After writing out last Wednesday's Pat on the Back post, I started brainstorming other things I should be grateful for. Progress is progress. Success is success. I'd like to keep this up. This week I'm happy about two food groups that I enjoy eating.
Whole Grains. I LOVE whole grains! I prefer brown rice to white rice. I wish I could afford more wild rice...really adore that stuff! I enjoy whole wheat noodles and bread. Ezekiel bread with the sprouted grains - I love that too! It makes no sense to refine a grain. None.
Veggies. I am not a picky eater. I enjoy those odd veggies people have horror stories about. I enjoy Brussels sprouts, Lima beans, and okra in any form. In fact, since my last pregnancy I eat all the "A's" that I once could not fathom eating with joy. That's right. Artichoke, avocado, and asparagus are now welcome on my menu. I've been known to turn up my nose at cooked greens (mustard, collard and turnip), but I can eat ANY greens raw and still savor them.
Showing posts with label food racism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food racism. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Fessing up
I'll admit I eat like an American. I've had too much fast food, red meat, soda, and processed food-like product. I am quite disturbed by the American "white is better" theory. White flour, white sugar, white rice. Food racism. What a curse!
Let's not forget that our public schools implemented these bleached out products just as often as our poor families; at a private school I attended we were given Subway, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut every week. They bought the hype. Convenience won over health.
I was a fairly healthy person through my first pregnancies. In between pregnancies I would progressively get back into my soda addiction. My worst soda habit is Red Bull. They are my equivalent to cigarettes (thank goodness I don't smoke). I usually plateau at a gallon of red bull a day. Not water. No water. Sugar, caffeine and majorly too much B-complex.
My last pregnancy I was diagnosed with a heart murmur and mitral valve prolapse. I got to wear a heart monitor all day and night (except in the shower) for a month of that pregnancy. I have no way to prove it was the red bull. I have no reason to believe it was anything else. That pregnancy ended almost three weeks early when I showed up at the hospital vomiting uncontrollably. I was in labor and my liver was failing. I had an emergency C-section. We all came out alive. If I hadn't gone the hospital that morning, I wouldn't be typing the same (or any) story.
After I finished breastfeeding, I hopped back on the red bull train. My youngest will be 17 months soon. Most days I drink 48-64 ounces of that vial concoction. I'm not sure why I drink something that makes me hot and angry. I'm not sure why I drink something that depletes my appetite and causes major diarrhea. I honestly think it is a subconscious desire to have something. Something I thought I could control.
I'll never have a perfect heart again. I've done irreversible damage. My liver is always going to be slightly wonky due to a genetic condition I carry; also my lungs are less durable from that condition. I still expect to live a long enough life to meet my grandchildren. I want to be at my great-grandkids births. I want to have enough time on this planet to spread positive energy to others. I must change my lifestyle.
Let's not forget that our public schools implemented these bleached out products just as often as our poor families; at a private school I attended we were given Subway, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut every week. They bought the hype. Convenience won over health.
I was a fairly healthy person through my first pregnancies. In between pregnancies I would progressively get back into my soda addiction. My worst soda habit is Red Bull. They are my equivalent to cigarettes (thank goodness I don't smoke). I usually plateau at a gallon of red bull a day. Not water. No water. Sugar, caffeine and majorly too much B-complex.
My last pregnancy I was diagnosed with a heart murmur and mitral valve prolapse. I got to wear a heart monitor all day and night (except in the shower) for a month of that pregnancy. I have no way to prove it was the red bull. I have no reason to believe it was anything else. That pregnancy ended almost three weeks early when I showed up at the hospital vomiting uncontrollably. I was in labor and my liver was failing. I had an emergency C-section. We all came out alive. If I hadn't gone the hospital that morning, I wouldn't be typing the same (or any) story.
After I finished breastfeeding, I hopped back on the red bull train. My youngest will be 17 months soon. Most days I drink 48-64 ounces of that vial concoction. I'm not sure why I drink something that makes me hot and angry. I'm not sure why I drink something that depletes my appetite and causes major diarrhea. I honestly think it is a subconscious desire to have something. Something I thought I could control.
I'll never have a perfect heart again. I've done irreversible damage. My liver is always going to be slightly wonky due to a genetic condition I carry; also my lungs are less durable from that condition. I still expect to live a long enough life to meet my grandchildren. I want to be at my great-grandkids births. I want to have enough time on this planet to spread positive energy to others. I must change my lifestyle.
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