Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants

 

The title of this post is from Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, which I read years ago, but it's stuck in my head ever since.  My relationship with food has been somewhat complicated for most of my life.  I went on Weight Watchers for the first time as a teenager, and have gained and lost hundreds of pounds over the past 25 years.  I was at my thinnest (as an adult) when I got married in 2005, though I was still probably 15 pounds over where WW would put my goal weight.  I was at my heaviest just over a year ago, on my 40th birthday.

I felt really beautiful on my wedding day.  I loved that I could walk into stores and find clothing in my size.  I felt healthy.  I was also pretty stressed out leading up to my wedding -- I was a fairly new teacher in NYC, and my husband was in school and working.

On my 40th birthday, I did not feel beautiful, but I felt happy.  My gorgeous little girl was happy to celebrate with me.  My friends threw me a party.  It was really relaxing and fun.  I don't know that I have a point with this comparison, just sort of taking note of the extremes.

At this point, I've been stuck for the past year.  I'd like to lose weight, but I haven't really committed to anything.  Because of COVID, we've been trapped in our apartment for most of the past 7 months.  The government has been... well... pretty much a dumpster fire.  It's been stressful to say the least.  I'm also really conscious that I want to set a good, healthy example for my little girl.  So far, she has a good relationship with food and with her body, and I'd like to keep it that way.

So what do I do?  Well, I'm starting with food.  I'm going back to basics: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."  Tonight's dinner was pork chops, but most of my plate was broccoli, arugula salad, and a baked potato.  And everything on my plate was something that my grandmother would have recognized.  That's another of Pollan's tips.  I didn't do a great job before dinner today, but I'm trying to keep in mind that I am a work in progress.

I'll also mention that the arugula salad was AMAZING.  I got arugula from my CSA today, and it was so fresh and delicious!  This summer was the first time I've ever done a CSA, and I've been getting delicious produce from Garden of Eve.  I'm a big fan.