I never thought I'd say this one day: food confuses me.
I wasn't a picky eater when I was growing up; in fact, I generally liked trying new things. And the more my sisters said "ewww" at something on the dinner table, the more I wanted to eat it and prove that nothing was too gross for me. I mean, I'm no Andrew Zimmern for sure -- I don't like celery, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, beansprouts, and bittermelon -- but I'm pretty confident I can enter any restaurant anywhere in the world and find something I want to eat, even if it contains a bit of of the stuff that I generally don't like to put in my mouth.
It used to seem pretty simple back in the day: eat more fruits and vegetables and try not to eat so much red meat. Eat slowly so that your brain can signal you when you're full before you reach the point of overstuffing yourself. Don't skip any meals because you'll only end up eating more than you probably should the next time you face food. Do eat a hearty breakfast. Avoid eating lots of fried or sugary foods.
But now it seems like I need a PhD in Nutrition and Chemistry just to eat. It's not enough to shop mostly from the produce aisle; now I need to consider if it's organic and/or locally sourced. I also have to stay away from tropical fruit because of their high sugar content apparently; I'm also limited to eating something like eight grapes in a sitting, I think. I have to eat six small meals a day -- and make sure that I have at least 12 hours between the last meal of my day and the first of the next. There are good oils and bad oils -- and while coconut oil used to be on the "bad" list apparently now it's on the "very good" list. For a while experts were telling us to eat lots of fish; now, there are certain creatures of the sea we need to avoid because of the way they were caught or the toxins they contain.
I'm still confused about dairy: beneficial or dangerous? And then I have friends telling me to avoid wheat, gluten, any kind of" white" food for that matter. Wait -- I'm Asian; are you seriously asking me to give up rice? In the late 80s it was all about avoiding fats, now carbohydrates are the devil -- unless you're a marathon runner or a triathlete, neither of which I am or will ever be.
I won't even get into the bazillions of diet plans out there. I don't know if I want to be a "skinny bitch" -- can't I be a "healthy hottie" instead? And won't eating mostly protein give me bad breath (at the very least)? So what's the proper ratio of fats to protein to carbs again? Oh, and I'm not supposed to combine protein and carbs in the same meal, too? And I need to drink at least 8 oz. of water but just not while I'm eating because I'll end up diluting some kind of enzyme that I need to digest my food -- did I get that right?
Nowadays, there are even all these foolproof ways to fast (i.e. NOT to eat). I mean, really. Fasting used to mean water but no food. Now you have strange concoctions of maple syrup and cayenne pepper. And wait -- there are all kinds of products you can buy to cleanse your system, too (I thought eating lots of fiber did that naturally but I guess it's not enough?).
You can't eat out of a can, and not from a plastic container also. Microwaving one's food to heat it up is bad, but so is using aluminum cookware on the stovetop. And then there are the raw food advocates who claim that heating foods above 116°F destroys beneficial enzymes anyway. But what about that new study that says eating cooked tomatoes helps control belly fat?
I'm sorry experts, but I give up on all of you. I'm going back to basics. I'm going to mix it up and try new things, even rediscover tastes I'd forgotten about. I eat lots of fish, chicken, and tofu (never really liked beef anyway) but will endeavor to eat more greens and fruits (yes, even bananas, mangoes, and pineapples). If I can afford organic, then I will; if not, I'll make sure I give my produce a really good wash before I eat them.I'm going to, once again, enjoy my food but not feast as if it were my last meal each time, and to make sure that I only eat as much as I can burn off. Here's the key: I'm not going to stress out over eating.There's already too much I need to worry about as it is -- like how to pay for what I eat every day. If there's one thing I know for sure it's that too much stress will hurt me in more ways than the small cup of steaming white rice I have for dinner ever could.
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