F is for Food

So once I started realizing that "fat" was mostly in my head, I knew I had to start thinking about the food I eat. I LOVE to eat. It might be my favorite thing in the world. I eat when I'm happy. I eat when I'm sad. I eat when I'm bored. I eat when I'm awake. I eat when I want a reward. I eat to punish myself. I eat. A lot.

And I really don't know how to eat. For the vast majority of my post-adolescent life, I was on some kind of diet and all of my food habits were learned from other people who were almost always on diets. We ate lots of carbs, but everything snack wise was low fat or diet or reduced calorie. And let us not forget Diet Coke, the communion wine of my family of origin.

A few years ago, I went to a nutrionist to essentially learn what I was supposed to eat. She basically told me that I was overweight and recommended a diet. #MedicalCommunityFAIL.

Then I started reading. I got very into Michael Pollan for a while, but then realized that I am not really a slow food, kill my own animal and cure it kind of person. I am more of a Open That Box and Eat From It Standing Up person. "Real" food tastes weird to me. Like, why would I want to whip my own cream when I can have Cool Whip? Alice Waters just died a little.

I know this is wrong, or well, not good. I'm not doing my body any favors, and one thing I've learned as a pseudo athlete is that shitty food makes you perform shitty. Then a friend recommended Marion Nestle's What To Eat, and I fell in love. The book walks you through each supermarket section and provides sensible advice about what is nutritious and healthy. It's this book that got me interested in food politics and how food industry lobbyists are rewriting nutrition standards in their best interests. It's the book, and Nestle's blog, Food Politics, that inspired me to write about this stuff.