Dodging junk carbs when eating out.

Stranger Danger!!

Get that white flour or white rice processed thing off my plate NOW before I eat it! Ugh...
Since my discipline isn't perfect, I need extra help at times, especially when eating out, when it comes to the food they bring to the table, like bread for example. It's easy enough if I were to go to dinner by myself. Otherwise, that brown molasses bread came to our table at grandpa's birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and it was time to make some powerful decisions.

I cut up the bread, passed it out to everyone, and made sure I had a very small taste of it, so that I didn't go into a pouting fest regarding the wish of not having tasted the bread.

Then I asked them to bring out my grilled shrimp and veggies without the rice, and wouldn't you know, no one listened. So I ate my salad and veggies, ate my shrimp, took a couple of bites of rice, and asked them to take the plate as soon as I was finished with my shrimp, which by the way was delicious.

It's the little things like this, that keep me from making distrastrous choices and filling up with foods I had no intentions of eating in the first place.

Being sensitive to our food needs

I was listening to one of Joshua Rosenthal's lectures in my health coaching program about how people view food, and how it shapes and colors our perspectives, just as religion and politics do. Food practices have most likely broken up marriages! What a shame that is, when we could possibly practice connecting with one another and finding compassion for one's path and purpose. Then over time, one could become well accustomed to finding small, healthy ways to open up a discussion about food and eventually, a change that supports a greater sense of health and wellness for your family. Health is a big journey that doesn't become perfect in a week.

I was waiting for the moment in the program where a fire would ignite over my health and food choices. As I've made the transition to pescetarian, I think this shows the shift in perspective I am taking on as I explore how food affects the mind and body, and how it also directly reflects and impacts what place we are in at that point in time. Part of my change was due to wanting to reduce unhealthy fats like cheese and get some more variety into my diet, plus an increase in iodine. I was thinking that would help me for fat loss and satiety. I had always noticed how eating vegetarian would make it difficult to consume small portions of food. Eating dairy kept me from being as hungry, and ultimately supplied me with essential B vitamins and fat. But beyond that...the proteins from the dairy were fat laden enough to possibly disrupt digestion. At least with fish, I'm getting both lean and clean protein that is easily digested but keeps me well sated.

But there is a deeper problem. As I settle myself and my diet needs, I feel clearer, almost as if the body is able to rest better. Herein lies something new, is finding a way to be that wonderful health coach and be sensitive to the needs of my clients. It is true that finding oneself inspires the gateway emotion to helping others successfully process their emotional attachments surrounding food. I reflect on how I was emotionally attached to being vegetarian, for example. People take their food very seriously, as the hormonal responses it offers, colors our experience of the meal. But what about the people who are seriously suffering from  food issues? I see my partner, once an avid competitive bodybuilder, as being one of those men who've suffered from a distorted body image his whole life, and has been self destructive in his self-hatred of his body, which to me is absolutely beautiful. However, I've had to become very sensitive to his internal tapes, and only over time, have I been able to slowly affect his thought process on food and how he allows it to positively affect his new path.

For me, this starts the beginning of a new exploration in how I approach clients who already a distorted body image and somewhat of an eating disorder, if not a large one, where time and personal image has grossly affected their food choices. Only the slow process of chipping away at one's huge wall built over years with information, advice and a ton of love, can truly bring together what distortion has torn apart.

From Vegetarian to Pescetarian.

My Best friend Sue called me Nemo.

My son giggled nervously, my boyfriend tripped out, and all my sisters almost fainted. Everyone had their own personal crisis regarding my food choice, and for the first time in my life, food began to once again feel fun and experimental.
I'm not completely sure what possessed me to decide to take the leap (or the swim?) over to the dark side and eat the flesh of a marine creature, but it has definitely made me think about the fact that I am ingesting (a) marine life (b) praying over something that was once living (c) wondering if Great Spirit was kind enough to force me into the ways of the ancestral call for health reasons. Sometime in December, I remember mentioning my thoughts of returning to fish to a holistic chiropractor who I feel began doing the work on me before I truly asked for the assistance. Prior to this moment and several bottles of high quality fish oil pills later, something wasn't changing, for example, my weight, and especially after all the successful lifts, classes, cardio and rockin' da bell. Something had to give.

