food life story

One thing that I loved when interviewing people about their FLS was how, inevitably, at some point while we were talking, they would say something like: “Haven’t thought about this in years…” or “I had forgotten about this, but…” or “Talking about this, as you ask me questions, I can remember xyz…” It was so much fun to be part of their recapturing memories. Sometimes they were sad memories, of course, but they still brought a kind of pleasure, of regaining a scrap of childhood. It’s clear that our memories are colored and very personal. It would be fun to interview siblings… there would likely be disparities in recounting the same events, since we experience everything through our own filters…

But equally interesting are the similarities… interviewee AC spoke about her mother making salad dressing from mayo & catsup in 1940’s New England, the same dressing as MA’s mother made in the south in the 1960’s. My mother got store brand bottles of ‘Italian’ dressing, which never tasted very good. More of those artificial flavor chemicals, I guess. Certainly nothing like a simple vinaigrette of olive oil, vinegar and spices that we enjoy these days. Hmm… makes me crave a salad.

So… yesterday’s post did not get ‘published’ until this morning, because I wrote it and planned to post it later, but instead, I fell asleep.

So… I’ll try not to do the same thing today. My thoughts about food right now are colored by the fact that I am nine days into an Ayurvedic cleanse that I’ve been doing twice a year for 10 or more years. Not going to try to describe the cleanse; if you want to know more, google LifeSpa and the Colorado Cleanse. Dr. John Douillard shares some amazing information, which has definitely become part of my FLS. Main confusion most people have is that they hear ‘cleanse’ and think ‘fast’, followed by thinking ‘only drinking juices’ and ‘Yuck! Why?’

Well, it’s not like that. It’s very much about choosing what to eat and eating until I’m satisfied; not about deprivation and hunger. It’s about detoxifying the digestive system by eating like a vegan and choosing not to have sugar or wheat. A vegan diet is already dairy-free. And those could be considered my favorite food groups:

Sugar, with an emphasis on chocolate, good chocolate, not commercial ‘plastic’ or processed chocolate.

Dairy, with an emphasis on cheese and butter; the real stuff. Greek and frozen yogurt are big faves.

Wheat, with an emphasis on fresh bread in any form, often eaten with an aforementioned dairy product.

So… each time I choose to stop eating those foods for a couple of weeks, I learn more about myself. Since I eat primarily a vegetarian diet anyway, with occasional poultry and fish, I’m generally satisfied with vegetables, raw or cooked. But I can’t ignore or deny that my body reacts to sugar and sometimes to eating too much breadstuffs or dairy. It’s interesting to give my body a break from those stressors. At the same time, I realize that forgoing the sweets and wheat products, especially the sweets, pushes me to face emotional stressors without their tasty buffering.