What is wrong with my family? In high school, I existed just fine on Coca-Cola and Doritos, Twinkies for dessert. Where did my path veer away from the good tastes in life?
I blame the beginning of my dietary demise on the Diet For A New America video. Filled with horrific images of the factory farming realities of our dinner, I put down my steak knife and picked up the tofu. After that, the vicious cycle was relentless.
Back in the early 1800's, when I went to college, I became a vegetarian. Okay, maybe it was the early 1990's, but if you ask my teenagers they will easily tell you that I come from an era unheard of in their circle. Anyway, back then a salad consisted of ice berg lettuce, oily or creamy dressing, and bacon bits. I was constantly told that there was no meat on the salad, only to wipe off the crispy fried pig pieces when the salad was given to me. And, if I didn't want to starve at a friend's house, this was my meal.
I got great questions, too: "If you had nothing left to eat in the world, would you eat a steak?"
I was always polite, never saying what I was tempted: "If there was nothing left, I would eat you. Starting with that pudgy tummy. Mmmm."
These flowed into the guilt trodden years. People were cutting back on beef and pork. Then the reaction to learning of my nothing with a face diet became, "oh, I hardly ever eat meat anymore." This is when we were figuring out that animal products with every meal were not exactly what a healthy heart requires to keep beating. But rather than eating with more health in mind for themselves, the lessening of meat was intertwined with guilt. And it was as though my vegetarianism was a sling of mud in their face. That they owed me a personal apology.
This decade has gotten to be so healthy, we're borderline smug and self-righteous about how we spend our food budget bucks. Non-GMO, gluten-free, high fructose corn syrup, palm oil, and so-called natural sweeteners. We even debate cage-free over pasture-raised. Locally grown over organic. We've upped the ante, raised the bar, on every aspect of our grocery list. Then sneak over to MickeyD's on the lunch break and wolf down the Big Mac, hiding in the back of a tinted-window, hybrid SUV. If the neighbors catch you, all hope of your healthy liver cleanse will never save you from their ridicules and judgments.
This blog posting of food has got me dreaming of dessert, I'm thinking about some gluten-free, organic, non-GMO, chocolate rice cereal. With, of course, organic almond milk. But then, the organic sweeteners may not be good for my digestive system just before bedtime. Better to go with some pure, filtered water infused with fresh cucumber slices, to fill by belly.
Or maybe I should just say screw it all and sneak up to the store and buy Twinkies and chocolate syrup. What would you do?
While you are deciding which dietary path to continue on, read this wholesome, wonderful book about getting the very best from massage. Because massage is both incredibly healthy, and feels better than any junk food you could possibly ever devour.
Heather Leigh,
One of those health nut eaters who also writes awesome books
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