I don’t eat processed sugar, honey, agave or Snickers. I don’t eat it because my body reacts to it so poorly when I do. I miss sugar, in all of its forms. I used to go on hunts with my friends for the best coffee chocolate ice cream and I’d eat king size Hershey bars in one day. But now I’ve found sugar in a different form. Now I taste it in tomatoes and yellow bell peppers and mangos.
A few years ago, for health reasons, I went on an chemical free, sugar free, dairy free diet. I was, and am, limited to meals of veggies, fruits, meats and whole grains. When I started the diet I hated it. Hated it! I complained and whined and kicked the sofa and cried about how unfair life was. I railed against the diet as if it was my enemy. I’d take my own meals to our friends’ houses when they invited us over for dinner and also to restaurants when we ate out. Eventually I resented my inability to heal and resented the diet which was supposed to help me heal, so I stopped the diet. And then…well, then I ate yogurt almost by the bucket and MSG laden food at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I ate great big burgers on great big buns and I didn’t look at the ingredient list! And guess what happened? I loved it!
I went off the diet for a few years and forgot that it actually did have some benefit.
For the last long while I’ve been looking for answers to my health challenges again. I don’t believe I’ll ever be cured, but I sure can help how I feel now, so I’m back on the diet. There is no question that this diet sucks. It affects my social life. It effects the speed with which I can get access to a meal. But, when I’m on it, I’m not in as much pain. I can think more clearly. Perhaps more clearly than since my head injury occurred years ago. And that has helped reduce work and office stress, too. When I’m on it, my body feels less jittery and more like it’s a team player working with me, instead of working against me. A side benefit is that I’ve lost weight, and I feel like, if my friends and I wanted, we could have a girls’ night out and take a hot picture or two.
So, in a way, this diet really sucks, and in another way, since I no longer resent it, I kind of like it. The quality of flavors are rich and inviting, and never have that chemical aftertaste. I’ve been to our local health food stores, and I’ve found nut and seed butters I never would have thought to try, like sunflower seed butter and tahini. I’m becoming creative with brown rice by adding dressing to it, and it, surprisingly, tastes good. I’ve even tried grits! I’ve always been a veggie snob, meaning I really didn’t like to get close to them. Now I’m making stir fries with cut up yam, mustard greens, kohlrabi and my greatest nemesis, brochette. Salads are no longer just salads, they are culinary extravaganzas! I include artichoke hearts and hearts of palm and fennel and mandarin orange. It doesn’t take long to put together and I make enough for the whole day. Plus, I make my own salad dressings. I save so much money making dressing from scratch. Who knew making a Caesar dressing would only take 10 minutes? And in the crock pot I make amazing chicken soup. The brown rice, chicken and spices simmer overnight, and because the ingredients are organic, the broth is refined and smooth. And if I want a quick protein pick me up, I eat a can of sardines smothered in lemon juice with olive slices on top. Yum!
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