or don’t fit the “rules.”
(A second banana in my Banana, Blueberry and Kale Smoothie)
WIAW isn’t about capturing the most magnificent picture or even photographing each morsel. It is about full disclosure though, so sometimes you may need to snag a stock photo from the Internet.
(I ate at least three of these Energy Bars; they were good (source))
WIAW isn’t ensuring your best foot is always forward. It’s about learning about yourself and inspiring others to do the same. I’ve learned I love carbs.
(A sample of the Breadsmith’s Chocolate Chocolate Bread; it tasted like the perfect brownie.)
If I only present an ideal image, who really learns?
Not me.
Not someone who is overweight and struggling to lose and thinks my eating habits aren’t obtainable or sustainable.
Not someone is underweight and fears my consumption of cheese and bread.
(Side note: while I know our bodies are all different, I have been the same weight give or take a seasonal pound or two, for fifteen months and counting.)
(Apple and Smoked Gouda Grilled Cheese on Sourdough Bread)
WIAW isn’t about holding back because dinner was eaten at 8 p.m. when the lighting sucked, and I didn’t feel much like plating my meal. Who cares? It’s just dinner; I’m not sharing a recipe here.
NO KITTY! THIS IS MY POT PIE!
(Chickpea Curry, Steamed Broccoli and Parmesan Rosemary Drop Biscuits)
There will be people who think I eat too much. There will be people who think I eat too little. There will be those who gasp over my cheese consumption and egg yolk loving ways. There will be people who find my food triggering. There will be people who find my food choices to be less than healthy. There will be people who find my vegetarian ways to be un-American. I have long since learned you can’t please everybody, regardless of your good intentions.
What I do know is I love the way I eat, and I stand by all of my choices, even the less than perfect ones. What’s more? I am comfortable with promulgating my ways as healthy. This is who I am, and at the end of the day I just want to be me, as flawed and as fabulous as that is because frankly, my flaws are what make me fabulous.
I told you it wasn’t going to be funny.
What’s your take on What I Ate Wednesday? Does it bother you when people don’t share a full day of eats? Do you wish more people did? What have you learned about yourself and your eating habits by participating in WIAW?
Get ready for what I am about to say…I have NEVER participated in WIAW..WHOOWW! I like looking at other peoples eats, but never felt the desire to participate myself. I think I’ll make my own what I ate on that last day of the weekend before the one we just had post. Yeah..and I’ll post everything I ate right down to the 70 handfuls of chocolate chips. OK I am getting off topic, I love that you are taking this to the root and doing what WIAW was made for. I think your eats look lovely, I don’t eat cheese..and never really cared for gouda, but MAN that sandwich looks KILLER!
I think you should do that. In fact, I’m going to be waiting with bated breath for it to happen.
I need to make some more vegan choices for you. I’ve got an artichoke soup coming up which could go either way. It’s going to happen. I’ve testing it twice so third times the charm.
I would love it if you showed what a real person eats in a day! I wait with baited breath too 🙂
Man oh man, we’re going to have a whole bunch of people with funky breath. 😉
Great post, Meghan! I love the way you eat because I eat basically the same way, except for the smoothies…gotta get started with the smoothies. Vegetarianism is the stepchild anyway. If you’re not a meatasaurus or a vegan you’re kind of on your own. You and I are together in this thing kiddo. Cheese is the reason I don’t think I could become vegan. Besides somehow if you become vegan, it seems you immediately have to become preachy. As my friend from Kansas City said when she found out I was veggie…” I couldn’t tell because you’re not an annoying vegetarian!” She can say things like that and I know she meant it in a positive way. That’s why we’re still friends after all these years and all those miles. I’m glad to have another veggie buddy. I need to plan our next road trip closer to Cleveland. Have a great day, Meghan!!
I’ve gotten comments like that from friends before and while I didn’t let it change the friendship (I know they meant no harm), I find the comments highly irritating and prejudicial. It’s not uncommon either, so I rarely tell people in my real life that I’m a vegetarian. Sad, but true.
If you came to Cleveland, I know just the diner I’d take you to.
Yup. All of it. Save the public banana.
