In Praise of Vegetables. No, Seriously.

I had a conversation with my mother the other day.  It was about my dinner a few days previous.

"Hey, guess what?" I asked with great anticipation. "The other night, I made chicken fajitas and they actually had MORE peppers and onions than chicken.  And I ATE them.  I didn't pick them out or ANYTHING."  I told my mother this with all the excitement of a four year old who has just tied her shoes for the first time.

It's kind of a big deal.

Many people will blame weight problems on a love of food.  Not me, however.  For years my issue was strictly one in which I hated most foods.  And the ones I did enjoy tended to be rather.. hrm.. how should I put it?

Nutrionally void.

Hot Dogs.  Zoodles.  Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  Kraft Dinner.  Pizza Pops.

I ate some fruits, mainly bananas, strawberries and grapes.  On occasion.  Maybe.

My mom and I have discussed my eating habits and she admits that she could have been more adamant about not giving into my fussiness.  But in fairness to her, she was raised in a you-are-not-leaving-this-table-until-your-plate-is-clean-young-lady-I-don't-care-if-you-don't-like-it type home and remembered mealtimes being horrible.  So she wanted to spare me all that.

Plus, I was a gagger.

I didn't realize how much my gag reflex must have played into my mom's need to cave until I had kids of my own.  The first time my youngest child gagged on something I was insisting she at least try before declaring it gross, I found it absolutely infuriating and like a light bulb being switched on, my mother's actions made sense to me:

I get it now! It was either make something else, or strangle me!

Really.  I don't know what it is about the sound of kids gagging on food that is so rage-inducing, but wow. 0 to Incredible Hulk before you can say "Finebutyou'renotgettinganythingelsekid"

I'd be lying if I didn't think my lack of nutrition didn't actively contribute to some of my health concerns down the road.  But damn if it isn't hard to eat healthy if all those things deemed healthy make you want to die inside, just a little.  Once I hit high school and beyond, I was well out of my parents authority in regards to my eating habits.  Just so you don't think they didn't EVER try to get good food into me.  They did, but I imagine it wasn't worth the frustration or the possible visits from the Children's Aid Society (see: gagging).

Once I was making all my own food decisions I lived off of what Drew Barrymore once referred to as a 'White Trash Diet'.  Added to the list was any kind of fast food, triple-decker peanut butter sandwiches and Cheeze Whiz and toast.  Dear Gord, Cheeze Whiz.  Is there not a more frightening concoction?  I could go through a loaf of Wonder Bread and a jar of processed cheeze - because you know, anything spelled with a 'Z' has GOT to be good for you - in the period of a few days.

No wonder my colon eventually cried 'Enough!' by way of bleeding for months on end.  More on that another day, though.

Not sure when I decided to actually start trying things again, but I believe it was a few months before I really got serious about my weight loss efforts.  I do recall sitting in a mall food court in Toronto with my friend Sammi.  She had a small tray of sushi, while I had my requisite slice of pepperoni pizza.  Somehow, some way Sammi convinced me to try a piece of her sushi.  It was a revelation.

Okay, it was tolerable.  But it was a start.  A few weeks later we went to an all-you-can-eat sushi place closer to home, where I could sample different types of sushi and I fell in love.  I thought to myself.. if I can love sushi, then maybe there are other things I've been missing out on.. other things that I should give a chance.

Slowly, but surely, I've been adding new foods to my repertoire.  I had my first eggs at the tender age of 27.  I'm now in love with egg sandwiches.  Salad is another thing I'm slowly getting used to.  I love a good Caesar, and can handle a lot of other salads.  I learned I love raw spinach.  The green and red peppers in last week's fajitas were a major triumph for me.  So is not picking the tomato chunks out of my spaghetti sauce.

A year or so ago I realized that maybe my picky days were over when a guy I was dating offered to make me dinner.  I warned him of my pickiness, then felt silly when none of the options he presented really sounded that bad.  I guess wasn't as picky as I thought.  (FYI, we ended up having chicken masala that night).

There are still things that I turn my nose up at.. the "brocollis and 'sparegrasses" as my dad likes to put it... but slowly I am learning to embrace the opportunity to try new things.

