Fresh Fish and Twinkies

I’ve taken a liking to documentaries about nutrition and healthy eating. Things sure have changed since I was kid. We didn’t realize what they were selling us was the now forbidden ‘Standard American Diet’. Luckily my father was a fisherman and gardener and my mother believed in multiple vegetables at every meal- so we ate a quite well….I think. But in addition to all of that healthy eating there were also Suzy-Q’s, Ring- Dings, Devil Dogs, Snowballs, Hostess Cupcakes and an all time favorite, Twinkies.

We had cans of Hawaiian Punch-which now touts an unfathomable 3% fruit juice- that you had to open with a church key, bags of Fritos that we dipped into blocks of cream cheese. The only salad I remember was iceberg lettuce with just mayonnaise for dressing. Food choices hadn’t evolved at that point in our lives- things were pretty basic. And now in the supermarket there is almost an entire aisle of just salad dressing and croutons – and other aisles assigned solely to breads, yogurts, teas, coffee, and fruit juice. We are surrounded by endless choices and decisions to make. Each theory on healthy eating is often debunked by the next theory- and so we use our intuition. I believe each body has its own secret code on how and what to eat. I just seem to be spending a lifetime trying to unlock mine.

There were TV ads that peddled alcohol, beer and cigarettes seemingly no matter the time of day or programming. And now, not surprisingly, those commercials seem to have been replaced by an endless assortment of pharmaceutical commercials-some trying to mend the damage from the commercials that had proceeded. The standard American diet was what we grew up on-advertised, bought, sold and consumed. And we are still surrounded by high-fructose corn syrup-saturated fats-and plenty of unhealthy options neatly wrapped, shelved, encouraged and sold.

So is it white rice or brown rice-the jury is still out! Red wine, white wine or no wine? Organically grown produce-the dirty dozen - the clean fifteen? Grass fed-pasture raised-or hold the beef? Eggs or no eggs? Cheese or no cheese? I need the calcium but not the cholesterol! I need the fiber but not the carbohydrates! My head swims trying to make the proper choices and still I struggle trying to discover what works! Does this endless weighing-in impact our ability to enjoy eating-which of course can be one of life’s utmost pleasures.

Yet now as we battle heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and so many other health conditions partially related to our diets- they have sworn off the foods that so many of us have grown up on. We now seem to be steering toward the Mediterranean Diet, the wisdom of the Blue Zones-and now I just heard about the Atlantic Diet-unfortunately it doesn’t hail from our side of the pond. I have entire shelves of books on healthy living and healthy eating-diets and dieting- exercise and spiritual discovery- and yet every day I face the same struggle- where one answer pushes-the other one pulls.

I lean toward being a pesce-pollotarian because it’s challenging to look a cow in the eye and tell them my life is more important than theirs-but what about the poor fish and the chicken you ask? It’s not easy to change midstream but I’m trying. My theory is that in order to save this fragile planet and acknowledge our shared place among all living creatures – that we will eventually- maybe within 100 years or so- all evolve into vegans or perhaps vegetarians. A diet that hopefully can be sustained by the growing population and fragility of our planet’s resources.

It's been a long time since I’ve eaten a Twinkie- but with all of the knowledge-the books, the magazines, the podcasts, the documentaries – I still stumble and continue to try to ascend - emerge- climb up - from growing up - on the ‘Standard American Diet’ and what a struggle it has been. I hold true to the benefits of a daily walk and spending time in nature. This one incarnation- this one miraculous being that we each have shown up as- with all the bells and whistles and moving parts-should be protected and cared for the best that we are able. So, I will keep learning and growing , walking and breathing and enjoying this one precious life.