The slow road towards change in diet

I do believe that certain things are bad for you to eat. Things like processed food, fast food and frozen food, for instance, are known to have lots of sugar, salt, preservatives and things that just aren't good for your health. Over the years, I have made a conscious effort to eat healthier. Many of my efforts didn't last but there are a few things that have stuck.

One of the things that stuck is giving up soda. Soda no longer has any hold on me. I never crave it, even if it is sitting in front of me in a vain effort to tempt me. I'll drink it if it's there and there is nothing else to drink, but I don't generally enjoy soda. So even after a taste of its fizzy sweetness, reminding me of how I loved savoring its cold, bursting bubbles on my tongue as a child, I don't have the urge to have more. I just don't miss it and when I do have it, I don't enjoy it all that much.

The same goes for candy. I don't mean chocolate because I consider chocolate to be its own food group. I mean gum, hard candy, gummy candies, licorice candies and the like. We have some in the house, but I almost never indulge. If I do pop one in the mouth, it's usually not because I really wanted it or craved it. I can't even say, when I do have one in my mouth, that I really enjoy it anymore either. I loved candy as a child and I still generally like candy, but I don't really care to have it. I might pop a lemonhead for the sake of nostalgia, but to buy a box would be a waste because I would never finish it.

Fast food was a bit more difficult to give up. I remember when I stopped going to McDonald's and really didn't miss it until 3 months later. At the 3 month mark, I had serious cravings for McDonald's food. I tried to resist but eventually did give in and bought a Big Mac. After the very first bite, I realized that McDonald's will never be able to satisfy my burger cravings ever again. For you see I had, by then, experienced some really awesome, juicy, heavy, flavorful burgers partnered with fresh vegetables and homemade buns. Fast food burgers just taste like flavorless cardboard after that. I still liked the "special sauce" but it was no longer worth it to me to buy a burger just for the sauce. The fries, on the other hand, are a different story.

Yes, I still eat lots of fries. I don't eat much fast food fries since I pretty much never go to fast food restaurants anymore, but I still love fries at restaurants. I know they're really bad for you. I console myself by saying that I don't eat them every day, but I sure do love 'em!

Fries are not my only weakness and I have given up on eating other foods that are considered bad for you. Today, I try to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle, which has been hard at times. The truth is, it's been a long road to get to this point. My relationship to food is partly tied to my relationship to my body image. It is also a psychological relationship. When I am stressed or unhappy, I often crave "naughty" foods because it makes me feel like I'm being decadent. I guess in order to consistently choose the healthier or principled option, I have to keep reminding myself why I should choose to eat the way I do. Every time we are faced with a choice to eat this or that is a juncture in the road. At the moment, one choice does not make much of a difference, but if you look at the long view, you see that all those choices add up to a very distinct direction. For me, vegetarianism feels right and I plan to continue down that path.