This morning is going to be a NORMAL post! I have been reviewing so many products here of late! I hope that you don't mind (I know that I don't!).
The weather should be gorgeous today and I cant wait for a beautiful weekend. I plan on getting out and enjoying every moment. My mom is coming to see me this weekend! I am so happy because I can count on one hand how many times she has payed me a visit. I have no idea what we are going to do yet but I know that we will enjoy ourselves. One of the things that is talked about as soon as a day and time is set for her to visit or for me to visit is food. I know that sounds weird but is something that comes up right away. You see, I come from a SUPER
southern family and the way that I eat doesn't match the way that they eat (this photo makes my tummy hurt just looking at it). They think that my food is "different". Which is my mom's way of saying "your health food is weird and I don't like it." When I cook a meal (and don't think that when I cook for my family I don't down play every course) I try my best to keep it simple and use ingredients that I are familiar to them.
southern family and the way that I eat doesn't match the way that they eat (this photo makes my tummy hurt just looking at it). They think that my food is "different". Which is my mom's way of saying "your health food is weird and I don't like it." When I cook a meal (and don't think that when I cook for my family I don't down play every course) I try my best to keep it simple and use ingredients that I are familiar to them. For example, last time I came home I made dinner. I made something so simple (almost too simple in my book) and they still turned there noses up. What did I make? Brown rice tossed with chic peas, corn and fresh herbs,
Feta stuffed Chicken smothered in a red wine marinara sauce
with olive oil infused garlic spinach and carrots
. Fresh rosemary bread was served as well
. This meal to me was so easy, so simple and didn't have really any frill. Yes, it does sound fancy but in reality, it wasn't. I put the meal together and had it ready in less than a hour. They ate it, but slowly and none of them finished it. My sister, grandmother and mother just kinda laughed throughout the meal and made me feel like what I had prepared was some foreign food from another planet. It hurt my feelings but I just shrugged it off.
Feta stuffed Chicken smothered in a red wine marinara sauce
with olive oil infused garlic spinach and carrots
. Fresh rosemary bread was served as well
. This meal to me was so easy, so simple and didn't have really any frill. Yes, it does sound fancy but in reality, it wasn't. I put the meal together and had it ready in less than a hour. They ate it, but slowly and none of them finished it. My sister, grandmother and mother just kinda laughed throughout the meal and made me feel like what I had prepared was some foreign food from another planet. It hurt my feelings but I just shrugged it off. Do your parents poke at your eating habits? Do they make fun of your exercise regiment?
Mine do.I cant even count how many comments I get a day..."Did you bring your workout clothes?" "can YOU eat that?" "Did you bring your health food with you?" These are all questions followed by laughter and really meant to make me feel like my lifestyle is "weird". I get it at work and at home. Even some of my friends don't get me. I have over the years found ways to get around the questions and allow myself to be comfortable in settings that are not what I like to call "healthy". It took some time and with the heard head that I have on my shoulders. I never settled. I have been know to bring my own food. In fact, you better believe that when I visit home or go on vacation, I have a cooler stacked with goods. My home town doesn't have a health food store so I like to bring my own food. Usually when I get to the house I slip my food in the back of the fridge or a drawer. Once placed out of sight...I feel at ease. If I should arrive and the kitchen is full of people, I just wait. If I were to get the cooler out and start unloading fresh fruit, Greek yogurt, oatmeal, protein powder, raw food bars and probiotics I would get it. Big time. Something else that I am known for is getting a workout no matter where I am. Vacations, holidays or even having guests doesn't stop me. I can always say "do you mind if I take a thirty minute run?" Even when I went to New Jersey to meet my boyfriends parent for the first time I woke up extra early to sneak in my workout before everyone was up and moving. I always get the most flack when I visit home. Holidays are the worse. I always (for the last three years anyway) go for a nice long run. Christmas and Thanksgiving Day to me are two of the best! I love running on those days because it is dead outside and no one is out. I have found myself being "poked" at as I leave the house. "There goes Heather, she's gotta go run off that turkey she is going to have later." Even when I am sitting at the table and having a nice slice of pie or something I hear "Ooopps! Heather just ate some pie. Better go run it off." Then the laughter comes and I loose my appetite. So with all this being said...Food came up and it came up quickly. My mom will be bringing her fiance' with her and I want to make sure that they have a good time. Last night my mom said the dreaded words to me....
"Heather, I want to go to that restaurant that I went to that one time." "What restaurant Mom?" "I think it is called...OUTBACK." AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I paused and calmly said "Well, don't you want to go to a restaurant that you cant go to where you live?" I want to go to OUTBACK, I want a strawberry daiquiri." I didn't know what to say....Outback and strawberry daiquiris are not in my vocabulary...I didn't know what to say. So I just went with my gut. "Mom, I am sorry but I cant eat there." Well, why not?" She asked. I have been poked at, laughed at even yelled at because of sitting at a restaurant with the request "No oil, no salt, no butter please...STEAMED only." I had flashes of sitting at Outback with the two of them with a 10 dollar salad picked apart and bland as hell. Iceberg makes me want to kill myself. The thought of my mom paying 10 dollars for some iceberg makes me want to even more. I could suck it up and just go. Order what she wants me to and literally get sick. I could, but I wont. I said "Well, if we are going to be drinking (which did I tell you my mom can throw em back?) we should just pick a restaurant downtown and then have drinks downtown. That way no one has to drive. This was my plan...My mom is responsible so the thought of me wanting to be responsible I thought would work. I told her "I tell you what...you and I will take a stroll around downtown, look at menus and you can pick any place you want and we will eat there." Most of the restaurants are ok with me downtown so this makes me feel a little at ease. We went back and forth for almost 30 minutes on this idea. Finally I just broke and said "Mom, I respect that you want Outback but the truth is, I cant eat there, it will upset my stomach and I don't want to routine the whole night." "Ok, fine." She was ok with that. I then said "I could cook!" "Oh no....I will pick a place downtown." That got her.