Ppl are users who use WIAW for guaranteed traffic, w/o caring about the rules.
It’s my goal in life to make you consume public banana. Just warning you.
We need to tag team her and force mass bananas into her face.
Sad, but true.
Love, love, love this!! I just had the urge o go back through my old WIAW posts before I commented here so I could be as honest as possible in my response. Originally I was great about posting a full day of meals… I was under the impression they were supposed to actually be Wednesday’s meals so my posts came in at about 8pm… but there was a breakfast/lunch/dinner there. Lately I’ve gotten more into my pictures so I’ve been using eats from a day where I’m photographing… or combining the “prettiest” eats from over several days to make sure I have an “attractive” post (air quotes are totally in my own head).
I like your honesty, your reminder for the rules. and your grilled cheese sandwich 🙂 While I think breaking the rules can be fun sometimes I think the original WIAW concept is also fun, so I like your push to get back to it!
I’ve used nicer photos from other days if the meal was the same. I think my issue is more about people excluding entire meals, snacks, etc because they weren’t photogenic or maybe not necessarily the epitome of health. While that’s fine and I like seeing the food, it’s not really a WIAW either.
I love your eats, I’ve always loved them and I think you’re WIAW are exactly what they should be.
Great post – I know many people are worried what other people think about their eating habits. I’ve been there when I shared I started eating fish & then eggs. You know what? I don’t care what people if people judge me that way. I join WIAW to show people what I do eat & that you should eat! A lot. 🙂 I’m glad you’re doing the same.
No shame in our games right?!
By the way, you are doing fan-freaking-tastic in your competition prep. You get two snaps and a twirl from me.
I heart your face off. I wish I was running on more sleep so I could do this comment justice but cracked-out-sleepless-jenn is here instead. Lo siento! 😉 Ironically enough I had to toss together my WIAW so I’d have a party to even post this week so mine is just one meal and a total breakage of the heart and soul of WIAW. But it gave me primo baby snuggling time so… worth it =) Thanks so much for this post — I’ve wanted to say this a zillion times… and you’re right on all counts. It’s not about presenting an image of perfection or editing around eats to only show one recipe or a few pretty, carefully chosen photos — its about celebrating food, reflecting on what we love about our meals and sometimes what we hope to change [i should eat less bagels. Though that would be the day. hah!] and inviting others into a day in your life! It’s about inspiration and mindfulness and welcoming the uniqueness of what we choose to stuff our faces with. No gimmicks, no restriction, just food! And all that jazz =) haha I love your day of YUM and hope your furball was able to steal a nice gulp of pot pie before scampering off 😉 Mine stole the cheese off my pasta the other night. Thief! And speaking of cheese — this is why we’re friends. Well… a zillion other reasons but the cheese and bananas don’t hurt! <3 love you so!
I got your back.
I eat too much cheese, which is why I don’t have a six pack. I’ve got a nice single bottle though, and I’m happy with that. 😉
This fur ball didn’t get any pot pie, but my other one just broke into a bag of plain oats this weekend and put a nice dent in those. Pesky felines.
ignore all typos and i’ll love you forever =) ok I will anyways! Time to feed the kraken! mwah!
Aaaaand this is why I love you. Well, that and your love of the public banana. You’ve inspired me — I’m doing this for SURE next week. I try to do a pretty accurate representation of my eats for WIAW, but there are definitely times where I’ll have to sub in a meal or snack to put them together. But this is a brilliant idea, and I’m definitely joining you in the movement… hopefully we can get other people on board!
I’m thrilled to hear. I really believe if we start sharing the real deal, it’ll actually be more beneficial to people trying to get healthier and to hell with the naysayers. Ain’t nobody got time for them.
I really think it is more beneficial to people to give an accurate picture of how you eat- screw the naysayers! If you are comfortable with how you eat just let it be 🙂 I fully support this movement xo
Thanks for the support Daniela. I appreciate it.
Yesss, I agree with what you said! There’s an occasional week where I don’t share all of my daily eats (like this week) but that’s a rare occasion. I’ve been told that I eat too much, that I don’t eat enough, that I eat a great rainbow of foods, too many ____ foods… Everyone will have an opinion (like with everything else in life), but to each their own!
