On Eating Healthy

Twice in my life there came a time when a change in diet was necessary. The first time came when I was convinced that my physical issues where caused by a body wide yeast infection called Candida. This led to a month long cleanse that began with just water drinking and gradually weaning myself back into "clean" foods that were void of starches and sugars. I did it all with great aplomb and found myself disliking the taste of fats and grease that had been the staple of my Southern upbringing. I explored more ethnic foods and began to eat things that I would have never imagined eating the year prior. It may have taken me almost 2 years to eat pizza again but it definitely made me choosier about the pizza I ordered.

The second time that I had to revise my personal menu was when I was pregnant. My healthy eating did not translate so well during the pregnancy and put my little one at risk when I simply could not gain enough weight to sustain her existence. I had to go back to eating some of the fatty foods and eating larger portions and finally after I stopped working on my feet in the 8th month, I was able to gain enough weight but I was still at high risk. I tried to eat, I just wasn't as hungry as my little one was. This still remains true today. She out eats me everyday.

So now after years back on a semi-healthy (I have my slip ups) diet, I find something startling has happened. After eradicating pretty much anything frozen, processed, or preservative laden... a slip up can cost me more than just an oops or even a pound or two. It makes me physically ill. As we moved into our new little haven, we were lapse of anything to toast our bagels in the morning. I knew that the movers would be coming in a few days, so I thought well let's be bad and treat ourselves to some donuts for the mornings to get us going. Today, I wake up on morning three of doughnut days and I feel sick, nauseated, and gaseous. Entemann's glazed doughnut holes have destroyed my insides. I thought they were the good guys, the ones that were a class act, and then I read the label. I almost threw up once again. A doughnut should not have 30-40 ingredients. So I have sworn off the last of my bad foods and will no doubt be the better for it.

But what I find is the lengths the body will go to, to tell you, the eater; what it doesn't want! Why do we ignore these perfect machines that we live in? Why do people drink alcohol at a level they know they will feel sick from the next day? Why do people drink sodas that can erode a penny in one evening? Why do people revel in their grease and fatty foods? It isn't worth it. They say that eating healthy is hard when you are on a budget but I don't buy it anymore. Since I have been shopping at Trader Joe's religiously for the last 4 months, my grocery bill is some 20-30 dollars cheaper than when I was shopping at Ralph's. Why? BECAUSE THEY MARK UP their organic foods as if they were specialty items.

But even Trader Joe's has flaws, like why does a Health Food market, have microwavable food? It's not okay to eat food choc full of preservatives and crap but it's okay to subject yourself to radiation everyday? Interesting. It's all a conundrum to me, and people are so lazy that they just accept this is all okay because everyone else does it. Do I need to remind you of that adage? "If everyone jumps of a bridge...."

My daughter paid the same price as I did this morning, this past week. She is allergic to however cow's milk is processed... namely vitamin D milk in which they zap the crap out of it to destroy bacteria and nutrients and then add it all back in after the fact. She can eat cheese (active cultures) and yogurt (active cultures) but ice cream and vitamin D whole or 2% milk destroy her with a fever, and now as she found out, two days of severe stomach aches and hugging the porcelain throne. All this because when I said at a birthday party not wanting to embarrass her, that she could have one bite of ice cream when she asked... she decided to eat a crap load. While holding her hair back and rubbing her tummy, I won't lie and say I didn't chuckle a "told you so" a few times.

Gas, tummy aches, hangovers, weight gain... these are all signs that we aren't listening to our own bodies telling us that we are poisoning it with bad things. Why do we think that we are superior to our own bodies? Wouldn't you rather spend a few more dollars on a real hamburger freshly made, than a fast food burger? Milk was a necessity when food was scarce, or a baby having lost its mother needed those nutrients from a cow's milk. Yet, we don't need it as adults! We are the only species who drinks another species milk! Why?  Why do we feed dogs kibble, full of awful ingredients from a can or a bag when their natural diet of raw meats and fruits and vegetables, the very same foods we eat, are good for them? Isn't it odd how our table scraps are bad for them now? Why? Because the food we eat is bad for us!!

Anyway, I like listening to my body. I have enough health problems that diet can't fix entirely that I don't need more piled on because I simply am too lazy to read labels, eat and cook fresh foods, limit the fat in my diet, and when eating out, chose restaurants that serve fresh foods. I will pay that extra price. Food is Life.