So sorry for the rant but this is my life....This is the stuff that I have to go through when I visit or someone in my family pays me a visit. I get this question about 5 times a day when I go home or get visits "Heather, what can you eat?" "Can you eat this?" It makes me feel at times like I am a outsider. The truth is....I am. Today I have tips for you and your diet, even when you go home to visit Mom....
I have so many friends that when they go home to visit there families, everything goes out the window diet wise. I tend to lean towards my Mom's comfort food myself. I get stressed out and even grab things in the cupboard. If you’ve been making some big changes to your diet recently, a couple things are probably going to happen — you’re gonna struggle with all the food served at big traditional gatherings, and — if you’re anything like us — you’re probably going to be telling people about some of your new approaches towards eating.
This is great — especially if you’ve started to really get in shape, people are going to ask, with legitimate interest: “what have you been doing?”
‘I Have Discovered the World’s Greatest System and You Absolutely Must Follow It’
Yep, there’s one particular problem with this — people often call it the ‘convert’s zeal’, and it manifests itself in a kind of ultra-high enthusiasm for a recently-adopted system — an enthusiasm that can often turn into serious evangelism.
How come? Well, for one thing, it’s difficult to explain all the great changes you’ve been making, both in your eating and in your activity level, without coming across as though you’re selling something, or maybe even being too pushy about it. Usually this happens without you realizing it, either.
With that in mind, we put together 5 ways to help you out this Christmas (and anytime) — with any luck, they’ll save you from going on a 2-hour rant at the dinner table, and hopefully they’ll help you win over a few ‘converts’, too.
#5: Whenever You Can, Take the Positive Route.
This is an obvious point, but no matter how conscious you are, it’s still remarkably easy to forget — people just respond better to positive suggestion rather than negative criticism. Sometimes this requires you to spin your thoughts around in your head, before you speak them aloud.
An example: if someone offers you a Diet Coke, don’t put your hands up, shake your head, and say “no way, I never drink that stuff — it’s full of hideous crap!” Yes. I know it’s loaded with crap, the person offering it to you probably knows the same thing, but in general, this approach doesn’t really stick.
Try something different — less “hell no” and more “no thanks. You know, I read a really interesting thing about diet drinks recently…”
#4: Start Small, Start Small, Start Small.
I have a little theory. Some of these fad diet books gain so much popularity in North America because, lacking the same grounded food culture of many European countries, we’re more susceptible to full-on, 100% revamps of everything we eat.
When you’re unsatisfied/confused with almost everything you eat, the idea of a magic little book coming along (Grapefruit, South Beach, whatever’s popular this year…) and promising to solve the what-to-eat headache is extremely tempting. But the fad diets keep selling because none of them really work, as none of them are really sustainable. The key, it turns out, is starting small — but it’s hard to sell a diet book with that kind of pitch.
And, coincidentally, the philosophy behind the ‘Real Food’ movement is exactly that — if you’re going to start being conscious about the food you put in your body each day, it’s got to be done gradually. The same goes for telling someone else about your exciting new discovery — if you unload 4 hours of information about feedlot beef and processed corn on your poor Uncle Mike over Christmas, is it going to stick?
But if you suggest a couple easy replacements instead, and then follow up at your next family dinner, your new found evangelism will have a bit more staying power.
#3: Be Ready For Skeptics.
The ‘additives are bad’ argument doesn’t always convince everyone — it’s helpful to have a few facts about why eating 15-ingredient bread or crackers isn’t the best idea, as just saying “it’s bad!” can appear somewhat ill-thought-out.
The context of the food, the lack of history when it comes to ‘food-like products’, the way additives change how our body breaks down particular foods — all these things can help you make your case.
#2: Have An Easy, Convenient ‘Way In’.
So — despite all your sales acumen and sly charm, you’ve failed to sell your gathered family on the true benefit of unprocessed, real food. No worries — sometimes we have to rely on tried-and-true pieces of content to make the case for us.
There are four that work wonders. In order of easy digestibility, they are:
Mark Bittman’s TED talk on Real Food (a short online video)
This Time magazine cover story about the food system (a great, clear article)
The wonderful, well made documentary Food, Inc. (a super-watchable film)
Michael Pollan’s fantastic The Omnivore’s Dilemma (a top-shelf book)
#1: Remember — You Can’t Convert Everyone.
Don’t get down if it feels like your pleas are falling on deaf ears. In the end, the evangelism comes after you’ve taken care of your own food needs, and those of your immediate family.
Sure, there’s something about reading this ‘Real Food’ literature, and really starting to learn how the food system works, that is alternately infuriating and inspiring — the perfect recipe for wanting to spread the word. But convincing people of something as big as ‘your entire diet is wrong’ will never, ever be an easy task, so don’t take it personally if your friends & family aren’t rushing to the farmer’s market after your impassioned celebration.
Keep at it, do all you can for yourself, and let the benefits to your body and lifestyle keep making the case for you.
I hope that these tactics help you. It took me a long time to figure it out.
Have a WONDERFUL day and I will see you with the last post of the week!
-Heather
