What I Eat

Everything.

That's what I eat. Sometimes all at once, which isn't such a good thing. Anyway, someone recently asked me about my eats, so I thought I'd give you a brutally honest report.

Before I get started, I want to tell you that I didn't plan this post in advance. It's not like I decided at 5am that today is the day I'm going to record what I eat for posterity, thus making exceptionally wise and healthy food choices that make me appear healthful and disciplined, etc. We keep it real here at the barre.

Ok, here we go.

5.00am, wake up, roll out of bed and turn on coffee pot, which is conveniently located in my closet. Yes, I don't even have to walk downstairs! I believe in coffee. Roll back into bed until I hear the blessed gurgling sound of completed brewing. So, that's one large cup of Peet's with about a 1/4 c. half-and-half. (I like my coffee light and spicy, just like me.)

7am, Breakfast Egg Salad from the Physique 57 book. This involves quinoa, steamed baby kale, a hard boiled egg, olive oil and some avocado added.

11.30am, fix lunch for small people and inhale 2? maybe 3? tablespoons of peanut butter. Now I'm too full for lunch.

1.45pm, eat large salad with organic greens, goat cheese, slivered almonds, avocado and mandarin orange, followed by maybe a quarter cup full-fat Greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey.

4.45pm, start making dinner for the small people. Daddy's out of town on business, left this morning. He travels a lot. After a couple of days, we get into a groove, but we're not there yet so I pour myself a glass of sangria, which weakens all resolve. Oh no...

5.15pm, inhale steamed broccoli (maybe organic? I don't know) and an ungodly amount of Dino Bites (definitely not organic... or free-range, but 'made from whole grains,' according to the package. Whatever.)

Check out that list on the left--lots of omega-3, iron, etc. Probably a load of crap, but nice attempt to relieve the cognitive dissonance of feeding your children processed dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets.

I know. God didn't intend chicken to come in the shape of dinosaurs. It's unnatural. It's also convenient and the kids like it. When Daddy's away, something has to give. Do I sound defensive? I do. I am.

5.30pm, Small people wanted more Dino Bites than I anticipated, so I'm still hungry. Eat 2? Maybe 3? tablespoons of peanut butter. (In case you can't tell, I eat a lot of peanut butter. If it weren't for nut butters, I'd be a total babe.) With chocolate chips. I continue to munch chips from the bag. A bad idea. I know this. I realize that I'm starting to feel yucky. I put away the chips.

As you see, my diet isn't perfect. But you know what? I don't believe in perfect. I believe in good enough. I'm kind of a recovering perfectionist, so this is progress for me. I used to try to eat 'perfectly.' In fact, I've tried many times to eat 'perfectly,' each time tweaking my definition of 'perfect,' and each time, failing.

So I've given up perfect. Now I try for good enough. Eating healthfully is important, but it isn't paramount. I'm not righteous because of what I eat. Or don't eat. I truly believe this, but at the same time, I struggle. I've ingested, along with Dino Bites, some of the moralistic laws of the food purist culture.

The food purists denounce the factory farms, the pesticides, the genetically-modified foods, etc. There are, of course, variations within the food purist camp, but really, I think the food purists make some decent points. We've seriously messed around with our food supply to a rather alarming degree. There are some real injustices surrounding how food is grown and produced, some of which negatively affect our health, our local economies and our planet.

But the food purists, generally, have a lot of laws. A lot of thou-shalt-nots, and this is where I have a hard time getting on board with them. I think organic, family-run farms, farmer's markets, free-range, etc. is all great. However, when it becomes something to which you shackle yourself, something that binds you to such a degree that don't eat large categories of food, when you can't relax your laws to receive or extend hospitality, I can't get behind that.

We do function best on real, whole foods in their natural state, but we don't need to be enslaved to them. (We also don't need to be enslaved to cookies, but that's another post.) Food is meant to nourish us, to sustain us so we can... well, get on with things. I don't want to go around providing people with a list of all the things I don't eat. (Please note, that's don't eat, not can't eat. There's a difference.) If I'm hungry and Jesus is offering me a fish sandwich, I'm not quibbling over whether or not the fish was wild-caught and rich in omega-3s.

But that's ok. I have Dino Bites for that.