Why Am I Like This?
Siobhan started us on this brilliant topic with this post. I loved reading her story, as well as yours in the comments. Here’s mine.
1. An epiphany. I was an overweight kid and an obese young adult, until I pulled my head out of my butt and made a commitment to being healthy over a decade ago. It started with yoga. I wanted to try it because I felt like my body/mind/spirit were broken and scattered, and I thought yoga might help. I was putting out so much nurturing energy as a new mom and in my teaching job that I had nothing left for myself. Yoga changed everything. I was able to see my body as truly the temple of my soul, and thus worthy of care, whereas before I valued only mind and spirit. “Our body creates our soul as much as our soul creates our body,” my yoga teacher quoted from David Spangler one day, and I believe it. I cannot value myself without valuing the earth I come from, so, fundamentally, this is where my devotion to a path of clean living originated. I had a push to go further when I heard Siobhan interviewed on a local radio show a couple years ago. I rushed out to buy the book, then plopped myself down and got comfy in this wonderful NMDL community.
2. I was raised in Michigan on red meat and Twinkies. I hated vegetables, mostly because until I was an adult living on my own I had barely eaten a fresh vegetable. My mom did insist we eat vegetables, and on a good day we had frozen, but mostly they came from a can. A salad was iceberg lettuce with perhaps a sad looking tomato, covered in Wishbone Italian dressing. When I moved to California for graduate school, a new world of eating opened up for me. I was surrounded by fresh food, and though it would be a long time until I came to be truly healthy, I knew then I had been raised on crap and was never going back.
3. Strokes, death and whatnot. Eating poorly, smoking, and very little exercise or care for toxic exposure has caught up with my family members. I do not want to let my own health deteriorate, or set a bad example for my own child. Plus I’d like to live to enjoy some grandchildren.
4. My own delicate constitution. A lifetime of digestive issues and autoimmune problems pushed me to find the best way for me to eat. Things flew out of control when I hit perimenopause at the ridiculously young age of 37, and every health issue I ever had began to overwhelm me. That was when I figured out I’m gluten intolerant. Then a few months later I got a really nasty case of food poisoning (Salmonella – I don’t recommend it). I couldn’t eat anything for days, and when I could eat again, for weeks all I wanted was fresh fruit and vegetables. I discovered that eating raw is, like, a thing. My body is so strong and resilient when I’m eating vegan, raw, and gluten free. I doubt I would have made a commitment to this fairly extreme diet without the push of illness.
5. My super sensitive skin and picky sense of smell. I have to use clean products for my skin and home because of my sensitivities. I get pimples and rashes from preservatives and other toxins in products. Synthetic fragrance typically makes me physically ill and emotionally overwrought. I can taste dish soap in my food (no, it doesn’t matter how well I rinse). I am a total canary.
6. Being a sucker for pretty things. When I was growing up my mom would not have dreamt of leaving the house without full make-up and curled hair with roots freshly touched up from a box of L’Oreal. I remember playing with her make-up, which was drugstore dirty, but what fun! Those familiar cosmetics didn’t do my skin any favors though, and as a grown up I used just a few clean-ish products – until I recently discovered a whole world of clean cosmetics. Now I am hooked.
7. It’s all connected. In spite of my conservative, entirely non-hippie upbringing, I am deeply pagan and cannot disconnect my self from my son or my community or my planet. It’s all one, and all motivate me to be on this path, doing the best I can.
Namaste.
I love these so much! Both have brought a tear to my eye so far. I’ll write mine soon. x
I’m so glad I found this NMDL community. Thank you for another great post Rebecca.
Thank you for sharing! :)
I can relate to this!
When I was teaching, yoga helped me find my calm. There were days when I would stand in front my sixth period in Mountain Pose and wait for them to settle down (it rarely worked, but i had to try).
I also grew up in Michigan (YAY for the Mitten State! My friends constantly make fun of me for being so Midwestern!) My mom grew up on a farm, so we always had well-rounded meals (Eat your vegetable. Drink your milk.) But the food was always kind of bland (fresh produce is hard to come by in the grey days of winter), so I am just now discovering different spices and flavors.
I didn’t really appreciate my health until I got sick, required two rounds of antibiotics, and had to use up half of my sick days. Then I started taking my vitamins!
Thanks for sharing!
I love this! Rebecca, I think we have the same mom. Don’t get my mom started on seeing women in public with rollers/curlers in their hair. Sheesh! I, too, was raised on “red meat and Twinkies” and most definitely not in a hippy household.
Our salad was leaf lettuce from my father’s garden completely ruined by Wishbone French dressing or (worse) a teaspoon of granulated sugar for us “picky eaters” who disliked the taste and funky smell of that unnaturally colored dressing. Lunch was a can of tomato soup (now referred to as tomato bisque, I am told) and a bologna or liverwurst sandwich. Cheese was Kraft singles. I hated food and hated to eat, unless I was at my Grandmother’s house, where “real food” was served. At 19, I was 5′8′ and 95 pounds and the only eating disorder I had was improper nutrition at home. I swear. I moved from the midwest to California and discovered that I wasn’t a picky eater after all. I loved food, but “real food”. I also learned that I loved to cook, to creat things with my own head and hands. Michael Pollan’s books sealed the deal for me, especially where he advises to eat what your grandparents or great-grandparents ate, but not what your parents ate.
Will Rogers said, “I never met a man I didn’t like”. I say, “I never met a canned vegetable I couldn’t hate”.
Thank you for your heartfelt post, Rebecca. It really spoke to me.
I grew up in Michigan too! Red meat, shake & bake, twinkies, iceberg salads. It kind of makes me feel guilty to acknowledge how unhealthy it was, because I know my parents meant so well for us.
You sound like such a lovely human being, thanks for sharing!
This was really awesome to read. You’re great, Rebecca!
As a conservative womyn, I believe we were commanded by G-d to maintain the Earth and the ideals of womanhood and part of this is the preparing of sacred food for the men
If you take out the word “Michigan” and insert “Ohio” this would be me.
I grew up in Michigan and, well, still live in Michigan. I can definitely relate to other Michiganders with the red meat, iceberg lettuce, tomato soup with Kraft American cheese grilled cheese, and shake n bake. However I also grew up with kombucha growing in a bowl on my counter and fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from my neighbors garden. I started taking spirulina and algae at the age of 13 and still had graham crackers and milk before bed. I think it was just the balance my parents had. My dad grew up with 7 brothers and sisters living on amazing home cooking but not with the cleanest of foods while my mother ate all fresh fruits and veggies. My uncle is a chiropractor who likes to make medical doctors sqwirm and is my constant go to when looking at supplements, dietary questions, and natural medicine. My mom and I both became more strict in our diets and care products when I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis a couple years ago but not everyone in the family is on the bandwagon. I know that fresh healthy food is what I want in my body and what I want to raise my children on. But my ultimate goals is to get my dad to quit eating spam.
It feels really good to share this story, kind of freeing. Who knew there would so many Michiganders (and Ohio!) folks here?! Awesome.
@comagirl, ooooooh yes, the Kraft cheese. I’m a huge Michael Pollan fan too.