You have been behaving. You are eating healthier, consuming more fruits and veggies. Exercising more. Cutting back on junk food and fatty foods.  Feeling pretty darn proud of yourself.

Then it happens. For no apparent reason, and with no warning. You hit a day where you just can’t possibly get enough food, especially bad-for-you food, into your system.  By the time you are on your 3^rd fatty snack and it is only 10am, you realize you have fallen victim to: A Garbage Day.   You know it is wrong, but you can’t stop yourself.  Nothing is safe – you start carb-loading, you hunt down any form of sugary sweet you can find, you have pizza or a greasy burger for lunch…. It is like an alien has taken over your body and decided that your stomach is a trash can.  Sure, sometimes we can blame these days on our hormones or our stress levels.  But other times, there seems to be no rhyme or reason.  Everything tastes good, and yet you are not satisfied.  After lunch you are still hungry.  You are shocked and slightly repulsed by the quantity and variety of food you have consumed.

Then you hit the Garbage Day Wall.  All of the food you have taken in is sitting in your stomach like a bowling ball.  You start to ask yourself “why?  Why did I just do that to myself?”  And then the part that makes me laugh, even though I have done it countless times to myself…. You make a vow that you won’t eat anything again for 3 days… you will Fast and drink only water until you feel better.   We know darn well that vow will probably only last until dinner time.

I’m not sure why Garbage Days happen, and without warning.  I know I’m not completely alone here, I have girlfriends who have commiserated with me about experiencing their own Garbage Days – come on, Real Women, fess up.  We have all fallen victim at some point to this phenomena.   I have learned that it just isn’t worth beating ourselves up over it.  What’s done is done, and as long as a Garbage Day doesn’t turn into a Garbage Week or Garbage Month, there shouldn’t be too many lasting effects.   Chalk it up to another exciting feature in the life of a Real Woman, take a Tums, and make yourself a salad.   Tomorrow is another day, and your healthy self will be there waiting.