i was raised a junk foodie. we are talking frozen dinners, packaged cookies and snacks, and no fresh vegetables–besides iceberg lettuce–for miles around. years of lifeless, processed food left me depressed, overweight and never fully satiated.
my best friend, a child of hippies, was a thin, active and healthy individual. even after refusing to eat the cooked spinach, whole grain bread and natural peanut butter her parents served me, the causes of her vitality eluded me. it never occurred to me that it may be food.
in my teen years, confusion surrounding food manifested in eating disorders which, not surprisingly, didn’t solve anything. even when i went off to college to get a degree in biology and nutritionally fend for myself, i still had to suffer through years of delivery pizza, milkshakes, gummy worms and soda before my body screamed loud enough for the good stuff.
it was asking for locally grown and seasonally fresh fruits and veggies. each season i discovered a new fruit or vegetable i had never tried that was tantalizing to my palate. i loved farmers’ markets more than any grocery store i had ever been in and i found myself spending more and more time playing in the kitchen and entertaining friends with food.
it wasn’t until fairly recently that i realized cutting all dairy and processed foods–as well as the meat i had already excluded–made me feel like a whole new person. i started growing my own plants and building a stronger relationship to the earth.
plants’ curative powers made themselves known to me. decades of toxic food that had impaired my body and mind melted away to clarity and tranquility. as i realized the healing power of food, i went back to school as an oriental medicine student, which enforced this belief.
it is my current theory that the years i spent engulfed by the western philosophy in my science classes were paralleled by my diet. the scientific process seeks to dissect ecosystems and organisms to smaller and smaller parts–cells and molecules–just as the western diet seeks to break down natural foods to smaller parts–refined sugar and white flour. it neglects to see the body as a whole system, and in turn neglects to see the merits of eating whole foods in their unrefined, unprocessed states. when i opened my mind to eastern philosophy and its holistic approach, my eating habits and relationship to food changed drastically.
currently, i am studying to be an OMD, so within a few years I will be a certified acupuncturist and herbalist. during the week i go to class and work at an juice bar. and on the weekends i help at farmers’ markets selling organic vegetables for a family farm based out of fresno. i try to spend as much time as i can in the kitchen, preferably surrounded by hungry smiles ready to be fed a spoonful of this and dollop of that.
if you want to discuss anything food related, i tend to eagerly and passionately light up when speaking on the subject, so please feel free to contact me.
