down town gal

Food & Me 001

I have a weird relationship with food. And then I saw this trailer and it made it even weirder.

I have a hearty appetite and a big one too; the girl who can go for 3rds and 4ths? That’s me! But I’m usually careful with what kinds of foods I eat. I like fruits. I like veggies. I like roast salmon with a huge portion of salad. Or a big bowl of lentil soup or medi style omelettes or stuff with avocado. Lots of stuff with avocado. And I enjoy the sweet stuff too. Here in Athens (Greece, not Georgia) lent started yesterday (that’s 40 days of fasting from meat, poultry & dairy before Easter) and I wanted to take the opportunity to detox too. 

I had it all worked out. 40 days of NO meat, poultry, fish & dairy PLUS NO wheat or sugar. Yeah, I was gonna give myself a good cleansing, punish my body in to feeling pure, clean, worthy and lose a few pounds in the process.

Then I said to myself, Georg WTF?!? What will you be actually eating for 40 days when you’ve cut out all the basic food groups?? And then when the detox ends what eating habits will you slip back in to?? And why should you put your body through that?!? It just didn’t sound sustainable. Or fun. One of my favorite sayings, borrowed from Warriors Without Weapons based in Brazil (a life changing experiential trip I took in summer 2015) is ‘if it’s not fun, it’s not sustainable’ and ‘if it’s not sustainable, it’s not fun’. So this is also the way that I could be embracing my food, right?  

And then, right there, I realised that there is so much more to the food process that I feel completely removed from. Where does the food on my plate come from? How did it make it’s way to me? Why is eating bread bad? What’s up with the carb police? How much meat should I eat? Are eggs good or bad? Should I eat 6 mini meals a day or 3 big ones? Should I chew slowly? Drink an hour after I have ate? Why is sugar bad for you? Can I grow basic foods on my balcony? WHAT do I eat? HOW do I eat? WHY am I asking these questions when food is such an intrinsic need of being a human? WHY HAVE I BECOME SO REMOVED FROM THE FOOD EATING PROCESS??