12 years is a long time to talk one's self out of eating a vegetarian lifestyle, but it's also a long time to ingest genetically modified soy with the full knowledge that soy has been blacklisted. When it comes to fact checking however, and the intensity of missing nutrients that the vegetarian diet simply has a tougher time of obtaining through food, it to me, rang undeniable, that the best way to tackle the problem was to allow a fish safe passage to swim into my life and onto my plate.

It is quite strange to have bitten into the canned salmon as my first fish experience and to immediately feel watery, oceanic images of dancing fish and Atlantis underwater. It's almost as if my world of roots and berries disappeared for one short moment, as if to say, no, I am in the aquatic world now. At school, one of my students randomly posted a screen saver with turtles and fish. I don't think I had even broken the news to them before Waterworld occurred. Dances with Fish? I digress.

I had several ask me if this deficiency could be obtained in a pill when all I could really think of was, I need to do this. I need to do this. Have you ever been called to something without recourse, but you knew it was right, and something edifying came along to determine a positive outcome? Yeah, me too.

I found it interesting and highly intriguing that a health maverick, Alex Jamieson of Super Size Me, just recently stepped down from her vegan palate as well. She's the gal who wrote a book, The Great American Detox Diet. I may be seeing a wave of bio-individual change and/or trendiness, but I also may be seeing some real people with a real desire to consume real food, finally. That, or like Jamie, you may feel inclined to simply honor a craving and have a piece of fish.

On a metaphysical note, eating fish is definitely a slightly different experience in terms of how my senses are now feeling information. I was nervous as an empath about feeling the pain and death of the fish. There is no denying that an element of this takes a role in meal times, but it just sends me into a deeper, more prayerful mode, as the attention one has to pay to one's body when consuming something this potent, becomes all the more important.

What is this really about? Besides the plethora of iodine and zinc, I'm certifying as a health coach. Something sounded impossibly exciting about reinventing myself against the climate of experimentation in the backdrop of finding what works best bioindividually. I feel as if the program wrote me a meal ticket to really explore my options, that it was truly my life, and it was meant to be lived well. And even though this has been a mentally and emotionally uncomfortable,  albeit smooth physiological change, I realize that all things must change, if I want to change. That includes my diet.

Grilled Cheese, if you please.

Okay so lately I've been having this mad crazy grilled cheese kick, and it's blowing my mind...and maybe my diet. Now it's made with whole grain bread and red onions, avocado, yellow peppers, and it SHOULD contain three different cheeses...although I don't think this one did, I guess I'm daydreaming about that sandwich. Either way, I've had three now.

What happened to my no gluten, no wheat thing? Because before that, I was doing quite well without any of these items in my life. So I imagine it's time to reevaluate with what I am doing and if it aligns with my highest goals of body fat reduction. So far, I'm not so sure it is. I've been experimenting and exploring with my diet for the last few months now. However, I think I've found my diet culprit. While I'm not completing sure, I don't think it really has to do with my diet at all, but my emotional and mental state towards my weight. I am having a physical block towards the success that weight loss will bring me. Here it is, my team is forming, and I can't seem to run the ball. Something has got to give. My workouts gave. My diet is giving. Now my physical body has to follow suit. No pun intended.

So I went to a holistic chiropractor, he gave me a few physical and energetic adjustments, and I've been maintaining my strength balance, meridians, range of motion and spinal flexibility. He lifted my blocks and showed me the truth of what I'm suffering from. Just like everything, we have to make our goals a priority.

This week I have faithfully returned to my apples and bananas, my nightly greens, cucumbers, avocado a day, protein shake, yogurt, cottage cheese and egg whites with onions. I never really left it, I just got a little overwhelmed schedulewise with cooking last week. I don't feel I have to give up my cheese, but I have to time my meals and make smart choices.

Get your Greens...

Greens are often touted as nutritional powerhouses, and they are. Kale is currently being hailed as the superfood superhero at the particular moment, and I couldn't agree more. This does not mean to say that other greens should be avoided. There was a time when I ate so much broccoli just to prove to myself that I could. When I realized I could...I then lost interest. This is a concern of any normal person with a "normal" palate, meaning, someone who has a regular balance of discipline and devilish delight in the diet.

