Resolve to love yourself...

So many folks resolve to eat healthier, that's the stereotypical New Year's resolution, right? Well, maybe the more common one is deciding to eat leaner foods...

In a way, my body forces me to eat healthy; it literally rejects the really bad stuff. I don't eat anything with preservatives or heavy oils. I just can't digest it. I've said this before, but in college, my diet consisted of a bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies (in one sitting!), tons of soda, a burger, fries, processed dorm food...and I was always sick and broke-out too much! And to think, I weighed 110 when I was eating like this, but I also had high cholesterol and a gallbladder that didn't work. I was NOT healthy, even though I was thin.

These days, I go on the occasional chocolate binge, only to suffer the consequences shortly after. My gut is wimpy, and became even more difficult after the cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal). All of that acidic bile, previously held by my gallbladder, now goes straight to my intestines from my liver. Oh yes, I also found out that 60% or so of my digestive issues were related to food allergies and sensitivities! And have you all ever noticed how expensive pre-packaged and gluten-free/allergy-friendly products are? It's ridiculous.

Problem: Allergy-friendly food is expensive and I can't eat hard-to-digest foods. Solution: Cook and bake almost everything from scratch. This is very time consuming; lucky for me, I love to cook and bake. I usually cook copious amounts of food on Sundays, so that Jose and I can eat mostly leftovers during the week. (Or I cook the main entrees on the weekend and the sides on weeknights.)

Awhile ago, Jose read The Omnivore's Dilemma, and he shared a few eye-opening facts with me...after reading those enlightening facts, we were very convicted. So now we try to shop for more 'humane' meats and as much organic produce as possible. (There is actually a chart, click here for it, you can check out that measures produce pesticide levels, we use this to decide what NEEDS to be organic.)

I bet you're you're wondering how we do it on a tight budget, with Jose in law school and all. Well, like I said, I make as much as I can from scratch. We buy the raw ingredients; the veggies, meats, fruits, and flours. I do the rest! Also, we are very stingy when it comes to everything BUT food. We don't have fancy clothing, I'm always looking for stuff that's on sale. We sold our car before moving to Cambridge, so that we could afford to live this way; we also live in a humble one bedroom apartment. We walk as much as we can, instead of renting a Zipcar or taking the subway (which contributes to an even healthier lifestyle). We also don't have to spend as much on medical expenses!

I'm not bragging; this isn't easy, really. We have our personal incentives and beliefs. I admit, we cheat, but we also try very hard to live a spiritually and physically healthy life; the two go hand-in-hand, in my humble opinion.