That’s exactly right. To each their own.
Thanks for stopping by and saying hello. 🙂
No, kitty! No kitty, this is my pot pie!!
Just the fact that you referenced Cartman has me all up in a dither.
I have never done this linkup – I didn’t know it existed, until I read your blog posts about it. I’m not a foodie blogger. I keep my food related trials and tribulations to myself.
Here is what I say about anything. Just do what you do and fuck the people who don’t like it. We are not existing to make sure everyone agrees with us. You go get your tub of energy bar freak on and if people have a problem with it…well? I guess we will all have to learn to live with their disappointment.
Obviously, everyone here thinks you’re the cat’s pajamas, and that’s truly all that counts.
Tomorrow, I’m going to eat an obscene amount of pilfered candy from my 3.5 year old’s plastic magenta jack-o-lantern. I’m going to love every single hyper screaming chocolate covered moment of it. It’ll be processed. It’ll be Smartee heavy. It will be heaven.
Can we make a linkup about THAT?!?
I’m so glad somebody got the Cartman reference, and of course it’d be you. That makes my black little heart skip a beat, with delight of course.
You said, “tub of energy bar freak on,” and I can’t stop laughing and having off thoughts about energy bars.
Pass the Smartees love; those are a classic.
Well, you still made me chuckle with ” in my mind, which is a strange and musical place.” BUT I see what you’re saying. I’m definitely guilty of not disclosing a full day of eats, but I think I make that obvious that I just highlight the interesting stuff- healthy or “bad” (psh, no such thing). I do think a lot of people need to realize that though and stop comparing to every post they read. Everyone’s different and that’s the beauty of it!
Ya know I think you’re the cats pajamas right? I do.
I guess my response would be not every Wednesday post needs to be a WIAW link up when we aren’t staying true to the theme. I know I’ve skipped my share because I couldn’t justify linking up. It’s food for thought.
I just wanted to say how grateful I am to you for being on the internet. I am trying so very hard to become better and, it is through your approach to food and living that I have gotten to the place that I am now. I am still struggling and you posting this today just made my day like infinately better. You are a truly amazing person and I want to thank you for honestly with your lifestyle because its one that I am trying to pursue. that knowledge that I can be happy and healthy while still eating cheeses and eggs has helped me not close my own doors. Thank you Thank you Thank you.
Can you image a world without cheese or egg yolks?! I wouldn’t even know where to begin, nor would I want to. For me, I have to really enjoy what I eat or else it’s not something I can sustain for a lifetime, and I plan on living an extra long time.
I am so very happy I’ve been of some assistance to you. Honestly, it’s one of the very reasons I started blogging so your comment made my day infinitely better as well. Now there’s a nice give and take.
I hope you say hello again sometime and feel free to email me if you find yourself struggling and need an ear.
Thank you for your comment! (I was fan girl-ing for a good minute.) I did want to make a side note that You are helping me also find out how to construct a satisfying Vegetarian meal which, I was struggling with as well so in all thank you a million times over.
Oh how i can relate! i haven’t posted a WIAW in a long time because i don’t have full days eats. And when i do, it’s so odd! But i do like getting ideas from people. And i do like cheese and wine.. wait, that’s not healthy? LOL!
Cheese and wine sounds perfect to me. Too bad, it’s only 9:30 in the morning right now, and that’s definitely not healthy. Ha.
Love the sandwich, love the dinner but most of all, love the post. Although I do admit recently to have gone into ‘themes’ for my WIAW posts, I echo Amanda here and I will be on board with going back to traditional routes. I’m not fussed for people to care about my eats (heck, I’ve eaten pizza three times for breakfast) and my photography….pfft even my recipes are a stark contrast to those who spend ages editing and perfecting it.
PS you give me bread envy AGAIN.
I’ve done some themes too Arman. What can I say? I like a themed post and I’ve even got one coming up….all about eggs, baby. Although I think I’ll share it on a different day than WIAW now.
