Healthy Living

It turns out I am going through a major, fundamental shift in my the food I eat and serve my family, and my thought processes regarding food in general.

I guess it must have started when I started my fit-body overhaul. At that time, however, I was mostly concerned with calories consumed, not necessarily overall healthfulness of foods and snacks. But despite my focus on calories, I always took pause when purchasing prepackaged foods to check for things like saturated fats, trans fats and sodium. But I’ve been doing that for years, so I don’t think that counts.

The more conscious I became of my portions and calories, the more I started taking into consideration how important nutrition really is to our health and well-being. And the more interested I was in nutrition, the more I started asking questions and seeking truthful answers.

I went through a couple of phases in this process. One was after I had the stomach flu in February. I was scared to eat and as time went on, I became more and more fixated on one particular virus most likely responsible for my sickness: norovirus. Norovirus is responsible for 23 million cases of gastroenteritis per year. It is the second most common virus after the common cold. Thankfully norovirus is a virus and therefore cannot grow on food. However, it is easily transmittable and is often the culprit in food borne illnesses. At the time I did not believe I had food poisoning, and I still don’t. But the more I focused on norovirus, the more I started researching possible carriers. One of them? Spinach, kale and leafy greens. 

For those of you unaware of the nutritional content of spinach, kale and other leafy greens, being afraid of consuming them was terrible. They are powerhouses of many important vitamins and minerals.

In 30 grams (about one cup) of raw spinach, there are seven calories, 0 grams of fat and 56% of Vitamin A, 14% of Vitamin C, 3% of Calcium and 4% of Iron. That’s incredible. 

Kale? Even better. For 67 grams (or approximately one cup), kale boasts 33 calories, 0 grams of fat, 2 grams of protein, 206% of Vitamin A, 134% of Vitamin C, 9% of Calcium and 6% of Iron.

WOW!

So you can imagine my dismay when my norovirus research yielded results unfavorable to leafy greens. Fast forward a few months and I’m back on the spinach bandwagon. For some reason I haven’t gotten over the kale hump quite yet, but I’m working my way forward. I ordered my first salad at a restaurant about a week ago and it was quite liberating. And lo and behold, I came away unscathed.

But back to the real reason as to why I’m blogging about this topic… I seem to have gotten over the norovirus fixation and the correlation of being ill. I’ve come to realize how many pathogens are responsible for producing the same symptoms as the ones I experienced. Many viruses, bacteria and even fungi and parasites elicit the same immune response: usually nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever — not always together and oftentimes in many different combinations.

I again experienced a similar stomach bug just before the 4th of July. This time I was not nearly as violently ill, and I thought maybe it was a milder version of norovirus or perhaps even rotavirus. But again, as time went on, I started hypothesizing other possible culprits and most recently I’ve landed on salmonella. I don’t really know what I had, and so this is all just pure speculation, but it’s possible. There’s no way to know exactly what pathogens have entered my body and wreaked havoc and when without cultures, but what I do know is this: if I can control what goes into my body, then I will.

First step? Eliminate any possible contamination by way of food. Thanks to my new favorite movie, Food, Inc., I am one step closer to an organic, vegetarian lifestyle. I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it overnight, nor do I plan to, but I do plan to make great strides to healthy, pure eating in the coming weeks. I’ve already started compiling vegetarian recipes from friends and family. And special thanks to you if you’ve shared a recipe. I am very eager to try everything!

The shift to a vegetarian diet should be relatively easy for my family. We rarely eat meat anyway. We were heavy chicken eaters, especially while I was on my weight-loss regimen, but somehow we’ve started consuming much less chicken in the last couple of weeks. I guess there was a month or so when we were making burgers at least once a week, but now that I’m scared silly from E. Coli, we won’t be making those any time soon. My husband was a vegetarian once, so this should be easy for him, too. 

I know going vegetarian won’t be easy. It won’t happen overnight. We’ll probably have some setbacks on the way. And most importantly, I know that disease, viruses, bacterium and other uncontrollable things will continue to happen to me and the rest of the living population (animal and human) for as long as there is life on earth. I am not disputing that. But I’m hoping that this step will help keep my family and me healthier for longer.

Have you read “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot? If not, you should. I haven’t finished it yet but so far I am very intrigued. This book is another catalyst to my thoughts and feelings about health and overall biology of the human body. Nothing in particular about food or anything (yet), but it’s a very bright glimpse into the way cells function and work together. I won’t say anything else in case you haven’t read it. 

In addition to my quest to eliminate meat from our diets, we’ve been feasting on many nutritionally dense fruits and veggies for a long time. Basically since Boo was born. Our favorites include blueberries, strawberries, watermelon (awesome source of cancer-fighting lycopene), bell peppers, and broccoli. We eat almost any fruit/vegetable we can get our hands on. And by we, I mean all of us. My son favors fruits and veggies over any junk food, any day. And as a side note, he almost never eats meat. We always give him meat as the main course because that’s how we were raised. But it usually sits untouched on his plate. And I know my toddler isn’t the only one who protests meat. Interesting… Maybe we should be taking cues from how our little ones refuel themselves at mealtimes.

Aside from the obvious animal cruelty and unnecessary consumption of animals arguments, as well as the negative environmental impact meat-eating has on our planet, I am looking forward to becoming a vegetarian for me. I know I can’t change the food supply, the regulations and safety inspections, or the politics surrounding the food industry in general, but hopefully my little family can make at least a small impact. And if my little family can make a small impact, what if your small family ate at least one vegetarian meal per week, too — say, on Meatless Monday? And what if your little family asked another little family to do the same? Then all of our little families, making small impacts at the same time, might actually make a big impact together.

Think about it.