I wasn't really aware of what I was eating until I was in college.Sure I stopped eating meat when I was 15, but that didn't stop my intake of fish (tuna for Tajna, as my cousin Samantha still calls me), chocolate, bread and other goodies. In fact I've always been kind of hit and miss when it comes to food.I can eat really healthily for weeks at time, then all of a sudden BREAD/CHOCOLATE/POPCORN craving hits me...and continues to hit me until I eat the food I crave.Doesn't happen too often though.
My parents raised us on no soda,candy,very limited meat (my mother eventually tired of making hamburgers and fish when I was a teenager,having gone to an Adventist nursing school she was well schooled in healthy nutrition) ,endless meals of falafel,tofu and hummus. I can recall walking to the PCC store in Seattle and our treat for the walk back would be Tiger's Milk carob bars. However I also remember going to get milkshakes (doubt I could swallow one of those today without ending up in the ER), but in general we were a lot healthier than the average American family.
Our weekends included a mandatory hike and we were encouraged to participate in sports , although I was not considered athletically inclined and became a devoted student of ballet very early. I remember always sneering at the school lunches (disgusting portions of white mashed potatoes, green beans,eew) and I would often throw my sandwich away,although I'm not sure why. I was THE MOST picky eater you could ever meet. I was extremely skinny and subsided on tuna fish, carrots, yogurt,some fruit and chocolate (when it was in the fridge). Yet with that selective diet I wasn't sickly,in fact I never once got ill and I had endless energy for practicing ballet,reading and drawing.
Although once I do recall my sister and I nagging my mom so much for Toaster Strudels that she eventually broke down and hid them in the deepest caverns of the freezer, safe from my father's over zealous critical eyes.He still eats a cabbage salad every night.BORING.
Anyway, the school lunches were certainly worse at my high school: crackly french fries with Ron's hair on them, chili...I refused to touch that junk after one or two tastes. I became known for my hummus and vegetable lunches, would dispense crystallized ginger to Melissa Samarano for her cramps,crunched on carrots and day dreamed of an endless stock of gourmet milk chocolate. I was at odds with food from the beginning.
In my intensive ballet days of early college, after watching and reading too much about professional dancers, I decided to attain the skeletal physique as well. I ate mainly vegetables and ok mok crackers, sometimes only an apple for dinner when I was exhausted from the combined efforts of ballet classes and college classes all day long. Oddly enough I never got migraines, fainted or saw stars then.
Then came my hives stage. I got hives nearly every day for about a year and half.I was so upset and stressed by this, and it was determined by very ineffective allergists and dermatologists (Hellreich you fool) that I was allergic to wheat. I cut out all gluten and wheat,but the darling red companions persisted to visit me everyday.
Finally they went away,and I started reading up more on women's nutrition.My favored dinner at the time was often a quesadilla (always made with cheddar cheese) with lots of fresh avocado, refried beans and salsa. But really,just the past three years have I added vegetables and whole grains into my diet. I go into phases of exclusive meals of steamed vegetables, with oatmeal for breakfast.I've added quinoa the past year, and sometimes I do have spaghetti,which is not BAD for your body (stupid Atkins).
However right now I'm a bit queasy from too much olive oil and roughage.I had lots of steamed kale and broccoli this weekend,along with pine nuts, sliced tomatoes,avocado and pesto.For lunch today I tried to stomach sauteed snap peas, more broccoli,pesto and olive oil.So I defrosted some bread for toast,made some peppermint tea, and am trying to figure out what the devil my system can handle!
The past year I have followed a vegan diet at times (very hard in the Netherlands,with all that yogurt and cheese). If I have mainly fruits,vegetables,and fruit smoothies for a few days I notice my skin and brain get clearer,I have infinite energy and in general feel like a newly hatched chick.But it's God's will that I shall not follow that diet, which causes me to lose weight too fast,get migraines,feel faint and have to retire early.
I'm not a nutritionist, SO DO NOT FOLLOW MY DIET FOES I HAVE MENTIONED.You should not diet, but FOLLOW A HEALTHY DIET. That's the mistake a lot of us make. Whenever you do a yo yo diet, you eventually gain the weight back, often plus more. That's your body saying,"Why the hell have you not been eating enough?!" There's a reason for everything you do eat, and you should consume as little processed, high sugar foods as possible. If you do having a craving for a certain food, go ahead and have it, but don't make it daily or even weekly thing. About once a month I have some dark chocolate,usually Green & Black's.Make sure it is a worthwhile indulgence, don't stoop for Mc Donald's (I NEVER HAVE AND NEVER EVER WILL!) or a hot dog.YUCK.
Good eating!
No comments:
Post a Comment