You not being fussed about sharing your eats is why you are so popular; well that and your charming personality and empty twerking. I want to see public twerking next. It’ll be like #publicbanana.
I’m going to pick up another loaf of bread today. Garlic Onion Bread. It’s today’s special, and I am so excited!!
You’re so kind, Megan. I am warming up to the shoe fetish 😉
public twerking will indeed happen, and the next one will be with a banana in tow!
That sounds highly inappropriate and I love it.
You took the words right out of my mouth, Meghann- LOVE this post! My motive for reading WIAW posts is never to emulate someone else’s eating habits and eat the same amount he/she does. Instead it’s to find inspiration and ideas for future meals and occasionally drool over their delicious eats. Those who end up judging or comparing tend to have issues of their own that they need to deal with.
I actually don’t mind the comparison so long as it comes with some semblance of understanding. For example, she eats a lot of cheese. She doesn’t eat any meat though so it balances out. I also want people to see I eat loads of fruit and yet somehow maintain my weight. Granted everyone is different but I want people to see it can be done, so I welcome the comparison, especially if it can teach somebody something. It’s also the reason I’d like to see a full day of other people’s eats. I can learn from them too.
I love WIAW for it’s inspiration. Trying new ting is a passion and this community always has such good ideas! My WIAW is always the full story – people can hate or judge all day long but it’s what I eat and I like it that way.
Adding eat a cheese sandwich made by you to my life’s goals.
I think that’s a good goal to have. We need to make that happen.
As you know, I frequently cheat on my WIAWs… Uh, like always. I feel guilty about it, but at the same time I don’t really want to share my daily meals. It’s pretty hard sometimes to look at all of the food on WIAWs and not be able to eat any of it. But, even though I don’t really follow the rules, WIAW helps me in a different way. Hmm… Maybe I should do a post on this instead of writing a big long comment. I will be dwelling on this.
Thanks.
I will say one of my very favorite WIAW’s was the one you did discussing the excitement surrounding WIAW. I’m almost positive there wasn’t a single food picture in that post, yet it perfectly embodied the idea of WIAW anyway. It was awesome.
I finally came back to comment (I read on my phone and allllways forget to go back and comment)… and g-damn I love this post. And it inspired me big time! I’ve been doing WIAW posts for over a year now and I have to say- I’ve probably never once documented every.single.bite. that I ate. I read this post early Weds morning and decided to shoot my post for next week that day- REALLY taking a picture of everything I eat. I was a fat girl for most of my life (and still have a bit to lose) so I am definitely a little self conscious of people thinking I eat too much. It’s stupid. It’s true.
Thanks for putting this out there and YES it drives me crazy when people link to Jenn’s blog with a post that has NOTHING to do with the concept of WIAW.
You rule.
I’m so glad you loved it, and I can’t wait to see your full day of eats.
I think most people are really just looking for openness and honestly and if we show that versus our idealized version, they’ll actually be able to relate more to us, which means we actually help more. At the end of the day, no one is perfect so it stands to reason, our eats never are too.
I say let’s just put it all out there and go with it. To hell with naysayers and inner critical voices. At the end of the day, being skinny doesn’t make you healthy. Not if you’re too skinny or subsisting on the wrong kinds of food. If you eat healthy, nutritious and balanced, but are carrying a little extra baggage, I’d still say you are damn healthy and definitely more so than someone vastly underweight.
I needed to give myself a break from WIAW as I’m trying to be less maniacal about food in general….
I can’t say I don’t love food stalking other though!!
BTW, I think you have a problem with bananas….you might need a 12 step program to get beyond it.
I’m still in the denial phase. 🙂
You did the smart thing though. You stepped back and stopped linking. There are tons of folks still linking without actually showing the goods. It’s pretty shady.
I puffy heart you, my friend. And I’m someone who is vegan (no eggs or cheese, like you mentioned) and will never do WIAW (given my history, especially.) I also don’t read a lot of HLB blogs anymore for this very reason–everything is a perfectly crafted image of what they want people to see, or what they THINK people want to see. People post the same damn picture every day of a stupid egg yolk or smoothie and get a million “likes” because…? It’s food. We all eat it. Inspiration is great and it’s fun to take a peek into the kitchen of others, but not if that image is fake. What’s the point?
