Challenging My Beliefs

Last weekend was Easter, a Christian holiday that here in the USA, is a supreme mandate to eat a bunch of crap. Sure, we're supposed to eat the chicken eggs colorfully dyed and scattered about the yard, but from my observation, the chocolate eggs got a lot more attention than anything fowl. In fact, I myself showed up at the family feast hungry. So I proceeded to stuff my face with epic amounts of cheesy hors d'oeuvres, cookies and Cadbury mini-eggs, and that was before dinner was even served. My gastronomic indulgence carried on into the main meal, where I targeted the scalloped potatoes and rosemary bread with the focus of a heat-seeking missile. And then there was the coconut cake...

Needless to say, within two seconds of dropping my fork on my empty plate, I felt awful. The feeling only worsened as the day progressed. By the time we were headed home, the only thing on my mind was how badly I needed to down a bucket of kale juice. The healthy cells in my body rebelled against such gluttony with a pain so close to Fibro, it reminded me I have Fibromyalgia! Well, there isn't a thing worse in all the world to me, besides a pancreas attack, which I also felt the mild stirring of. And to think I did all this voluntarily! Considering how hard I work every single day of my life to keep both conditions at bay, I got outrageously pissed off at myself. Not a single thing I ate was worth such an outcome. Perhaps there's a reason I've become such a health nut after all?

It made me want to avoid all holidays, social functions where food is the focus, and engagements that take me away from the cocoon of healthy living that got my Fibro managed. Easter also reminded me how much I've changed. See, I used to eat like the rest of my country. This included a steady diet of high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, preservatives, aspartame, processed, refined, and sugar-filled foods. Through intense education, trial and error, determination, and last but not least, success, I've come to realize the error of my ways. Now I've flipped so far to the other side something as simple as eating a bunch of junk on Easter sends me deep into Fibro hell. Had I not challenged my own beliefs, along with what my government tells me is true, and what my doctor advises me to do, the misery of last Sunday would still be mine, every single day.

Thanks for joining,
Leah             

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