A friend told me recently, “You know, it’s great what you are doing, but I couldn’t do it. It’s just so much easier to eat bad food. Bad food tastes better. After all, you aren’t dropping weight as fast so what’s the difference now? Enjoy a little. Life’s too short.” I kept saying how wrong they were but they didn’t want to hear it.
Hmmmmmmmm…… Well…. there’s a lot packed in that statement. Let’s start with no, I am not dropping weight as fast. That happens when you get closer to normal people. It also happens when all your puzzle pieces are not lined up correctly and mine aren’t…. A problem that I am attempting to fix, so wish me well. Too much stress, not enough relaxing activities, not enough fun, too little sleep, all play a role here. I have paid a big price for that and am working hard to make sure I never have to again. But I am an ever evolving person, and so I am working on it, it’s a process. Hard to escape stress.
Life is way too short, they weren’t wrong on that, and there is no way I am taking it at less than the optimal health I deserve. After all, I earned it the hard way. I spent way too many years feeling just awful, plagued and tortured with Hashimoto symptoms. My head screamed, “GO,” while my body betrayed me. Was that really living? How much did I miss out on? What didn’t I get to do? How many things did I say no to because I just was exhausted and in pain? All the timeeeeeeeee……That’s living??
Bad food tastes better? No, it doesn’t. I can’t say I never enjoyed bad food because is used to absolutely love it! But……Take your self off junk for two months and eat well. And all of a sudden, you crave it. I do! I eat a lot of salad now. Not because Dr. Jack told me to, but because one day about a year ago, I made a salad for lunch and I started realizing how great I felt while I was eating it and how I felt after,
I love salad. Always have. I think it’s a comfort from childhood thing. One of my fondest memories involves my Italian grandpa and uncles gathered around the kitchen table, chopping and mixing the most delicious salads. They were always going to grandpa’s garden looking for fresh herbs. Mixing, mixing, mixing, with olive oils and flavored vinegars that they mixed with their hands, tasting and more chopping. We fought over the last bits of it.
I still think about it, it’s endless combinations…. lettuce alone! Feeling like crunchy, romaine, more tangy bite, arugala, more fresh, green leaf, red leaf, spinach, baby greens, endive, escarole, artisan blends, even dandelion, kale, but no iceberg… ick…… more and more and more possibilities and then there is all the other vegetables. Getting hungry just thinking on it, cucumbers, tomato, radishes, chopped baby artichoke hearts, canned organic jalapeños, peppers of every color, fennel, carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, green beans, sprouts, mushrooms, almonds, walnuts, olives gotta have olives…… add in some chopped chicken, some tuna, a hard boiled egg……. my tummy is dancing in excitement! I actually enjoy that, and every day it tastes different, and after I eat it, I feel like I gave my cells exactly what they needed. I am never over full, and I got to do all the crunching I wanted to.
I make the best grilled chicken. Yummy, never tastes rubbery or filled with artificial seasonings, but instead chopped great stuff or even just salt and pepper so I can taste the chicken. Gosh I love that! Where’s the junk food? I have made tacos, with lettuce wraps, chicken salad with Dr. Jack friendly mayo and omelets. The best homemade, no weird ingredients food you can imagine. Who needs junk?
Of all the things said, though it is that phrase that it’s “easier,” to eat poorly. No…. it’s isn’t. There isn’t anything easy about it. First, it comes with a ton of guilt. Dr. Jack and I have worked so hard to get here. I am not the easiest patient to deal with and although he has been the kindest man ever, I know I have given him plenty of headaches, lol, and on top of that I have had to also work hard at this. To blow it all for a slice of pizza? I don’t think so. And then to have to tell him? That would, be so hard on both of us. I can hear his disappointment and it would be nothing compared to what I would do inside myself. No, thank you.
You think one or two things wouldn’t hurt? I have reactions to bottled salad dressing. My skin itches, I get hives, I start feeling swollen, my joints ache, my muscles hurt, my fingers start looking purple, and if all that comes from two tablespoons of dressing, what would come from a slice of pizza? Then. it takes days to get over that. Days and days and days.
Easier to eat poorly? Ummm…. I actually don’t think it is.
But if there is one thing they were totally wrong about it’s the belief that you can’t do it. Yes, you can. You can change everything, any time you want to. If I can, anyone can!
Hugs,
Chris