My War With Food

I am at war with food.

For the vast majority of my life, food was never an issue. I was a high energy child who rarely slowed down to eat, and when I did I got just enough nutrients to keep me going. My metabolism was lightning fast and my body was skinny. I really never gave food much thought, except for when I had a delicious meal; like my grandmother’s dinners, or my uncle’s annual Thanksgiving feast. As teenager I ate tons of fast food that I knew was bad for me, but I didn’t really care. I was still thin and petite and figured that I couldn’t gain weight.

This was my life until about two years ago. This was my life until my bad eating habits finally caught up to me. Blame it on stress or getting older, but I started gaining weight. At first, I didn’t let it bother me; I was just a few pounds—no big deal. But after a year of steadily gaining weight, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. The reality is my diet was (and still is) poor. Fast food, sweets, and fatty restaurant food became my norm. I knew they were bad for me, I knew they were making me fat, but either I didn’t care or didn’t have the energy or time to make something better.

Some of this changed a few months ago. In an attempt to get the most out of the services my university offered before I graduated, I went to meet the student health center’s nutritionist. She gave me tons of great information and I left her office ready to make changes. But within weeks of getting all this new information on how to eat right, I started getting information that contradicted what she had said. Every other day I would hear from one source or another that whole grains are useless, dairy is bad for you, and a whole slew of other crazy food news.

My head began to spin. Who was right? What should I do? Everywhere I turned someone was ready to tell me to give up all sugar, or eat a completely raw diet. Making drastic changes feel completely impossible to me. Not only do I doubt my ability to make such changes, I am not willing to.

I can’t bare the thought of giving up the foods I love. Food is a passion of mine and life without creme brulee, pumpkin pie, cookies, sushi, hollandaise sauce, French toast, and a good cheeseburger is not worth living. Delicious food is a pleasure to eat and life is way too damn short to spend eating tasteless, processed Lean Cuisine.

So this is my food war; trying to keep all the foods in my life that I love and that make life worth living, while also adapting a healthy lifestyle that won’t cause high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, or weight gain. This is something I battle regularly and have not conquered. Stick with me on my journey to figuring this all out and if you can, offer your advice.

I won’t give up what I love—so I will absolutely continue posting recipes for all the delicious foods that I love and discover, but its time to change my diet for the better.