I’m taking a break from the Stop the Summer Slump writing prompts to talk about something that’s on my heart: Relationship with Food.
I mentioned last week that receiving the new edition of Simply in Season stirred in me the desire to get back to cooking. “Food blogging,” even. My local websites http://eatgr.com and http://eatlocalwestmichigan.com have continued to be effective without me cooking. But to add a food and recipe component back to Wholistic Woman will require me to stop relying on DH to cook. To help me decide and figure everything out I will be attending the Eat Write Retreat food blog conference in Chicago next weekend.
This comes at a good time, actually. I met with my holistic health counselor yesterday and shared that I’m feeling on shaky ground. My weight loss has slowed way down, my appetite has returned, and I need to decide what my “new normal” is. What will my approach be to food and cooking? Of course I still value local. But beyond that . . .
It is kind of funny to attend food blog conferences because there are so many perspectives. Vegan, real food, gluten-free . . . all of these subsets and evangelists. Food in and of itself is not bad. Even sugar. I remember when I first started my therapy.
“What if I told you that you could have a kale smoothie and a piece of pizza for dinner?” she asked. My mind was blown.
When I was The Local Cook, I know that many of my readers appreciated my balanced approach. My internal issue was that it didn’t feel balanced; I said one thing but felt guilt about not being pure enough, about not being thin. I commiserated with a local organic food store owner who was also overweight about how we weren’t taken seriously because we were promoting healthy eating but it didn’t look like we ate healthy.
I feel as though my body is saying to me, thank you for the break this past year. We have shed some unnecessary baggage. But it’s spring time now, time to shake off the slumber and get to living. Get to cooking.
[bctt tweet=”It’s spring time now, time to shake off the slumber and get to living. Get to cooking.”]
Thank you for sharing this journey with me.
Changing the way you eat and think about food is a journey. I’m trying to little by little add some organic food to my diet. It is hard because it is more expensive, but at least I’m trying! Thanks for sharing your journey too.
Hello and Happy “Stop the Summer Slump”!
In these days, it is very important to think right about the food. There are so many eating problems, like anorexy or food dependence…I am not saying that I am eating 100% healthy, but at least I cookfresh food for my family every day, we don’t eat fast-foods, we eat only homemade cakes, I don’t drink alcohol and we eat lots of fruits…This is the least I can do :).
Best wishes,
Sinziana
There is so much to learn about food, it’s overwhelming. My mom was diagnosed with diabetes & in speaking with a dietitian we learned that like you said, there is no “bad” food. No “diabetes diet.” We were kind of blown away by the fact that she can still eat all of the foods she loves… BUT in moderation. Basically eat the way we’re ALL supposed to be eating; a heart-healthy diet.
Thanks for sharing this. It’s given me the much needed motivation to get back on track. Good luck!
-Krista
Such familiar territory! I saw, firsthand, the level of evangelism (love that as your choice of wording – very accurate!) centering on food while writing a local food magazine.. The “guilt around food choice? I have SO been there. Am I eating as all my story subjects would expect? Should I follow Food Philosophy A, B or C? Will I be “caught” in public buying “wrong” food? As you’ve concluded, none of it is actually bad in and of itself, but it IS easy to demonize or glorify food choices and the emotions they can engender. Much harder to remember (and to convince others) that the first job as a food journalist is reporting – bringing information to your readers in a way they will find interesting and entertaining. Let’s close – appropriately enough, since today is Meryl Streep’s birthday – by saying that, for sure, It’s Complicated!