Restricted Ranges Aren’t Always Life-giving

In my frustration over a near 10 lb. weight gain this summer (I see your surprised faces and I agree), I scheduled an appointment with someone who is a nutritionist…of sorts. She’s not a R.D., but has various health certifications and is all about all natural stuff…which is usually right up my alley.There were some cool things to come out of that meeting, but I haven’t felt good about it much since. I wasn’t ready (for lots of reasons) to go whole hog on her recommendations, so I made some decisions for myself that I thought I could live with for a little while. It involved eliminating dairy, gluten and eggs for a few weeks and adding some supplements to my stack of morning pills. I can do it, but it’s more complicated by my vegetarian status.

And then frustration set in.

I haven’t seen/felt much of a difference. Al joined me in the elimination diet, which made meal planning even more complex. Try eating out some time when you can’t have meat, dairy, eggs or bread…and everyone eating with you being happy with the options on the menu. I just wanted to say “F*** this. F**** all this.”

I did, in fact. Eleventy seven times.

And then I started to reconsider my diet even further. Because what was supposed to bring relief and be kinda life-giving was having the opposite effect.

I started reconsidering meat. Because I’m not getting enough nutrients…and am probably missing out on a bunch of protein since I’m also not really consuming dairy.

And I miss steak.

I took some other words of wisdom into consideration and looked for another opinion from a nutritionist (R.D. this time) who might be a better fit. Appointment made.

I also started thinking about how much happier I am when I listen to what my body says it wants and not focus on the numbers. And, to be clear, my body does not want sweet, tasty goodness on a regular basis. It wants fruit and vegetables, cheese and yogurt, beans and nuts and lean protein…and…somewhere in the back of the buffet in my head…steak.

To think about that range of tasty yummy goodness makes me sigh with content. To think about what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks…you remember those merfolk that were turned into some type of sea plant by Ursula in The Little Mermaid? Yeaaaaaaah. That. That’s what I feel like.

So here’s to a healthy, widely varying diet that gives life.