How does someone become a passionate, dedicated – and totally healthy! – foodie such as myself?
Well, I don’t know about anybody else, but I can tell you how I did:
It all probably started with a genetic predisposition – my mom was both knowledgeable about, and totally enthusiastic about, great food. So I got direct infusions of it from the way she was eating, long before as well as during her pregnancy with me! After I was born, I continued to have this blessing of being surrounded by amazing food, lovingly prepared and shared with family members. Like I always say, growing up in my family food was never a meal – it was an event!
My family’s approach to being on summer vacation in Martha’s Vineyard was the opposite of most people’s.
While everyone else would be indulging in a seeming unrelenting orgy of easy, fast food (BBQ, unhealthy snacks, fried and fatty foods, sugary sodas and desserts), we ate like kings and queens. Delicious frittatas for breakfast, roast beef sammies for lunch, chicken cacciatore for dinner and hot fudge sundaes for dessert were the norm. Actually, it was embarrassing for me at the time because it was so “different” compared to my friends at that age.
And yet… it seemed like I made so many friends there every summer, without even having to try…. Friends who would often join my family for lunches and dinners…hmmmmmm! I guess when given the opportunity, most people would rather eat the good stuff instead of the junk!
I also grew to understand that food is literally our fuel. Breakfast in particular was mandatory – you never left home without it! Again, it consisted of nutritious “brain food” instead of junk, and I can tell you, it really got the furnace burning. It would set me up for a full day of school, play, and endless running around. Who knew breakfast could do all that? I did, thanks to the education I got at home and the habits that were instilled in me there.
Did I ever appreciate that as an adult! When my co-workers were dragging in to work every morning, and hitting the wall with a big drop in energy at 3 every afternoon, I had the juice to keep humming along without a hitch – – all day, every day!
So, thanks to my good fortune to be born into a family of foodies, I always understood implicitly that food is what we all need to maintain balance and energy in our life. Food has the power to make us happy, healthy and whole.
I’ve always enjoyed and celebrated food…but I also saw that food could have a dark side.