Hoghead Cheese and Gumbo

Scratching your heads right now, aren't ya?  Many will know what gumbo is, but when they hear the words "hog" "head" and "cheese" together, they get a bit flustered.  And yes, it's exactly what it sounds like:  cheese made from the head of a hog.  Sounds gross, but it's SO GOOD.

I was born and raised in the deep south.  I'm talking gator farms, crabbing at 3am, mosquitoes, boudin balls, jambalaya and red beans for dinner deep south.  If you're from here or have ever visited here, you know the food is fantastic.  Anything and everything you could eat here is great with one exception:  nutria rat.  I have never and will never eat a rat.  No, thank you.

Since my mother and her mother were also born and raised here, they are two of the best cooks in the world.  I don't care what they're cooking, it's good.  Like slap ya Momma good. (Note:  If you're ever in the south and something is slap ya Momma good, PLEASE, for the love of God, do not slap somebody's Momma.  You'll get your ass kicked.) They cook the best fried chicken, pork chops, roast and gravy - and we eat pretty much everything with gravy.  It's a food group.

In addition to being delicious, food is also cooked differently here.  We'll take anything healthy and make it unhealthy.  All you need is some Crisco, butter and flour.  For example, when we get fresh vegetables, we don't just slice 'em up and throw them in a salad.  No, sir.  We batter and fry those bad boys.  Do the same thing to fish, shrimp, soft shell crabs and even bread (hushpuppies).  If we're not frying it, we're covering it in salt and Tony's (Tony Chachere's Seasoning).  You can make anything better with enough Tony's.

Knowing all of this can help y'all understand just how incredibly easy it was for me to get as big as the side of a barn.  Because not only is the food delicious, every single public event that goes on down here involves some form of food.  Festivals are named after foods.  Parties involve either BBQ or a crawfish boil.  Church get-togethers include potluck dinners (Oh em gee can old church ladies cook!).  Hell, they even serve snacks at the polling booths on election days.  I'm telling you, life in the south revolves around food.

So,  27 years of weekly Sunday dinners at my Mawmaw's house with roast, rice and gravy, homemade macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, squash casserole (a vegetable isn't edible unless it's fried or in a casserole of some sort), cornbread and the likes, on top of my mother's daily wholesome dinners (she cooked enough for a small army - every single night), combined with the bad habits of any kid/young adult - fast food and junk food all the time..... God, why was I even surprised when that scale read 283??

Once I got married and moved out, my eating habits didn't worsen, but they surely didn't improve.  I wanted to cook dinners every night, but with being a student and working full time and a house to keep up, many nights I would just throw chicken nuggets and fries in the oven.  I would cook some vegetables for the kids, but my husband and I would eat large platefuls of nuggets and fries with ketchup AND MAYONNAISE mixed together.  That started around age 8.  At 27 I was still eating mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together with fries and basically any meat - chicken, pork, even steak.

I'd plan on being good and bring a can of soup or a small pack of crackers to school or work, but as soon as I got in my car to go home, the first thing I wanted to do was pull into a Sonic or Raising Canes or Taco Bell. From Sonic I would order mozzarella sticks, cheddar poppers and a large chili cheese tots.  Every single time.  From Cane's I would get the largest combo with an extra sauce - no coleslaw for me.  Taco Bell would be a stuffed burrito with either a Mexican pizza or a quesadilla.  Every once in a while I would stop by Popeye's and get a 3-piece chicken with red beans and rice and a biscuit.  I would eat ALL THREE pieces of chicken, all of the red beans and the biscuit.

I'm mortified to be sharing this with y'all, but I know that being honest with myself and everyone else about how bad I let myself get is the best way to motivate myself to continue this new path I'm on.  Since I've started my lifestyle change I haven't had any fast food or junk food.  An entire month with no junk food is a milestone for me.  I don't know how Sonic is going to pay their light bill anymore.

Hopefully soon I can share with you guys some of the lifestyle changes I've made in regards to what I eat.  A lot of it has to do with being conscious of what we put into our bodies, and how it will affect us.   So, the next time you feel the urge to pull in to a fast food joint for a "quick bite", take a second to think about how long it will take to work it off.