{WISHLIST WEDNESDAY} : Cupcakes & Clean Eating

 

I find it funny that our society, or at least consumers, are seemingly obsessed with things that contradict each other. Unless you live under a rock, you've probably noticed that health and fitness has become an obsession of instagrammers everywhere, and that the amount of selfies taken at gyms across North America has multiplied by about six thousand percent (figures are estimated) over the last couple of years. At the same time as this, the 'handheld dessert' industry has skyrocketed, with cupcake shops, donut shops, and now apparently "cronut" shops (croissant donuts, srsly), popping up everywhere, and doing damn good business to boot. Starbucks is celebrating the imaginary anniversary of a chemically-flavoured beverage this winter, and my newsfeeds are full of people frantically hashtagging "#cleaneating" on one picture and then "Yum #PSL Frappuccino" in the next. It seems that, as consumers, we love being sold extremes: extreme health, extreme indulgence, extreme beauty. And this is where it changes for me: I don't like extremes.

 AT LEAST twice a week, I get asked some variation of "how do you not weigh 300lbs?" People, women in particular, are fascinated to know how I can spend the majority of my time creating things made from the terrible trio- Butter(gasp), white sugar(sob), and wonderful gluten-rich white flour (OH the horror!) and not look like a rhinoceros wearing an apron. This always makes me wonder what people think I do while I'm making cupcake orders ("one for you, two for me" *chompchompchomp*) But seriously, my only honest answer is that I just don't stress about it. Outside of Little Bow Sweets, I try to take good care of myself- I meal plan, try not to eat "bad carbs", have the best intentions to exercise at least twice as much as I actually do...pretty standard stuff these days I think. But if I want to eat a cupcake, it's not a big deal. If I don't make it to drag myself up and down 200 steps a few times, its not a big deal. I don't feel the need to be extreme about my health- I just want to feel good and not get sick. I'm far from thin, but I'm the healthiest I've ever been and I'm also spending more time creating sweets than I ever have before. These two apparently contradictory things, to me, just showcase the actual "secret" to happy healthy people: balance. When we're all old and saggy, we're not going to be proud of ourselves for all the cake we didn't eat. So go do some exercise that you enjoy, eat your vegetables, and if you want a cupcake then eat a damn cupcake.