Food is Medicine
* Sitting in my living room, watching my kids get on with their E-learning lessons due to the Coronavirus shutting schools down. I still haven’t gathered my thoughts on that so I will hold off until they start to form. Until then, I figured I’d clean up the drafts I have and other ramblings I have going on in my head and get back to my writing.
January resolutions came and went and we all swore that we would be making lifestyle changes and most of us didn’t. Social media and these mean internet streets sure have a way of making people feel confident huh? Everyone is working out talking about being their best selves and then we give up. Something I heard a lot towards the end of the year was “why wait?” But why do we wait until the new year, or something drastic like this virus to make changes if any to better our health? It is unrealistic. But the hard truth is, most change comes by force, at least up until now, mine had.
I’d wait until January 1st and cave into the new year, new me bs also. Until I realized that I was setting myself up for failure. However, when pregnant with my middle child, complications with my blood pressure and sugar made me change. In fact, having a doctor say “we need to get this baby out or you’ll end up on a slab” should wake you up. I wobble down to L&D mad AF that I didn’t stop at Wendy’s on my way in. I was starving. Jokes aside, I did eat much cleaner then, if you follow me on social, you’d know I tried to get my father to eat cleaner. He fought me and whimpered at every turn like a toddler. That’d be hilarious had be not died a few years later of a heart attack. Now I have my mother who is constantly trying to tell me that indulging every once in a while isn’t going to kill you. That madwoman? Beginning stages of heart disease. Side note, I hope she reads this and feels this side-eye. Eating clean, however, wasn’t something I could stick to religiously. Back then, I was the only one in my house doing it and I struggled to find foods that I enjoyed that I could get my family to jump in on. Well, how times have changed. Not only do I find cooking to be a fun past time, the girl who once gagged at the mere suggestion of broccoli now considered German Turnip amongst one of her newly found favorite foods and my middle child has proven to be influential in his daring to try new foods attitude here at home. Yay, for my little man for being a big help.
Truth is, once again, change has come by force. My genetics, newfound skin allergies, my IBS issues (total TMI) and all this other shit (I literally have never met a pun I did not jump after) has made me look into foods that are not only clean but healing. To add, a few months back, I went completely dry as well. Not that I ever was a big drinker anyhow but I enjoyed a cocktail or two every so often. While initially, I cut it out as a way to support someone else on their own wellness journey, it has been beneficial to my health as well. That wellness journey had me also exploring new food options because of course when you have an accountability partner (one with a six-pack and amazing shoulders might I add), it challenges you a bit more. And for Christmas, said partner gifted me the book The Beauty Chef on gut health and recipes, one I plan on rereading during our two weeks inside plus this amazing gut primer.
The biggest takeaway? Eating healthy has helped me majorly in easing stress and manage my anxiety in a natural way. My skin, as well as my gut, has seen dramatic improvements in keeping flare-ups at bay. While this is the most consistent I have been, I’m feeding off the results, my partner, and the support of my children to continue not just to eat healthily but to use food to improve my health and for the sake of vanity, work on my own six-pack.