Now this past week, I found the largest, cheapest bag of spinach and Persian cucumbers I could find and decided this was what I'd eat for a week. Nothing much else except for nuts and yogurt, and at night, eggs after my workout. Maybe in between I'd have a protein shake after my apples and tea latte for breakfast, and the occasional banana. But that would be pretty much it. Now I hadn't had any spinach in a very long time, but this monstrous bag was sure to change that, and how. My question was definitely how. ...could I do it? What would I eat and how many different ways would I use the spinach?

Truth is, I haven't done much to it at all, beyond a delicious and refreshing, huge bowl of leaves. It's what I topped them with, that changed my smirk to a satisfying grin: lemon juice, tomatoes, red onion, Bulgarian Sheep's milk cheese, olive oil and aged merlot salt. This ultra-pleasing, sour combination of food made my evening.

I ate this salad with reckless abandon and vowed to make another, just the same.

The Cult of Gluten-free and whatever percentage Raw.

Ahhh, the fascinating trend of going raw, juicing and going gluten-free, has infiltrated our lives with some interesting truths about the piety people truly like to believe is happening in their diet, amidst such strong clues to the contrary. Here we are, a population of primarily sedentary, obese individuals living in a Monsanto-opearated food industry, against those who identify themselves with health and wellness, in an effort to fight the good fight against the evil food powers that be...and in the end, another doctor publishes another study, and we are off to find health in the latest trend. It's not new, and some of these diet trends have truly saved lives. But in the case of those who seek optimal balance, we know the truth: it took a variety of approaches, time, trial, error, and maybe some sleepless nights (or nights barricaded in the bathroom), to find out what was best for our bodies. It also took a balance of components in the circle of life, to see that we have many issues in our lives to balance along with the food. To quote Joshua Rosenthal of IIN, food is a sideshow to the issues we truly must balance in our lives to be well.

And so I sit here in a food-induced contemplation, wondering how next to proceed without seeming trendy. I mean, I did buy a pair or two of skinny jeans, so I imagine I am following the trends in clothing. My hair is red and blonde, my nails are sparkly candy apple red, I want a Dodge Challenger or Charger (or maybe even an Avenger). That's trendy. I love green tea and use pink Himalayan sea salt. I think that too, for the moment, is trendy.  Okay so having said that, going soy and gluten-free and saying I am 50% raw vegetarian is the same. I'm current in every way!

All kidding aside, it's a tough walk to cut gluten, soy and sugar out of your diet. I think the toughest thing about it is that as you cleanse, the body starts to cry out for the toxins previously pervading your body. Tonight, I wanted all the foods I hadn't been having, from flour to tofu. For the most part I was successful. It had to be that the last two days, I've been blending my vegetables. I'm using spinach, apples, cucumbers, and whatever other fruit I have sitting around. The funny thing is that I'm not eating more vegetable matter by doing this. It in fact is more of the same, and I find that incredibly interesting.

Back in the day, gluten-free meant you were low carbing, and going raw meant you were probably vegan, which was hugely uncommon then.

Food for Thought

Even though I have been vegetarian for 12 years, I ate heavy, rich meats for 28 years. I think seasons of change best fits my psychological profile. It is interesting how many of us look for that "thing" that works, in fact always works, and we find our justifications for believing it, whether it be scientific, yogic or biblical, holistic or moral. Nothing processes the same way all the time in the body throughout one's life, but I feel that some of our scientific methodologies or otherwise can give a roundabout, general explanation.

 For example, Lactose free milk is working quite well for me right now, and I decided to become gluten-free and stop eating wheat and soy products (soy meats and soymilk were a huge staple). In two weeks, it's quite possible that my body says "okay you are done for the moment with that." At which point, I will probably switch to an almond milk or none at all, as I may not be able to justify drinking the sugar content. 

From a yogic and ayurvedic perspective, it is on point for me to consume these products to balance and soothe my pitta influence, and is also very grounding to me at a time when I'm dealing with many ungrounding, strong forces. I blather on. I feel that our bodies can basically consume anything it adapts to, and there are studies that support it. There are also studies that support the noncomsumption for reasons above that yoga eloquently mentions. This is why sometimes I wished I could go back to not knowing, because I made all of my best food choices when I could just go on intuitive feel, and decided when something was right or not for me to consume. My two cents. Namaste.