Eat, Pray, Love: Food

 

      I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert about nine weeks ago, and since then I have been trying to apply her thoughts to my life. After rooting Liz on for three hundred fifty two pages, it's easy for me to imagine that I too experienced it all. The problem is, I didn't, and I probably need too.
    Liz is one of those people that you can't help but fall in love with. Her flaws make her real, and I admire that she doesn't try to hide them. She wrote an entire book, putting them all on display.
    That takes a lot of courage, and that's the sort of thing I would like to aspire towards.
 
     Liz talks a lot about food in her book. Obviously, the act of consuming food is actually in the title, but eve more so she brings it up multiple times. She talks about eating food that she loves in Italy and in India she eats the food that she should. I was really good at eating the food that I loved, so for me, I needed to try eating the food that I should. Liz on the other hand, was not used to eating whatever she wanted too, and though she enjoyed it, she saw that it wasn't the best thing for her when she returned to her old habits in India.
     I wanted to be able to feel the way Liz does about food, because like I said, I'm really good at eating the food that I love. I mean it, I'm seriously talented. On the flip side, I'm terrible at eating the food that I should.
    So in the last month, due mostly in part to my mother, I've been eating the food that I should, but I've always kept Liz in the back of my mind.
    It was my mom's idea to start the Daniel Plan, but it was Liz that helped me stick with it. She allowed me to see, through someone that wasn't a doctor, that what you take in really does make a difference. Whether it be something obviously harmful like poison, or just the bag of chips sitting on the counter, it really does make a difference.
   Since eating healthier, I've found that I'm more energized. I make it through my day without feeling sluggish or tired, and it makes a larger difference than I would have thought. Before, I figured that since most people ate the same way I did, that I really wasn't hurting myself that much. But the energy of gained from cutting out processed foods is remarkable. Even more so in my dad, who has brought up multiple times how energetic he feels. He describes it like being a child on a sugar rush.
   I can't say that I have that much of a dramatic increase, but not yawning in school is a big deal for me. I actually can't remember the last time I yawned, and that itself must be something.
    I also didn't realize how good healthy food can taste. So far, my favorites have been the grilled salmon and the Chicken Verde (Pictured Above), but even simpler things like asparagus and cauliflower, which by the way I had refused to eat until recently.
    Liz's take on food was more substantial for me than the love and pray aspects, and it is something that will be engraved in my plates for the rest of my life. That's what a good book is supposed to do. It should weasel it's way into your brain, and stay there for the rest of your life, because if it doesn't, then what is the book. We read to learn, and if you don't learn anything, then you haven't truly read.
    I'm not going to pretend that Liz has somehow made this entire experience easy, because it isn't. I had to turn down a cookie, Nutella and crackers, and a lollipop today, all of which I would have loved. It's still something that I'm having to work towards, because right now I really want a slice of pizza. But keeping Liz in mind has helped me stay on track, because as she says, "You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on your mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control."