Crowding Out
Happy New Year! I am so grateful to each of you who read what I write. I have many more thoughts to share in 2016, and look forward to sharing the appropriate ones with you. Who knows? The perfect shade/formulation of peachy pink lipstick could be coming our way in 2016. The possibilities and promises of a new year are simply intoxicating, aren't they?
It turns out that writing requires many minutes of consecutive thought and with my children home from break, consecutive minutes of thought are fleeting. I didn't want to leave you without a blog this week, so I decided that this topic applies to most of us as we approach January with a renewed need for veggies.
Do you ever think you made something up, only to discover it already exists? I swear I was overusing “borderline (wasted, itchy, etc.)” way before I’d ever heard of Chelsea Handler. Peanut butter and chocolate? Seemed subversive as a 7 year-old.
Recently, I was on the phone with my most favorite, most passionate, most knowledgeable health coach, Leslie Kocher (full disclosure, she is also my sister). I was telling her about a blog I was planning on writing about adding healthy stuff instead of taking away bad stuff.
“You mean “Crowding Out”?
“Um, what? I haven’t named it yet.”
“‘Crowding Out'. In the health world it’s a term we use to describe the concept where, for example, you don’t take the white potatoes off of your plate, you add broccoli. Over time, the healthy stuff takes up more room than the unhealthy stuff. Eventually your palate starts to call for more foods that nourish you.”
“So I didn’t make it up then?”
“I have to go.”
It seems like everyday on the Today Show there is some study that proves it is NO JOKE Americans are killing themselves with the very thing that is meant to sustain them; food. Is it the food manufactures, big industry marketing, big industry lobbying, fast food, lack of awareness, GMO's, lack of availabilty, chemicals, or sugar? There are many more questions than answers.
I believe there is no "one" solution. For most women, food choices and eating habits are as individual, personal, and emotional as their upbringing or lipstick preference. For me, about six years ago I got sick of thinking SO MUCH about food and whether or not something was going to make me fat. If you tell yourself you can’t have fries, chances are you are going to want nothing but fries. BUT, I liked the idea of ingesting healthy stuff with the fries. I was "crowding out" before I knew "crowding out" was a thing. I simply called it "eating fries and salad."
Over time, I noticed that I was taking myself off of the “caffeine is bad for you, caffeine is good for you, eggs are bad for you, eggs are good for you” carousel of medical studies. More and more, I was running with how my body felt ingesting those items, with Michael Pollan's genuinely brilliant quote in the forefront of my mind, "Eat food. Not a lot. Mostly plants." I am still challenged by the "not a lot" bit.
“Eat food. Not a lot. Mostly plants.”
It turns out I don’t want to live in a world where bread and olive oil are off limits (I don’t have a gluten allergy or sensitivity of which I’m aware. If you do, God bless you). Giving up cake pops is outside of my willingness. The joy of going out to dinner with friends shall not be squashed because I went macrobiotic that morning! To be clear, I care very much what I put into my body. I'm just no longer interested in following the medical study of the minute and telling myself that I can't have something I love because it's going to kill me. My goal is to tune into what my body knows to be true instead of obsessing over every crumb. That's why you might see me around town with a cake pop and a side of snap peas.
So, I have a kale smoothie with some other assorted greens every single day. For six years now. And in the morning I have steel cut oatmeal instead of processed oatmeal. And I add chia seeds. And I drink unsweetened almond milk and chew on blueberries. And if I want a crispy grilled cheese for lunch (organic, hormone free), I don’t beat myself up about it. I put it on a plate, crowd that baby out with a huge salad and think about lipstick or the world’s problems or how to get one kid to soccer while getting the other to dance.
If you want off of the “I think about food too much” carousel, give “Crowding Out” a try. It's so genius you might just think you made it up!!!
Side note: "Crowding Out" works in areas other than food. Try crowding out binge watching Bravo with meditation. Or adding fascia rolling to your wine drinking time. Careful on that one.
Keely