For anyone that knows me well, food and I have never really had a great relationship. Growing up, I never had much interest in it, it was just sort of something that was there to keep my body working, and I didn’t give it much thought. And as I initially embarked on a healthy eating plan, or what I thought at the time was a healthy eating plan, like during my time as a vegetarian and vegan, I still just saw food as a fuel and nothing more. Most of the food I ate was lacking taste and texture and more importantly without pleasure. I never once got excited at the thought of yet another soy pattie with some vegetables for dinner. It never once occurred to me that food was there to be enjoyed, but more importantly could be enjoyed in a healthful way.
Of course this is not to say that a vegetarian life cannot indeed be delicious, (as I do fondly recall that awesome restaurant “Gobo” on 23rd street in New York which made the best Veggie Burgers I’ve ever tasted) but in the place of meat, I was consuming a lot of Carbs, in the form mostly of breads. I don’t want to get too much into it right now as I will explain in detail later, but the carbs I was eating, were keeping me on a blood spiking roundabout, where I would go from high blood sugar to low blood sugar and round and round and it left me with that constant fatigue. But I had yet to learn this and so I was perplexed as to why I was not feeling amazing on this vegetarian eating lifestyle. The point is sugar was still rampant in my diet, from the bread, beans and other veggie products I ate, all which tend to spike insulin and lead to a plethora of problems.
But after I made the move to New Orleans, and so this is only a discovery I made over the last few months, I cut all refined carbs from my diet, leaving only lots of vegetables and moderate amounts of fruit, mostly berries. At my brother in laws advice (who studied biochemistry), I undertook a no sugar/low carb life, just to see what changes it would make.
What I found was the delicious taste of natural foods.
Things like raw almonds, tomatoes (which I used to detest all my life), even green veggies, everything, took on a different flavor, and I could even taste a sweetness in these foods I had never tasted before. Suddenly flavors of all kinds were bursting out of every dish, and I found myself really enjoying food for the first time in my life. It was a whole new world. A world where things like, Tuna steak with a mango and avocado salad, Steak braised in wine sauce with creamed spinach, Cream of Broccoli and cheese soup, Full fat Greek yoghurt with walnuts, sweetened with cinnamon and Stevia all existed, in all their healthful glory and I devoured them with sheer pleasure and satisfaction. But could food be pleasurable and still leave me with the body I always dreamed of with great health to boot?
The answer is yes. Since I began eating this way, enjoying my food, and reveling in the delicious foods mother nature and this earth has provided for us, I am leaner, more toned and full of energy that I never thought I would ever possess.
Nowadays I no longer have to remind myself to eat; I look forward to my meals. I noticed I can’t stop thinking about food, but in a good way I assure you. I find myself wondering what delicious combinations I can concoct, what new desserts I can try, what new beverage I can create, all while adding to this wonderful new life I have where I eat and more importantly, love food.
That world exists for me; I want it to exist for you too. I just know so well what it’s like to have a bad relationship with food, and it really makes life no fun! I know that now!
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