What works for you doesn’t necessarily work for me. Put it out there screw everyone else. There are only a few people who do this, and those are the most interesting people. 😉
Some days I wonder why I’m still in the HLB community. I’m so vastly different from most of those there. Then I realize that’s exactly why I’m still hanging around, like a bad hangnail or a toothache. I’m trying to buck their system. I want to raise hell and break shit. Or something to that effect without the violence. 🙂
Meghan, I love this.
Personally, I have struggled with WIAWs. I have a sordid history with tracking food and the idea of photographing, documenting, and sharing every single thing feels like a bit of a slippery slope to me.
I like your focus on authenticity and honesty. There’s some quote circulating the internet about how social media is someone’s highlight reel, so you shouldn’t compare your bloopers, or something. I don’t necessarily mind how people want to interpret the WIAW concept, so long as there’s some element of disclosure about it. If people only want to show their “healthiest” meals, that’s fine with me, so long as there’s some sort of explanation to remind us, “Hey, I sometimes eat PB straight out of the jar, too. It’s cool.”
Either way, you definitely gave me a lot to think about regarding how much we share and how we sometimes fear judgement based on our choices.
If it’s a slippery slope for you, it’s probably a good idea for you to skip participating, and I respect you for knowing and doing that.
People will always judge. I say “Let them come.” (I’m pretty sure this is from some big pump up speech in a gladiator type movie, so you should know I said it in that kind of voice too.) I’m ok with people commenting and critiquing, which is why I think it’s only fair to post the entire story, not some snapshot of a moment in time. That’s what I think WIAW is supposed to be about. Sharing it all, so we can learn from ourselves and one another.
I’m glad I got your wheels turning.
Such a great post. Thanks heaps to The Big Man for linking to it. I am only new, so I haven’t ever really thought about it, but I can see why it would bother people after a while. I like the roots of this, so I will try it for next week and see how I go 🙂
Yes! Another convert to the cause. I’m glad you swung by and said Hello. I love hearing from new people.
Hopping over from The Big Man’s World, too. While I enjoy reading the whole day of eats from various people on WIAW, I don’t think that the only “correct” way to participate is to photograph everything you eat. I think you can get great ideas from someone when they picture all of the breakfasts they had or a wide range of food. I know that some bloggers DON’T photograph a single day of food for some of the issues that you mentioned – others thinking, “how does she ONLY eat that every day,” and feeling bad about their own eating habits.
I guess I don’t mind taking a more liberal approach to WIAW. Full disclosure, I think I’ve only photographed one full day of meals, but that’s because I don’t think all of my meals are that interesting, and I think that just because you or I might choose to edit what we eat doesn’t mean we are disingenuous, it means we are writing a blog and some meals ARE more interesting than others. Both ways, full days of meals and selected meals, are fun to read. However, I do think that if you are just photographing assorted meals, you should be honest about it.
Really interesting post. Thanks for starting this conversation.
Thanks for the alternative view. While I don’t agree, I welcome the discourse, which is sometimes what its all about. Imagine how boring life would be if we all thought the same way.
I appreciate your comment.
This is great…an ode to the classic WIAW! I’ll admit I’ve been breaking the rules quite a bit lately, but I’m hoping to get back to “playing fair” soon! I think I just got out of the habit of it, because I’m so stressed and busy (and lacking sleep) during the week, and then on the weekends, I’d rather just not think about blogging. I’ve been gathering up some pics planning to do a “what I’ve been eating lately” kind of post, but actually, I guess I could use today’s eats since my main meals were fantastically delicious AND photogenic…and who cares if I ate two Quest bars in a single day…it was what I wanted and they were good…and I went all last week without a single one! Hello run-on sentence! Can you tell it’s almost time for me to zonk out for the night? Obviously, I had to come over here and get caught up with my favorite cheese-iac first! 😀
I think you should share a full day of food, two Quest bars and all. Ain’t no shame in your game. 🙂
Annnnnnnnd DONE! 😉